magenta workshop builds a stainless steel igloo at tel aviv crafts and design biennale

to mark the city’s first crafts and design biennale, product design studio magenta workshop has brought an igloo to the warmer climes of tel aviv. handmade with sheets of stainless steel and using traditional building methods, the installation reflects its surrounding environment. evoking ideas of shelter and refuge, the concept behind the work aims to question our relationship with nature and the important role it plays. 

image © dor kedmi

an igloo is a home, a temporary refuge, a primeval dwelling made of snow, an archetypal structure that, when no longer in use, dissolves into a puddle of water. magenta workshop’s igloo is a structure aspiring to forge a connection between traditional societies, ancient construction methods, and new materials and technologies.

image © dor kedmi

it was meticulously constructed by hand, yet its simple form is the result of a complex mathematical computation. sealed like a burial structure, it is composed of reflective stainless-steel sheets that reflect, replicate, and distort its surroundings. it echoes vanishing traditions and melting glaciers, blinding and warming the viewers while raising questions about the role of humans in the world and their relations with nature.

image © dor kedmi

image © dor kedmi

image © dor kedmi

image © dor kedmi

welding the bricks together

the building process

the igloo bricks during the production process

preserving the traditional building methods

building layout

brick structure

project info:

project name: igloo

project type: temporary installation

location: biennale of craft and design, erez israel museum, tel aviv

design: magenta workshop / ronen bavly

material: stainless steel sheets

techniques: cutting, bending, welding, polishing and traditional construction

dimension: h. 200, diam. 400

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom