Client: City of Winnipeg

Overview

Winnipeg is a city with a unique relationship to water. From its proximity to an inland ocean (Lake Winnipeg), to its generation and use of hydro power, to its cherished cottage country in the Whiteshell, water is critical to life in the humble prairie city. However, the city’s most important relationship with water is its coexistence with the two rivers that cut through the city and over the years have proven to be dramatic and destructive adversaries.

The floods of 1950 and 1997 resulted in widescale damage and significant changes to the city’s infrastructure and capacity to manage against future events. Part of these changes include the gathering of water level data from both rivers. Regular reporting on this data helps the local governments and citizens to be prepared as weather changes and ice melts.

In 2019 Pattern was engaged to interpret this data in an inventive and expressive way, as part of the reinvention of the James Avenue Pumphouse, from a largely ignored heritage building to a rejuvenated collection of offices, restaurant, brewpub, and condominiums. Pattern was tasked with the creation of a unique animated interpretation of flood water levels, to be housed within a steel I-Beam installed on the street in front of the building.

Goals

The design and technology of this project leaned heavily on one another to work. The unique format of the piece – a 20 foot tall weathering steel I-beam column, filled with a coarse screen of LEDs , along with a proportional display of water levels – invited a unique solution. Finding the right recipe of light, animation, and scale became dominant design challenges, and the team worked closely with all manner of third parties, from electrical, to screen suppliers, and more, to ensure the challenge would be as impressive as possible.

Once the steel and LED technology was confirmed, the design team began to implement the visualization of water levels. Using abstracted, animated “water” expressions, passersby are met with a vibrant and original hint at the story of the rivers and floodwaters in Winnipeg. The rough-hewn steel column stands apart on the sidewalk; the LEDs beckon the audience to come a little closer. Physical indicators of scale adorn the column to contextualize the motion occurring alongside them.

Process

In June of 2020 the team began the construction and installation of the piece. Working closely with partner HTFC Planning & Design, Pattern acted as project manager to ensure a smooth process. As the structure was being installed, the design team finalized the animations, and got them integrated with the software being used to run the “show” of lights.

The final project is as informative as it is innovative – a piece of art that dramatically interprets a story of Winnipeg’s fraught connection to water. The Pumphouse neighbourhood has helped to revitalize the east Exchange District by rethinking and repurposing heritage structures into vital new additions to the landscape. The Pumphouse Water Level project connects the past to the present using beautiful materials and thoughtful design. As more and more visitors discover this innovative design while wandering the neighbourhood, it becomes an ever more important connection to the city’s past.