COOL IDEAS FOR COLD CLIMATES EMBRACING OUR WINTER WONDERLAND
JULIE BARNES Photo Credit: Alexander Exner
Many of us are guilty of it. We tell friends and family in other provinces or countries that it’s time to plan a trip to Saskatoon. The scenic river trails, vibrant restaurant scene and our new art museum are all good reasons for them to book a flight or plan a road trip. But there’s usually a caveat. “Just make sure you come in July or August,” we say. Brenda Wallace, director of environmental and corporate initiatives with the City of Saskatoon, says our inherent
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winter bias is revealed through this stipulation, and it’s time for us to change our collective mindsets. “Our biggest obstacle is our mindset and our attitude about winter. It's the feeling that we need to go into the basement and load up the Netflix menu or get on a plane and go to a hot destination.” Instead, we should stop and consider Saskatoon’s energetic community and existing amenities, “and how might we make use of those assets in a different season.”
Aside from that mindset, other factors that make us want to curl up on the couch and stay there until spring are Saskatoon’s dwindling hours of sunlight and below zero temperatures. But those challenges are being addressed in creative ways— here in Saskatoon and in other winter cities around the world. Let There be Light “Light shapes our behaviour in a space,” says Sabine De Schutter, owner
of Studio De Schutter, a lighting design firm based in Berlin. “Light in a public space can make you feel safe, it can make a space become more social, and it can have an impact on the image of a city as well, in terms of, ‘Is it vibrant?’ The thing we want to do in winter is create social spaces outdoors.” Sabine says lighting has evolved significantly in recent years. “It doesn’t have to be just one colour at a time anymore. We can have multiple colours. We Saskatoon HOME WINTER 2018