I heard about the Ice House Detroit project back when it was still in its funding stages and, to be honest, it didn’t get me excited.
Gregory Holm, a photographer, and Matthew Radune, an architect, are the men behind the project and they encased an abandoned house in Detroit in ice. From their fundraising website:
Ice House Detroit references this contemporary urban condition, and involves the acquisition and recontextualization of one of the 80,000 abandoned houses in the city.
The house will be sprayed with water in subzero temperatures, gradually building up layers of ice over the course of several days or weeks. Once it is frozen, the common architectural and urban references of the house will be temporarily obscured, providing a period of reflection.
Stop, Collaborate and Listen
I might not have been interested at first but in the past few weeks I have been desperately trying to find the location of the house. Maybe my obsession with the Belle Isle Ice Tree was just gateway ice and now any and all interesting ice will feed my addiction? Possibly.
Anyway, I finally found out the location of the Ice House on Friday, a day before it was to be announced publicly. Of course I couldn’t get down there till Saturday so my inside information didn’t give me a head start.
My overall impression? It’s a great subject to photograph.
I mean, I’m happy that they are being respectful of the neighborhood, recycling, and giving back to the community. But did it change anything or raise awareness? Everyone knows that there is a housing crisis and that Detroit has tens of thousands of abandoned homes.
Looking back at the last line of the quote above, I’m wondering if any of the onlookers had a "period of reflection" afterward? I hope so.
See that peice of ice by the apex of the roof? It's in the midst of falling.
You can see 2 peices in mid air above the bushes on the porch. Notice the missing ice at the roof line?
The address of Ice House Detroit is 3920 McClellan.