Snow

Snow has a way of revealing both hidden beauty and hidden weakness. Even unprepossessing buildings can look radiant clothed in glistening layers of white water. And some snowclad buildings can assume an unlikely fairytale stature in the transformed landscape.

But snow is also insiduous in seeking out detailed flaws and thwarted assumptions – that water normally runs downhill, or that roofs can support the weather. It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing – invasive and innocent in equal measure.

Snow reminds us that we are not designing for a set of meteorological parameters but for difficult days in everybody’s lives when walking becomes an adventure and getting to work becomes a nightmare. Snow reminds us that design is not a fair weather activity.