A cube of ice, weighing about ten tons (about 9000 kg) and measuring 80 inches (2m) per side, is melting in Seattle, Washington's Occidental Park. The temporary art installation, set up yesterday morning, "showcases the stages of the natural water cycle as the ice shifts from opaque to translucent", the artists said.
The project is part of the Seattle Design Festival, and was designed by Olson Kundig Architects' Clay Anderson, Noah Conlay, Jarri Hasnain, Gregory Nakata, and Mark Olthoff. Crews began assembling blocks yesterday  morning and had stacked all 64 blocks in place by 8:00 am. 

It is not certain how long the 64 blocks of ice that make up the cube will take to melt, and discovering how the process unfolds is part of the intent. Olson Kundig contacted University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass to try to estimate the time it would take to melt, which Mass called "not a trivial calculation". He said the variables included how much sun warms the block, in turn dependent on cloud cover; condensation on the block's surface, thus variables like humidity, temperature, and wind; and heat conduction, both from the ground and from the surrounding air. 
The installation inspired photographers at The Seattle Times, and under the hashtag #ok_icecube at Instagram and Twitter.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!
Share this: 






This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Ten-ton ice cube melting in Seattle park