Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Hörbelt have gained international renown for constructing sculptures on an architectural scale from recycled bottle crates

– The Guardian

Exploiting the aesthetic and structural properties of recycled bottle crates, Winter/Hörbelt’s international reputation was secured by their full-scale ‘crate houses’; beautiful, light filled pavilions constructed from crates which, when stacked like building blocks, are both sculpture and structure.

In 2004, YSP commissioned two different-coloured crate houses for the 500-square-metre Longside Gallery. The gallery’s front wall of floor-to-ceiling windows flooded the space with natural light, which penetrated the houses’ translucent structure, linking the interior and exterior spaces. One crate house was bisected by the gallery window so that it could be entered from both inside of outside the gallery. The luminous and meditative environments, with seating, invited internal exploration and encouraged contemplation and the interaction of visitors with the crate houses completed them as artworks.

An outdoor pavilion or Basket was also commissioned, to be sited within the 18th and 19th century-designed landscape. This large, two-storey steel structure with interior seating was sited at the top of the valley, acting as a viewpoint, shelter and route-marker to the gallery. The Basket’s double-layered steel mesh construction challenged the viewer’s sense of perspective; when viewed against the skyline and pierced by the sunlight, its solidity dissolved. A similar translucency was experienced from inside the structure, which enclosed and protected but also provided glimpses of the outside world and the expansive views beyond.