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An extraordinary construction of packed snow created within the Arctic Circle by artist Antony Gormley and architect Peter Clegg carries a trio of deep resonances.

Seen in the bright Arctic sunlight, the three sharp crystalline forms have a strong sculptural quality. Less obviously, they are a metaphor for global warming. And most poignantly of all, though not originally intended as such, they stand as a memorial for Clegg鈥檚 close friend and partner, Richard Feilden, who had intended to join the trip but died in an accident a couple of months before.

The 鈥淭hree Made Places鈥� comprise a void cut of the snow, a standing monolith and an elongated horizontal box

The three snow constructs, made in Norway鈥檚 Svalbard islands in March, comprise an elongated box recessed into the snow, a monolith and a void cut out of the snow. To Gormley, they are geometrical representations of the human body, human consciousness and the necessity of a collective space of fellowship.

To Clegg, however, they represent units of carbon dioxide, a man-made agent of global warming. 鈥淏ut what do you understand by a kilogram of CO2?鈥� he asks. 鈥淗ow can our minds grasp the weight of a gas? Some time ago it occurred to me that it might be helpful to try to define the kilogram of CO2 as a space rather than a mass. One kilogram of CO2 at atmospheric pressure occupies 0.54 m3. It is roughly the volume occupied by a coffin, which is perhaps an appropriately symbolic unit when we are talking about the destruction of the planet.鈥�

Pressing the point home, Clegg continues: 鈥淲e can relate that 鈥榗offin鈥檚 worth鈥� of CO2 to the exhaust of a two-litre car travelling 10 miles, or leaving a 100 W lightbulb on for a day. In the UK, each of us is responsible for nearly 10,000 coffins a year. In a sustainable future, our emissions should be less than 2000 coffins.鈥�

Looking at his constructs in a more personal light, Clegg found their abstract body forms had more poignant significance. The sarcophagus seemed to him 鈥渢o take on the character of an eloquent memorial to Richard鈥�.

As for the sunlit monolith that stood sentinel over the icebound fjord, he found 鈥渢his enclosed void to be an even more appropriate [memorial]鈥�. He adds: 鈥淥ur 鈥楾hree Made Places鈥� 鈥� Block, Standing Room and Shelter 鈥� are all reflections of the human form that represent a transient statement in what may turn out to be an all-too transient landscape.鈥�