On Woodbine Beach it’s a bright, blisteringly windy day. Toronto is a labyrinth of slushy pathways and salted sidewalks, however from this sandy boardwalk, Winter Stations becomes a brilliant beacon of color, community and style talent.
Picture by Joel Gale Celebrating its 12th anniversary this year, the Winter season Stations worldwide style competition invites artists, architects and designers to re-imagine an unusual typology, lifeguard stations, and transform them into dynamic works of public art. Set against the background of Lake Ontario, the five winning proposals are then developed, and remain on display for a 6-week exhibit that is complimentary and open up to all, bring in curious Torontonians from around the city. Today is no various: a continuous stream of dog-walkers, young families, bundled young children, assistant editors (me) and beach-goers marvel at the eye-grabbing installations.
This year’s theme, Mirage, obstacles entrants to explore the edges of reality, asking: what do we long to see? In the age of AI and digital echo chambers, where is the line between what is seen and what is genuine? Chosen by a blind jury of leading art, style, architecture, and urbanism professionals, the winning jobs take advantage of this theme from a range of thoughtful angles and engaging materialities.
Photo by Joel Windstorm Accept Two huge hands of thin, blackened wood emerging from the sand are currently an uncommon sight, but relocating closer reveals their rainbow-striped palms. Developed by Saskatoon-based art director and 3D artist Will Cuthbert, Embrace is an invite to find a new reality, to alter your perspective and to be cocooned by the hands. And the people like it: hands connect to touch, mirroring their huge next-door neighbors.
Picture by Joel Wind
Photo by Joel Windstorm
Crest
Like the choppy water of Lake Ontario just a couple of actions away, Crest stimulates a sweeping wave before it breaks using observers a minute of time out within its enveloping form. Inside, the waffled plywood pattern– meant to look like driftwood from afar– dissapears and reappears based upon the angle. And in the afternoon sun, Crest’s curving form produces a matching shadow of geometric lines on the sand. Designed by a band of talented students from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and the Department of Architectural Engineering, the group includes Clay te Bokkel, Isabella Ieraci, Matthew Lam, Sasha Rao, Simon Huang, Oskar Peng, David Shen and Professor Fiona Lim Tung.
Photo by Joel Windstorm
Image by Joel
Gale Specularia Designed by Maine-based interdisciplinary designer Andrew Clark of TORNADO SOUP, this interactive setup invites visitors to walk through a gauzy-curtained corridor and check out five framed openings to the lake. Each window offers a various viewpoint: one frames the lifeguard tower, one reveals the sky above, another reflects your own face back at you. Called Specularia, the setup– built with MicroPro Sienna treated lumber– blends reality with dreamy portals untethered from context.
Image by Joel Windstorm
Picture by Joel Windstorm
Glaciate
A small maze of vertical polycarbonate panels filled with water from the neighboring lake, Glaciate’s frosted walls use an ever-changing visual fallacy as the water freezes and warms. These moving types– opaque, clear, or transparent– blur the outsider’s view of a central lifeguard tower in lively red while likewise clouding the insider’s view to the beach. Designed by a group from Toronto Metropolitan University Department of Architectural Science in collaboration with Ming Chuan University School of Design consisting of Finn Ferrall, Nicholas Kisil, Marko Sikic, with faculty supervisor Yew-Thong Leong and Vincent Hui, Glaciate makes being on the beach feel a little like being inside a rain-filled cloud.
Picture by Joel Windstorm Photo by Joel Gale Chimera Totally covering the lifeguard tower with circular mirrors, Chimera challenges viewers with echoing versions of themselves. Developed by Denys Horodnyak and Enzo Zak Lux of shared Berlin-based creative practice, the installation speaks with the fragmentation of physical and digital realities– and the absence of control individuals might have over the self. Produced in partnership with the Mechanical Professionals Association of Ontario, the duo tapped pipe welder and metal artist Courtney Chard to fabricate the design from her Georgetown studio.
Don’t miss your chance to see these spectacular setups in person! For more information, visit their website here.
Sophie Sobol is a Toronto-based writer and editor with a love for art, style and fashion– from public art to the perfect coffee table to her long-lasting fixation with plaid. As Assistant Editor at Design Milk, she brings her enthusiasm for joyful style to an international audience of kindred spirits. She also has a soft spot for ribbons and framing losing lottery game tickets.