This year’s exhibition will take over Toronto’s East End beaches beginning February 19

Since its launch in 2014, Winter Stations has made space for the international design and art community to reimagine the lifeguard stations along Toronto’s East End beaches during the brunt of the winter season. The competition has seen entries from more than 90 countries, bringing a world of design to the water’s edge. Founded as a collaboration between local firms RAW Design, Ferris + Associates and Curio, Winter Stations continues to capture the imagination of the city by forming a new, experimental way to interact with design. Marking its 10th year in the East End, the 2024 competition’s theme of “Resonance” invited entrants to breathe new life into cherished installations from Winter Stations of the past. Here are this year’s winners.

Nimbus, David Stein (Canada).

Nimbus

Inspired by the airy strands that make up the 2016 installation Floating Ropes, Nimbus’s playful shapes and colours do more than just resonate with its predecessor. Nimbus evolves the concept and materials by adding saturated blue ropes hanging below a bubbly white structure.

We Caught A UFO! Xavier Madden and Katja Banović (Croatia and Australia).

We Caught A UFO!

Building upon the project In the Belly of a Bear, which utilized a lifeguard chair by lifting the public above ground into a cozy space, We Caught a UFO! reimagines these qualities by referencing the rumours and whispers of the many UFO sightings across Lake Ontario. Caught under a net, the UFO is wrapped in glued aluminum foil which glimmers in the light, contrasting its surroundings as a foreign object.

A Kaleidoscopic Odyssey. Brander Architects Inc: Adam Brander, Nilesh P, Ingrid Garcia, Maryam Emadzadeh (Canada).

A Kaleidoscopic Odyssey

You don’t want to miss this mesmerizing adaptation of Kaleidoscope of the Senses, a winning installation from 2020. In this installation, there are 2 guiding concepts. The scale of a traditional kaleidoscope is magnified 84 times to a human scale so participants can inhabit the instrument and become a part of its wonder. Where a kaleidoscope is commonly a closed-loop system, this device is deliberately severed into 2 sculptured equal-and-opposite parts, with purposeful space between them.

Bobbin’. University of Waterloo School of Architecture (Canada).

Bobbin

This piece invites Winter Stations 2024 visitors to a place where pivotal moments and whimsical memories prompt reflection. It shelters guests with slats that create an ever-changing threshold between the bobbing zone and the surrounding beach. The seesaws draw from the playground-like Sling Swing and LIFE LINE projects, while its form within the landscape reflects HotBox and Introspection.

Making Waves. Adria Maynard and Purvangi Patel (Canada).

Making Waves

Making Waves is a whimsical piece of furniture that represents the ways that simple actions can ripple outwards to “resonate” across time and space. In its eclectic assembly, the exhibition piece pays homage to the 10 years of Winter Stations and the ways that public art can foster shared delight, contemplation, and play that brings together strangers and friends in public space.

Winteraction. University of Guelph Department of Landscape Architecture, Ashari Architects (Canada and Iran).

Winteraction

Resonating with OneCanada and WE[AR] projects, this addition to the 2024 Winter Stations lineup is a dual installation in Iran and Canada. It aims to foster solidarity and social interaction between the two nations with the inclusion of a virtual tree that emerges as a symbol of peace and alliance, evolving dynamically with visitor interactions at both locations.

Nova. Toronto Metropolitan University Department of Architectural Science (Canada).

Nova

This artwork was designed to represent a star that has crashed on top of a lifeguard station and illuminates Woodbine Beach throughout the night. Nova highlights TMU’s past decade of Winter Stations, inspired by the origami, materiality, and form of Snowcone, Lithoform, and S’Winter Station. It introduces 3D printing, a textile canopy, and an elegant steel pipe connection to create a pavilion with “Resonance.”