Toronto’s Winter Stations Are Again on the Seashore for an Eighth Version

Toronto’s Winter Stations Are Back on the Beach for an Eighth Edition

The 2022 winter stations competition revealed its 3 winning projects, selected from worldwide submissions alongside three student designs from Ryerson University, University of Toronto, and the University of Guelph. Back for its eighth edition, after a one-year hiatus, the competition, launched by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates, and Curio in 2015, will once again “draw people outside to enjoy the Beach in the winter” and the projects will take over the lifeguard stations at Toronto’s Woodbine Beach.

+ 9

Under the theme of Resilience, this edition encouraged designers to “celebrate the ability of people to withstand and push through challenging and unprecedented times”. Inviting designers, artists, and architects to create bold designs, the competition has also announced a new satellite location for one station: for the first time ever, one winning intervention, the Wildlife-guard Chair, will be launched along Hamilton’s waterfront as part of Winterfest, before returning to the Beach in Toronto in March, to conclude its exhibition alongside the other stations.

Moreover, Winter Stations has partnered with the YWCA to dedicate one station to women and gender-diverse individuals. The residents and staff selected the Hive project “because of its vibrant colors and how it represents resilience and hope in building community in unprecedented times”. Finally, The 2022 winning installations are on display until the end of March.

Read on to discover the 2022 Winter Stations winners.

ENTER-FACE

MELT (Cemre Önertürk & Ege Çakır), Turkey

The times of pandemic have changed our habits in multi-scalar aspects, but it especially affected the way how we perceive the world outside of us. More explicitly, it shifted our communication with people, interaction with the environment, and the perception of our experiences by means of a single surface: the digital screen. Via offering the isolated a new version of coexistence, these screens not only made overcoming this challenging period possible but also became indissociable parts of lives as mobile “interfaces”. The project “enter-face” aims to reveal the dramatic influence of these screens, therefore, presents a spatial atmosphere that brings people together by means of a common vision\image while isolating them physically. It proposes two dark boxes with distant holes for people to get their upper bodies inside and stay detached from one another. Within the boxes, a textured transparent surface is placed through which the distant visitors, who became a group of viewers now, watch the life outside the box as if they are spectating a never-ending moving image on a screen together.

Wildlife-guard Chair

Mickael Minghetti, with the guidance of Andres Jimenez Monge, France & Canada

Inspired by the northern cardinal bird – a specie present all year round in Ashbridge’s Bay Park – the station seeks to engage the visitors with Toronto’s wildlife. The diversity of species taking refuge in the dense urban environment is both remarkable to observe and critical to preserve.

THE HIVE

Kathleen Dogantzis & Will Cuthbert, Canada

The resilience witnessed among communities in the face of challenging and unprecedented times is paralleled among the honey bee. Honey bee colonies are primarily composed of worker bees whose greatest measure of resilience is maintaining hive temperature throughout the cold winter months. This is achieved by adapting worker behavior to use energy from stored honey to generate body heat within a tight hive cluster. The challenge of keeping the hive warm is met by a colony-level response – much like the collaborative community-level response that is mounted in the face of adversity. 

The installation is designed with a hexagonal structure reminiscent of a honey bee colony, and it highlights the color variation of honey, which is the result of diverse floral resources. Individuals are welcomed to experience the visual diversity of a honey bee hive and work together to form a collaborative community-level hive cluster.

S’winter Station

Evan Fernandes, Kelvin Hoang, Alexandra Winslow, Justin Lieberman & Ariel Weiss, Led by Associate Professor Vincent Hui, Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science

The forces of nature are relentless. Like the falling snow of the sky and the shifting sands of the beach, the pavilion embraces local wind, snow, and sun conditions. Following these directions of force, the pavilion’s wings embody movement by harnessing snow and mitigating strong winds. Beach towels have been formed into dynamic concrete panels with varying openings. These panels control the amount of light and snow allowed to enter, while also creating unique views outwards. Together, the panels and wings protect users and encourage them to engage with their surroundings. Where the lifeguard station, beach towels, and marine ropes are more frequently used in the summer, the pavilion achieves resilience by employing these objects in the winter. The pavilion acts as a shelter for the community where winter conditions are celebrated by harnessing and adapting to natural forces.

Introspection

Christopher Hardy, Tomasz Weinberger, Clement Sung, Jason Wu, Jacob Henriquez, Christopher Law, Anthony Mattacchione, George Wang, Maggie MacPhie & Zoey Chao, Lead by Associate Professor Fiona Lim Tung, University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design

In keeping with this year’s theme of resilience, we chose to base our design on the emotions felt throughout the past two years’ worth of quarantine and isolation. Playing with the idea of reflection, we utilize mirrored walls to cast the visitors as the subjects of our bright red pavilion, titled Introspection. While the trellis roof allows the sun to illuminate the interior and its visitors, the red lifeguard tower stands unyielding in the center of the pavilion, reminding us of the inherent stability within us. In highlighting the subject’s presence, we hope to promote introspection into one’s own emotional resilience as one faces their own reflection. From afar, Introspection appears to float on the beach’s horizon. Behaving like a visual constant in the wild, Introspection and the lifeguard towers remind us that no matter what the whirlwinds of life may bring, they endure it all and remain resilient to adversity. 

One Canada

Alex Feenstra, Megan Haralovich, Zhengyang Hua, Noah Tran, Haley White & Connor Winrow, Led by Assistant Professor Afshin Ashari, University of Guelph, School of Environmental Design & Rural Development

The Indigenous Peoples in Canada are an inspirational example of resilience due to their ability to withstand adversity and persevere through generations of oppressive colonial policies. Historic injustices persist, including the effects of cultural genocide from the residential school system of Canada. Here we symbolize bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples through gathering. Accomplished through the support of the seven grandfather teachings, represented by the seven rings of the installation, that originated with the Anishnabae Peoples, passed down through generations that ensure the survival of all Indigenous Peoples: Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility, and Truth. Orange represents the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, and the reality that the support of non-Indigenous Peoples, as Indigenous Peoples assert rights to self-determination, will strengthen relations and begin to redress the historic wrongs. Orange is displayed in the ropes where the pattern pays homage to the creation of drums, where the ropes were weaved to honor culture. The installations flow towards the lifeguard stand reinforces the strengthening of the relationship and that the protection of Canada hinges on the unity between peoples. We aim to symbolize movement to a new relationship, one based on mutual respect that honors Indigenous treaties and rights. The road forward is long and nonlinear, but we commit to take the journey together.