Out of this world: Winter Stations winners celebrate 10 years of excellence

TORONTO — The inspiration for this year’s Winter Station winners came from UFOs, kaleidoscopes and previous installations.

A public exhibition will be held at Woodbine Beach in Toronto starting February 19th. The theme for 2024 is “Resonance” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Winter Station.

The goal of the international design competition is to attract people to the beach during the winter. The lifeguard structure will be used as a visual anchor point for the facility.

We caught a UFO! In the Belly of a Bear is a project by Xavier Madden and Katia Banovic (Croatia and Australia) that uses lifeguard chairs to lift the public up to a cozy space above ground and into a new world. According to the Winter Station website, it is based on . .

The installation references rumors of numerous UFO sightings throughout Lake Ontario.

The UFO is trapped under a net and wrapped in glued aluminum foil, sparkling in the light and contrasting with its surroundings as a foreign object. The public can explore the structure and climb into the main space, where pink plexi windows transform the beach into a landscape or “planet” of new hues.

Resonating with OneCanada and WE[AR] In the project, WINTERACTION is a dual installation in Iran and Canada. It promotes solidarity and social exchange between the two countries. Visitors are taken on an introspective journey through the maze. It represents a complex and challenging quest to lead from confusion to enlightenment and reach inner peace. In the center, a virtual tree appears as a symbol of peace and alliance. The installation was designed by the University of Guelph School of Landscape Architecture and Ashari Architects (Canada and Iran).

An adaptation of 2020’s Kaleidoscope of the Senses, Kaleidoscope Odyssey takes audiences on a challenging experience where reality ends and imagination begins. For installation he has two basic concepts.

The scale of a traditional kaleidoscope is magnified 84 times to human scale, allowing participants to exist within the apparatus. Although kaleidoscopes are generally closed-loop systems, the website states that this device is intentionally cut into two equal and opposite carved parts.

The design is by Canadian firm Brander Architects Inc. The team consists of Adam Brander, Nilesh P, Ingrid Garcia and Maryam Emadzadeh.

“Nimbus” by David Stein (Canada) was inspired by the airy threads that made up his 2016 installation “Floating Ropes.” Nimbus evolved the concept and materials by adding saturated blue ropes that dangle beneath the bubbly white structure. The agency asks visitors to think about the presence or absence of rain in the world, noting severe storms and floods, as well as trends in lack of rain, drought and desertification.

Making Waves, by Canada’s Adria Maynard and Purvanj Patel, describes how simple actions ripple outward, ‘resonating’ across time and space, moving and influencing others in surprising ways. It has been described as “unusual furniture that expresses the situation.”

The installation takes the form of an exaggerated sofa, creating an unusual urban living room where neighbors can gather and sit together by the water.

The design is inspired by kinetic sculpture and whirligigs, and consists of a series of parts that dance when you turn the crank. Wooden slats act as undulating benches that swing and move, and vertical poles with glowing spheres at the ends swing in the air to signal people from afar.

Bobbin, by the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture, invites visitors to a place where significant moments and whimsical memories prompt introspection. Protect visitors with slats that create a constantly changing threshold between the bobbing zone and the surrounding beach. The seesaw borrows from the playground-like Sling Swing and Lifeline projects, and its shape in the landscape reflects his HotBox and Introspection. This material was sourced from previous student projects in addition to materials salvaged from the Cambridge community.

Designed by Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) School of Building Sciences, Nova is a star that crashes over a lifeguard station and lights up Woodbine Beach all night. Nova focuses on TMU’s Winter Stations from the past decade, inspired by the origami materials and forms of Snowcone, Lithoform, and S’Winter Station. Nova has introduced 3D printing, textile canopies, and elegant steel pipe connections, with star pavilions protecting users and encouraging them to engage with their surroundings, and lifeguard stations serving as beacons for accessing panoramic views of the beach. The website says it works.