The seventh annual international design competition Winter Stations has launched its inaugural Spring Stations installations in Toronto. The temporary pavilions are now on public view in the city’s historic distillery district. 

Established by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates, and Curio, Winter Stations tasks participants with designing winter art installations that incorporate existing lifeguard towers across Toronto’s Kew and Woodbine beaches. The towers, which aren’t in use during the winter, must play a notable role in the design. The competition seeks to bring the public to Toronto’s beaches that are left deserted during the winter. 

Due to the pandemic, organizers postponed the competition and its location was moved away from the shore. Keeping Winter Stations alive for this year, organizers partnered with the Distillery District, a pedestrian-only commercial and residential sector in downtown Toronto, to launch a first-of-its-kind Spring Stations program. This new edition brings three of the winning installations to the urban zone. A fourth project will be on display at 33 Parliament Street, a mixed-use development that sits directly south of the Distillery District. All of the temporary works will be on view until the end of July and respond to the theme of “refuge”. 

“The circumstances of the last year have forced us to get creative, but thankfully creativity is in the DNA of Winter Stations,” says Roland Rom Colthoff, founder of RAW Design. “I can say that this year’s launch is certainly the warmest we’ve ever had in the seven years that Winter Stations has been active. An immense thank you is owed to all of our partners, sponsors and supporters. And a special thank you to The Distillery District and Graywood Developments for sharing their wonderful spaces for our exhibition. We hope to see you all again at the Beaches next year!” 

Summer Stations at The Beach Village BIA is tentatively scheduled for later this summer. Winter Stations and higher education partner, Sheridan College, are also working to secure a venue for the 2021 competition’s winning student design, Embrace. 

Check out the four winning Spring Stations installations below:

The Epitonium by M. Yengiabad - Shahed M. Yengiabad, Elaheh M. Yengiabad, Alemeh M. Yengiabad, and Mojtaba Anoosha, Iran

"Throughout history, humankind has always strived to learn and be inspired by nature to engage in new experiences and provide a better life for themselves and others. Nature is the source of inspiration for architects, artists and scientists. It’s our origin and destination. Including not only external environments such as clouds, trees, sea, mountains and animals, but also buildings, components and materials. By building structures with forms familiar to us, creating two-dimensional graphics, and architecture with thickness, depth and volume, it can complement nature and be part of it. The Epitonium creates a beautiful, functional landscape. This idea causes natural shelters to become a refuge. The design is inspired by epitonium, a type of seashell, and is in great harmony with its location."

From Small Beginnings by Jack Leather and Charlie Leather, United Kingdom

"The great outdoors has been where many have found solace, perhaps unexpectedly so, over the past 12 months. A year like no other, great enjoyment has been found in returning to more holistic roots. From Small Beginnings hopes to seize this movement; whilst giving platform and space to embrace new opportunities ahead. Through shelves bearing a future forest, the installation allows visitors to seek refuge from harsher elements, whilst encountering strangers from a safe distance or enjoying quiet reflection. Only upon entering, the brighter interior is revealed; symbolic of the opportunities that rise from challenging periods. Like the seedlings, which can be replanted, we are all simply at the beginning of our journeys.

We encourage you to take a sapling with you, replant it, and continue its journey along with yours."

ARc de Blob by Aleksandra Belitskaja, Ben James, and Shaun McCallum, Austria/United Kingdom

THROBBER by Heidundgriess - Alexandra Grieß and Jorel Heid, Germany. On display at 33 Parliament Street

"The reasons why people seek refuge are as diverse as people themselves. They wait. The walk-in installation consists of 10 small trapezoidal rooms ‘shelters’, lined up next to each other, each in monochrome. In combination, they form the colour spectrum of a rainbow. Inside, the colours are reduced to grey. From an aerial view, it forms the shape of a “throbber”, an icon used computer programs (waiting, buffering). This icon is adopted from digital to real world as a symbol for the active experience of time, a transition where different perspectives, longings, hopes and motivations come together. The installation is an invitation to perceive similarities and connections with others, despite individual differences."