5 Lifeguard Towers Transformed into Works of Art

It’s a bright, bubbly day at Woodbine Beach. Toronto is a maze of muddy paths and salted sidewalks, but from this sandy sidewalk, Winter stations emerges as its bright beacon colorcommunity and design talent.

Photo by Joel Gale

Celebrating its 12th anniversary this year, Winter Stations international design competition invites artists, architects and designers to reimagine an unusual typology, lifeboats, and transform them into dynamic works of public art. With a backdrop of Lake Ontario, the five winning proposals are then constructed and remain on display for a 6-week exhibition that is free and open to all, attracting curious Torontonians from across the city. Today is no different: a constant stream of dog walkers, young families, small children, assistant editors (me) and beachgoers admire the impressive facilities.

This year’s theme, Miragechallenges participants to explore the edges of reality, asking: what do we yearn to see? In the age of artificial intelligence and digital echo chambers, where is the line between what is seen and what is real? Selected by a blind jury of leading experts in art, design, architecture and urbanism, the winning projects engage this theme from a range of thoughtful angles and compelling material elements.

Photo by Joel Gale

Embrace

Two giant hands of thin, blackened wood emerging from the sand are already an unusual sight, but getting closer reveals their rainbow-striped palms. Designed by an art director and 3D artist based in Saskatoon Will CuthbertEmbrace is an invitation to discover a new reality, to change your perspective and to be enveloped in arms. And people love it: hands reach out to touch, mirroring their giant neighbors.

Photo by Joel Gale

Photo by Joel Gale

Ridge

Like the turbulent water of Lake Ontario just steps away, the Crest creates a sweeping wave before breaking offering viewers a moment of pause within its surrounding form. Inside, the corrugated plywood pattern—intended to look like driftwood from afar—disappears and reappears depending on the angle. And in the afternoon sun, the curved form of the Crest creates a matching shadow of geometric lines in the sand. Designed by a band of talented students from the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture and Department of Architectural Engineering, the team includes Clay te Bokkel, Isabella Ieraci, Matthew Lam, Sasha Rao, Simon Huang, Oskar Peng, David Shen and Professor Fiona Lim Tung.

Photo by Joel Gale

Photo by Joel Gale

Specularia

Designed by interdisciplinary designer Andrew Clark of Maine-based TORNADO SOUPthis interactive installation invites visitors to walk through a gauzy curtained corridor and look through five framed openings into the lake. Each window offers a different perspective: one frames the lifeguard tower, one reveals the sky above, another reflects your own face back at you. Called Specularia, the installation – constructed of treated MicroPro Sienna timber – combines reality with dream portals disconnected from the environment.

Photo by Joel Gale

Photo by Joel Gale

Glaciate

A small maze of vertical polycarbonate panels filled with water from the nearby lake, Glaciate’s frozen walls offer an ever-changing optical illusion as the water freezes and warms. These shifting forms—opaque, translucent, or transparent—obscure one’s view of a vibrant red central lifeguard tower while also obscuring the view of the interior toward the beach. Designed by a team from the Metropolitan University of Toronto’s Department of Architectural Science in collaboration with Ming Chuan University’s 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 like being inside a cloud.

Photo by Joel Gale

Photo by Joel Gale

Chimera

Completely enveloping the lifeguard tower with circular mirrors, Chimera confronts viewers with echoing versions of themselves. Designed by Berlin-based collective creative practice Denys Horodnyak and Enzo Zak Lux, the installation speaks to the fragmentation of physical and digital reality – and the lack of control individuals can have over themselves. Created in partnership with the Mechanical Contractors Association of Ontario, the duo used pipe welder and metal artist Courtney Chard to construct the design from her studio in Georgetown.

Don’t miss the opportunity to see these amazing facilities up close! For more details, visit their website here.

Sophie Sobol is a Toronto-based writer and editor with a love for art, design and fashion — from public art to the perfect coffee table to her lifelong obsession with plaid. As Assistant Editor at Design Milk, she brings her enthusiasm for joyful design to a global audience of kindred spirits. He also has a soft spot for ribbons and framing lost lottery tickets.