For the first time ever, a winning station will launch along Hamilton’s waterfront as part of Winterfest, before returning to the Beach in Toronto in March
Winter Stations competition is back again for its eighth year, with 3 winning designs selected from hundreds of submissions worldwide, alongside three student designs from Ryerson University, University of Toronto and University of Guelph, respectively. Launched by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates and Curio in 2015, the competition invites designers, artists, and architects to create bold designs that spark conversation and draw people outside to enjoy the Beach in the winter.
After a one-year hiatus stemming from impact of the pandemic, the winning designs will once again overtake the lifeguard stations at Toronto’s Woodbine Beach (pending any unforeseen COVID restrictions that could arise). In an exciting first, one winning station, Wildlife-guard Chair, will launch along Hamilton’s Pier 8 mid-February as part of Winterfest. The station will then move back to Toronto’s Beach in early March to conclude its exhibition alongside the other stations. This opportunity was a result of last year’s success exhibiting the stations at multiple locations around Toronto, including at the historic Distillery District and along Queen Street East. Organizers are actively looking for additional locations for Spring and Summer exhibitions and will post updates as details are confirmed.
“What an honour it is to bring Winter Stations to Hamilton this year, marking the first city outside of Toronto to host these renowned art installations,” says Joe Valela, Principal of Tercot Communities on behalf of the Waterfront Shores Partners. “We’re thrilled to welcome Wildlife-guard Chair to Hamilton’s Pier 8, a jewel in the North End neighbourhood. We encourage Hamiltonians to come out to view the wonderful installation, go for a skate and take in the beautiful views of the waterfront. We’re hopeful that the installation inspires joy and happiness at a time when communities need it most.”
“With all the uncertainty over the past two years, we’re overjoyed that Winter Stations can once again return to the spot it began – on the Beach,” says Roland Rom Colthoff, Founder, Winter Stations. “It’s great to be able to offer Torontonians a distanced and safe event to look forward to this winter. Whether it’s your first time seeing the exhibits, or you’re returning for another year, we hope you enjoy the installations that artists and designers from around the world worked so hard to create. Thank you to everyone who submitted to the competition and to our partners for making it happen. We’re hopeful to garner additional sponsors to further expand programming of the popular event.”
This year’s Winter Stations theme is Resilience. Designers were asked to celebrate the ability of people to withstand and push through challenging and unprecedented times. This year, artists were asked to not only reflect on all the ways people have had to be resilient, but the ways people have channeled this resilience, be it through communities, movements, support networks and more.
In recognition of the profound impact that the pandemic has had on the East End community, and particularly YWCA Toronto’s shelter residents, Winter Stations has partnered with the YWCA to dedicate one station to the women and gender diverse individuals that lived at YWCA Toronto’s temporary emergency shelter at Kingston Road and Queen Street East. After reviewing the winning stations, residents and staff were drawn to THE HIVE, because of its vibrant colours and how it represents resilience and hope in building community in unprecedented times.
This year’s competition is made possible by the generous sponsorship of The Beach BIA, Minto Communities, Sali Tabacchi Branding and Design, Meevo Digital, RioCan, Demirov, Bara Group, Urban Capital and Waterfront Shores Partners, consisting of Cityzen Group, Tercot Communities, Greybrook Realty and the City of Hamilton. Winter Stations is accepting sponsors who are passionate about allowing emerging artists and designers to showcase their work and launch their careers on an international platform. Each year, sponsorships are used to cover the cost of materials and labour sourced locally and sustainability, supporting local businesses.
The 2022 winning installations are slated to launch Family Day weekend, on display until the end of March (pending any unforeseen COVID restrictions).
The 2022 Winter Stations winners are:
ENTER-FACE by MELT (Cemre Önertürk & Ege Çakır), Turkey
The times of pandemic have changed our habits in multi-scalar aspects, but it especially affected the way of 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 by 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 by 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 primary composed of worker bees whose greatest measure of resilience is maintaining hive temperature throughout the cold winter months. This is achieved by adapting worker behaviour 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 colour 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 by Evan Fernandes, Kelvin Hoang, Alexandra Winslow, Justin Lieberman & Ariel Weiss, Lead 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 by 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 centre 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 by Alex Feenstra, Megan Haralovich, Zhengyang Hua, Noah Tran, Haley White & Connor Winrow, Lead 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 ensures 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 honour 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 honours Indigenous treaties and rights. The road forward is long and nonlinear, but we commit to take the journey together.
Additional Information
The 2022 Winter Stations jury was comprised of Roya Khaleeli, Paul Bieksa, Henry Tyminsky, Mark Rason, Jonathan Hilburg, Bruce Kuwabara, with Brad Bradford returning as Co-Chair.
A special thank you to Anex Works for constructing the installations, and to MicroPro Sienna for providing the treated wood for the fabrication of THE HIVE and Wildlife-guard Chair.
Fans of Winter Stations are encouraged to visit the online merch store, which helps to ensure the annual competition is able to return for future exhibits. The shop offers hoodies, tees, tote bags and kids’ apparel, and sales proceeds go directly towards operating Winter Stations in the future. You can visit the shop here.
For more information visit www.winterstations.com.