Wild and wonderful designs hit the beach in wintry Toronto

Each year, the Winter Stations competition transforms beach lifeguard stations in Toronto into temporary structures for part of the Northern Hemisphere's winter season. The winning designs for 2023 have now been revealed and consist of an eclectic collection of huts, art installations, and simple shelters.

Now in its 9th year, the 2023 Winter Stations is located at Toronto's Woodbine beach. There are eight winners this time around, which are made up of five designs selected from hundreds of submissions worldwide, alongside three additional student designs that hail from local universities.

The structures aren't really meant to be practical, but are instead intended as a means of providing some artistic inspiration and to give people a reason to wrap up warm and head down to the beach during winter, before the Winter Stations are removed once spring comes to Canada and the lifeguard stations are once again used for their intended purpose.

This year's theme is Radiance and would-be designers were asked to "celebrate their growth, inner strength, and freedom in defining and showing what Radiance means to them." We've highlighted a couple of examples below, but you can see them all in our gallery.

Phil Marion

the (Home) was designed by Canada's Scott Shields Architects and takes the form of a simple house-like pavilion with bright walls that create colorful changing patterns, both during the day and when it's illuminated at night.

"With the world moving through major economic and political changes while still recovering from years of pandemic, we imagine the best manifestation of this year's theme of radiance in a simple definition of Home," said the designer. "Home, whether it's a space or beloved neighborhood, is a place blessed, where one feels security, strength and freedom thus casting a radiance of inner beauty and potential to the outside world."

Phil Marion

Life Line was designed by WeatherstonBruer Associates, also from Canada, and its tubular design is meant to reference the infrastructure found at the waterfront. Visitors place a ball at the top of the tube, which is on a slope, sending it rolling through a series of wind chimes, creating an interesting soundscape.

"Radiance is a collective experience," said the designer. "The act of emitting and receiving positivity has an impact that reaches far beyond its origin point. Life Line proposes an interactive station that materializes the transfer of joy through a shared, auditory experience."

The eight Winter Stations will remain in place until late March, after which time two winning designs will be chosen to appear in a satellite exhibit in Mississauga, Canada, from late March to September. In addition, a Spring Stations exhibit featuring four of the winning designs will also be placed in the Sir Casimir Gzowski Park in Toronto.

If you can't make the trip in person, check out the gallery for a look at the rest of this year's winners.

Source: Winter Stations