Celebrate Family Day at Woodbine Beach with the launch of Winter Stations 2025

Winter Stations 2025 kicks off on Monday, Feb. 17, at Woodbine Beach, offering six art installations for all to explore this Family Day.

The annual outdoor exhibits transform lifeguard stations into imaginative and interactive art installations, offering a fun way to enjoy the winter landscape.

The official launch event kicks off on Family Day at 11:15 a.m. at Woodbine Bathing Station (1675 Lake Shore Blvd East) with remarks from Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford followed by a guided walking tour along Woodbine Beach with the artist teams.

Attendees are advised to dress warmly, as the event takes place entirely outdoors and is exposed to strong lakefront winds.

This year’s installations are created by artists and designers from around the world and aim to blend with the natural environment while offering visitors an immersive outdoor experience.

The temporary structures will remain on display through March.

Among the six winning designs are Parade (from the United States); Watch (from the United States); Ascolto (from France); Slice of Sun (from Portugal); Peak (by the University of Waterloo); and Solair (by Toronto Metropolitan University).

Started in 2015 as a way to highlight the beauty of the Eastern Beaches and make them a destination point for outdoor art installations during February and March, Winter Stations sees the artworks set up at the lifeguard stations along Woodbine Beach. Each year an international competition receives entries connected to that year’s Winter Stations’ theme. The founders of Winter Stations are RAW Design, Ferris + Associates and Curio.

The theme for Winter Stations 2025 is Dawn.

“Designers were invited to explore how Winter Stations can evolve, and to consider the future of the exhibition and its relationship wit the public and the environment,” said the news release announcing this year’s installations.

“Through this lens, Dawn challenges designers to explore how Winter Stations can adapt, grow and metamorphose in the coming years, shaping the urban landscape in imaginative and innovative ways.”

Hundreds of entries were received from design teams around the world, and from Ontario universities and colleges, for Winter Stations 2025. The winners were selected a jury comprised of Aaron Knight, Adam Barrett, Alana Mercury, Lily Jeon, and Jon Jeronimus. Winter Stations is sponsored by RAW Design, Northcrest Developments, Resident Properties, Crombie REIT & Sobeys, MicroPro Sienna, BEHR Paint.

“After celebrating a decade of Winter Stations last year, we really wanted to look forward and challenge artists and designers to consider the future of the Stations,” said RAW Design architect Dakota Wares-Tani.

“In reviewing the hundreds of submissions, we feel the selected installations brought something unique and exciting to the Beach for 2025 and we cant’ wait to see them enjoyed by the public this winter.”

Here are the six installations that will make up Winter Stations 2025 on Woodbine Beach:

Parade – (Jesse Beus; United States)

“Parade is a celebration of those who live in the warm dawn of self-acceptance. It is comprised of six characters each with their own unique colour, shape, purpose, and identity,” said the Winter Stations news release.

“Together this eclectic cast of follies proudly march together in an unstoppable procession and invite all to join them! Users join the parade through an archway and move from character to character discovering each’s personality and interactivity, including sliding, sitting, and shading. Despite anything that might try to get in their way, these six friends will march on until love has dawned on all hearts.”

 

WATCH – (Trae Home; United States)  

“As the morning sun crests above Lake Ontario’s horizon, a new day dawns on the crisp morning, and a wood canvas basks in the light. WATCH reflects on the specific point in time that it and visitors are within. The large, canted façade acts as a leaning respite for watchers of the sunrise and lake,” said the Winter Stations news release.
 
“Facing due east, WATCH is a solar aligned structure anticipating equinox. Just as ancient civilizations marked the earth in ways to signify the time in the year and an important place, so too does WATCH. Three metal lines embedded in the sand follow the shadows throughout the three days: the day Winter Stations open, the equinox, and the day the Winter Stations close. The a-framed structure captures the equinox in Toronto as the architecture becomes perfectly aligned with the sunrise when light spills in a straight line through the open threshold.”  

Ascolto – (Ines Dessaint, Tonin Letondu; France)

“In Ascolto, the sound experience is commemorated. This acoustic shelter welcomes the user in a contemplation space, not only visually but also audibly. Supported adjacent to the lifeguard tower on one side and buried in the sand on the other, the object creates a sound capsule,” said the Winter Stations news release. “The simple and minimalist shape is explicit and refers clearly to a sound-amplifier object (horn, wind instruments, gramophone and etc…).
 
“Built in wood, the inner space is big enough for two or three people for a more intimate experience. Visitors to the station bring the project to life by choosing their desired purpose and through this process adapt to it: hearing nature and its surroundings; appreciating the music chosen on their phones; or creating a musical performance. Usable as a horn on one hand, the project can also be utilized as an Ear Trumpet: the two sides are both the sender’s side and the receiver’s side.”

 

Slice of Sun – (Claudia Franco, Mariam Daudali, Thomas Byrom; Portugal)

“For a moment, we recall our summer memories. When you live in a city, dawn is mainly brought to you by glimpses of orange light scattered from your neighbour’s windows switching from one to the other,” said the Winter Stations news release.
 
“One wonders how many dreams can fit into the blinking box of orange curtains. We invite you to enter our slice of sun and feel embraced by dawn light at any time of the day.”

 

Peak – (Anita Hu, Catherine Zheng, Isaac Walsh, Jason Cai, Nadine Hijazi, Ricardo Espinoza, with faculty supervisor Fiona Lim Tung; University of Waterloo – Department of Architecture)  

“Emerging from the soft and organic beachscape are angular peaks that frame perspectives and form pathways. Consisting of repeating structures of select shapes and sizes, Peak is an interactive installation that visually contrasts the existing site and offers refuge from the cold winter environment. The design of the structure appears to shift and settle with the ground as the sand moves and collects within the alcoves and sloped surfaces from the wind,” said the Winter Stations news release.
 
“Peak welcomes contemplation and new beginnings, it offers opportunities for individuals to freely explore and admire the surrounding natural landscape and intends to give agency to the ever changing and unpredictable conditions of the site.”

 

Solair – (Arjun Jain – lead; Jade Wong – lead; Finn Ferrall, Marko Sikic, Nick Kisil; with faculty supervisor Vincent Hui; Toronto Metropolitan University – Department of Architectural Science)

“Solair is a sculptural installation that captures the ephemeral beauty of dawn through the interplay of light, wind, and reflection. Inspired by the delicate transition from night to day, Solair amplifies the forces of nature – sunlight and air – transforming them into a dynamic, ever-changing visual and sensory experience,” said the Winter Stations news release.
 
“Standing as both a literal and metaphorical beacon, Solair is designed to reflect and refract sunlight while channeling the waterfront breeze to cultivate a distinct auditory expression. The installation’s dynamic surfaces respond to the movement of wind, creating rippling shadows and flickering patterns of light, echoing the energy of the first rays of morning and lasting glimpse of sunset. As visitors move around and through the installation, they become active participants in this amplified natural performance, immersed in the harmony of air and light.”

 

For more information on Winter Stations 2025, please go to https://winterstations.com/