Each February, an unexpected transformation takes place along Toronto’s Woodbine Beach shoreline, where the quiet lifeguard towers that stand dormant through winter are reborn as striking works of public art. Known as Winter Stations, this annual international design competition and exhibition has become one of the city’s most anticipated cultural moments during the coldest season.

Founded in 2014 by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates, and Curio, Winter Stations draws international design talent to Toronto’s waterfront while reimagining familiar civic structures. What began as an innovative architectural experiment has evolved into a celebrated public art event that invites residents and visitors to experience the beach in an entirely new way.

Now entering its twelfth year in 2026, the exhibition continues its tradition of unveiling installations on Family Day and running through several weeks into March. The event encourages families, creatives, students, and curious wanderers to brave the elements and engage with art in an unconventional outdoor setting.

At the heart of Winter Stations is a simple but powerful idea: transform utilitarian, non-functional winter lifeguard towers into thought-provoking, interactive installations. Each selected design wraps around or incorporates the existing tower structure, turning it into something immersive, playful, reflective, or experimental. The result is a temporary gallery stretched across the snowy sands of Woodbine Beach.

The 2026 theme, “Mirage,” explores perception, sustainability, and the shifting relationship between environment and imagination. In winter, the beach itself feels like a mirage—vast, quiet, and almost surreal against Toronto’s urban skyline. They invite designers to interpret the concept in ways that challenge viewers’ expectations, whether through optical illusions, reflections, light manipulation, or commentary on climate and environmental fragility.

The theme resonates particularly strongly in a time when conversations around sustainability and climate resilience are shaping architectural discourse worldwide. Mirage suggests both illusion and possibility. It asks visitors to consider what is real, what is fleeting, and what the futures might be constructed from creative intervention.

Part of the event’s enduring appeal lies in its accessibility. There are no gallery walls or admission fees. The installations stand open to the public, subject to wind, snow, and shifting daylight. Children climb through them. Photographers frame them against icy horizons. Designers study their structural ingenuity. In this way, Winter Stations democratizes contemporary design, making it tactile and immediate.

Over the years, the competition has attracted submissions from across the globe, reinforcing Toronto’s place within the international design conversation. Emerging architects stand alongside established firms, united by the challenge of working within tight spatial parameters while delivering conceptual depth. The temporary nature of the installations encourages experimentation—bold ideas that might be too risky in permanent construction find space to exist, even if only for a few winter weeks.

There is also something profoundly Canadian about the event. Rather than retreat indoors, Winter Stations embraces the season. It reframes winter not as an obstacle, but as an opportunity. Snow becomes a design partner. Ice amplifies light. The starkness of February skies heightens colour and form.

As the installations disappear each March, they leave behind more than footprints in the sand. They leave an expanded understanding of how our public spaces are activated year-round. They remind Torontonians that creativity does not hibernate. Instead, it thrives in contrast, cold air against warm imagination, rigid structures softened by artistic intervention.

Winter Stations continue to prove that even the most practical infrastructure can hold poetic potential. Along the frozen shoreline of Woodbine Beach, lifeguard towers become canvases, and winter itself becomes the gallery.

 Jennifer Williams | Editor-in-Chief