Cloud Station

The Cloud Station was a submission for the Toronto Winter Stations Competition. Winter Stations is an annual public art competition that challenges designers worldwide to re-imagine Toronto's lifeguard stations as a basis for winter art.

The Cloud Station provides a phenomenological experience for Toronto beachgoers performing as a trans-formative mass that interacts with the winter environment — collecting snow, forming ice, catching light and expressing these conditions through changes in its density, presence, and experience.  Constructed of a highly transparent aluminum perforated sheet (80% open area) bent into simple triangulated columns and collected into a floating monolith.   In a thawed state, the multifaceted and layered transparency of the Cloud Station’s aluminum veil forms an ephemeral mass that highlights the lifeguard’s chair as a curated object in the landscape.  In a frozen state, snowfall and ice accumulations collect in varied degrees influenced by wind and the layered mesh — the Cloud Station builds translucency and opacity.  As darkness falls, the Cloud Station’s thin cap becomes a subtle glowing plane, drawing passersby down onto the beach.  The Cloud Station can be responsibly recycled after exhibition.