Nothing screams depressing Toronto winter than an empty lifeguard station set before a frozen lake. The mental picture of it makes me shiver. A new design competition put together by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates, and Curio aims to change this by transforming these desolate structures into public art installations.

Earlier today, four finalists were announced in the Winter Stations international design competition. The theme the designers had to work with was, fittingly, "warmth." Each of the finalists work dramatically brighten up what are otherwise sad structures when the winter arrives. The four installations will be built in the eastern Beaches between February 13-16 and stay up until March 20. An additional design by Ryerson students will also be installed.

The winning designs are pasted below. I'd suggest taking a look at the long list of entries, though. There are a ton of fun designs in here, including a few I'm surprised didn't make the cut. In any case, this is a great public art initiative and something that Toronto should have more of.

Driftwood Throne, DM_Studio (London)

Hot Box, Michaela MacLeod and Nicholas Croft (Toronto)

Sling Swing, WMB Studio (London/Liverpool)

Snowcone, Diana Koncan and Lily Jeon (Ryerson, Toronto)

What do you think? Let us know your favourite design in the comments.

The lead image depicts Wing Back by Tim Olson (New Hampshire)