Crystal Castles


Crystal Castles is composed of a series of elongated house-like structures, which seem to magically rise and sparkle along the snowy beach of Lake Ontario. By morphing, re-scaling, and dissolving the solid walls of an archetypal pitch-roof house, this installation transforms a familiar form into an otherworldly presence, experience, and escape from the everyday.

In effect, Crystal Castles becomes a vessel for the imagination of its visitors, who can explore its various volumes, scale its heights, wander through, and peer inside. The tallest of the towers wraps around the existing lifeguard station, while the remaining volumes offer windows at different heights and seating edges oriented towards the surrounding wintry landscape. Reflective columns (made of metallic-painted timber) not only act as windbreakers, but also visually express the ethereal notion of refuge.





Location
Toronto, Ontario, CA
Date
2020

Client
Winter Stations, Waterfront BIA, and Distillery District
Type
Installation

Status
Concept

Team
Maia Peck, Gregory Serweta