Introduction
Public art can surprise people, make them curious, and change how they see everyday places. A good example is Delighthouse, a special art piece made by UK designers Nick Green and Greig Pirrie. It was built for the Winter Stations design contest in Toronto. Delighthouse is a creative mix of light, building design, and ways for people to interact with it.
What Is Delighthouse?
Delighthouse is a public art sculpture designed to look like a small lighthouse made from bright red steel. Unlike a traditional lighthouse that guides ships at sea, Delighthouse invites people to step inside, explore, and experience light in a new way.
The installation was created as part of the Winter Stations competition, an annual event held on Toronto’s beaches. The goal of the competition is to turn unused lifeguard stations into temporary public artworks during the winter months.
Delighthouse transforms a simple structure into a place of discovery, warmth, and imagination, even in cold weather.
The Designers Behind Delighthouse
Nick Green
Nick Green is a UK-based designer known for creating playful, thought-provoking structures that encourage public interaction. His work often explores how people move through space and how simple materials can create powerful experiences.
Greig Pirrie
Greig Pirrie is also a UK designer with a strong interest in architecture, spatial design, and public installations. His designs focus on clarity, structure, and how people emotionally respond to built environments.
A Creative Collaboration
Together, Green and Pirrie combined their skills to create Delighthouse with a clear focus on simple form, strong visual impact, and meaningful public engagement. Their collaboration shows how thoughtful and well-planned design can transform a small structure into a memorable and engaging public experience for everyone.
The Winter Stations Design Competition
To understand Delighthouse, it helps to know about Winter Stations.
What Is Winter Stations?
Winter Stations is an international design competition held every year in Toronto, Canada. During winter, lifeguard towers on the beach are not used. The competition challenges designers to transform these structures into art installations.
Purpose of the Competition
The main goals of Winter Stations are to encourage winter beach visits, support creative and experimental design, and make public art accessible to everyone.
Delighthouse was selected because it met all these goals while offering something bold and interactive.
The Inspiration Behind Delighthouse
The inspiration for Delighthouse comes from the traditional lighthouse, a structure long associated with safety, direction, and illumination. Nick Green and Greig Pirrie reimagined this familiar form, not as a tool for guiding ships, but as a public artwork that invites human interaction.
Instead of sending light out to sea, Delighthouse draws people in—sparking curiosity, encouraging exploration, and creating small moments of surprise for visitors. By placing a recognizable structure in an unexpected context, the designers gave the lighthouse a new meaning within an urban, public setting, turning it into a space for experience rather than instruction.
Design and Structure of Delighthouse
Shape and Form
Delighthouse is tall, narrow, and tower-like, similar to a lighthouse. Its simple shape makes it easy to recognize from a distance.
Color Choice
The sculpture is painted a bright red, making it stand out against the white snow, visible from a distance, and creating a strong visual contrast. This bold color choice makes Delighthouse both eye-catching and inviting for visitors.
Materials Used
The installation is primarily made of steel, providing strength, stability, and safety for public use. Its clean, modern appearance, combined with durability, allows Delighthouse to withstand harsh winter weather while remaining visually striking.
Light and Interaction
Light as the Main Feature
Light is at the heart of Delighthouse, with openings that let natural light in during the day, creating shifting shadows as visitors move inside. At night, artificial lighting transforms the sculpture into a glowing beacon, enhancing its visual impact and inviting exploration.
Inside the Structure
Visitors can step inside Delighthouse and look upward, experiencing how the light shifts around them as they move. This playful interaction sparks curiosity, evokes a sense of calm, and helps people feel connected to the space.
How People Experience Delighthouse
Delighthouse is designed as an interactive sculpture, meant to be experienced up close rather than simply viewed from a distance. Visitors can walk around the structure, step inside its interior, and look up through the openings to see how light and shadows play across the space.
Its open design encourages exploration, allowing children, adults, and artists alike to interpret and engage with it in their own way. This freedom of experience is one of Delighthouse’s defining strengths, making it both visually striking and personally meaningful.
Delighthouse and Public Art
Making Art Accessible
One of the most important aspects of Delighthouse is that it is free and open to everyone. There are no tickets, walls, or rules about how to engage with it.
This approach brings art into daily life, reaches people who might not visit museums, and creates shared experiences in public spaces.
Temporary but Impactful
Although Delighthouse is a temporary installation, its impact lasts much longer. Many visitors remember it, photograph it, and talk about it even after it is gone.
Temporary public art like Delighthouse encourages experimentation, supports bold creative ideas, and keeps public spaces dynamic and engaging.
Cultural and Social Impact
Encouraging Winter Activity
Delighthouse helped draw people to Toronto’s beaches during the long, cold winters, encouraging outdoor exploration and transforming quiet spaces into lively social gathering spots.
Connecting People
Public art brings people together. Strangers stop, look, talk, and share reactions. Delighthouse created moments of connection between people who might not otherwise interact.
Why Delighthouse Matters
Delighthouse is significant because it demonstrates how simple, well-executed ideas can create a strong impact. It shows that thoughtful design can transform how people experience public spaces, making them more engaging and interactive.
The sculpture highlights that art can be playful, meaningful, and inclusive, inviting everyone to participate regardless of age or background.
Delighthouse proves that public art does not need to be overly complex or expensive to be powerful, careful planning and a clear purpose can leave a lasting impression on the community.
Lessons from Delighthouse
Delighthouse offers valuable lessons for designers, students, and artists. It demonstrates that simplicity works, showing how a clear, focused idea can be more powerful than a complicated design.
It emphasizes that interaction matters, as people connect more deeply with art they can experience rather than just observe. The installation also highlights the importance of context, seamlessly fitting into its beach setting and enhancing the surrounding environment.
Finally, it illustrates the social value of public art, bringing people together, encouraging engagement, and creating shared experiences that strengthen community connections.
Conclusion
Delighthouse is more than just a sculpture, it is an experience. Created by Nick Green and Greig Pirrie for the Winter Stations competition, it transforms a familiar lighthouse form into a playful, interactive public artwork.
With its bold red color, simple structure, and thoughtful use of light, Delighthouse invites people to slow down, explore, and see their surroundings in a new way. It shows how public art can brighten winter days, encourage community interaction, and leave a lasting memory—even after the installation is gone.
Delighthouse stands as a shining example of how creative design can make public spaces more engaging, meaningful, and human.
