Paul Raff Studio Wins 2018 CODAworx Award

Paul Raff Studio has won the prestigious 2018 CODAaward for Atmospheric Lens at the Vaughan Metropolitian Centre Transit Station. The CODAworx Awards celebrate public artworks that most successfully integrate commissioned art into interior, architectural, or public spaces. Atmospheric Lens was commissioned by the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension as part of an official mandate on behalf of the Toronto Transit Commission to recognize the importance of the user’s experience in new infrastructure.

The new station was to use architecturally integrated artwork to elevate commuters’ experience from a typically lackluster one to something poetic and resonant. The artwork delivers an elevated encounter while highlighting and integrating with the station’s unique architecture.

Spanning 16,000 s.f. Atmospheric Lens dissolves the convex ceiling of the above-ground pavilion into a dynamic, cubist collage of reflections of life inside the station. Lined in polished steel mirrors and punctured with solar-aligned skylights augmented by coloured reflectors, the dome sets light and reflection into perpetual motion throughout the day, affecting an artful interior sky. Commuters moving under the ‘lens’ complete the passive kinetic effect by seeing their reflection in the panels, becoming part of the ever-changing atmosphere above.

Sherry Dobbin, Juror and Cultural Director at Futurecity praises the project “as an excellent example of integrated design and collaboration. The entire space is part of the experience and work. It could also be used for temporary events, creating a purposeful series of kaleidoscopic design.”

Photos: Shai Gil