DesignTO 2026 at Yonge + St. Clair

From January 23 – February 1, 2026, Toronto will once again come alive with creativity, experimentation, and bold ideas as the DesignTO Festival returns. DesignTO celebrates design as a multidisciplinary practice — inviting the public to explore how art, architecture, and creative thinking shape the spaces we live, work, and move through every day.

The Yonge + St. Clair BIA is proud to be a sponsor of DesignTO 2026 and to host a curated series of seven large-scale, site-specific art installations across the neighbourhood. These works transform office lobbies, gallery spaces, and vacant storefront windows into publicly accessible cultural destinations, inviting visitors to experience design in unexpected places.

This year’s program places a strong emphasis on placemaking and public access, using large-scale artwork to animate private and underutilized spaces, encourage exploration along Yonge Street, and showcase the creative potential of Midtown Toronto.

INSTALLATIONS

 

1 – ‘STRATA’ by Toronto Metropolitan University
(Ambreen Dhaliwal, Vincent Hui, Arjun Jain, Zain Malik, Dhruvan Modugula, Jullian Pretti, Lior Shneer, AJ Singh, Samantha Sohail)
(📍 1521 Yonge Street)
STRATA is a student-led installation from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Architectural Science, inspired by the movement of the Northern Lights and exploring how light, material, and landscape can create a sense of motion.

2 – ‘Many Colours, One Sky’ by Paula Hartmann (📍 1521 Yonge Street)
Many Colours, One Sky is a suspended installation of clustered paper mobiles in the Yonge + St. Clair neighbourhood’s signature colours, creating a dynamic composition of colour and movement within the window gallery.

3 – ‘Beneath One Sky’ by Asli Alin (📍 2 St. Clair W)
Beneath One Sky is an installation by Asli Alin featuring suspended, translucent mesh forms that create an immersive overhead environment shaped by layering, colour, and spatial dialogue.

4 – ‘Nature’s Meadow’ by Mike Geiger (📍 30 St. Clair W)
Nature’s Meadow features a forest guardian nurturing its foliage, inviting reflection on the symbiotic relationship between nature and its caretakers and the balance that defines Canada’s natural identity. Through a gesture-based interaction, the sculpture comes to life when visitors form a heart with their hands, igniting a red glow and soundscape that transforms an act of care into a shared moment of pride, connection, and unity.

5 – ‘Hope and Healing Canada – A Journey Towards Decolonization and Reconciliation’ by Tracey-Mae Chambers (📍 40 St. Clair W)
Since 2021, Métis artist Tracey-Mae Chambers has created over 150 site-specific red fibre installations across Canada and the United States that confront colonial narratives and engage audiences in conversations around decolonization, reconciliation, and collective memory.

6 – ‘Connections’ by Cherie Leung (📍 55 St. Clair W)
Connections is an immersive installation by Cherie Leung that spans the interior and exterior of 55 St. Clair West, encouraging reflection on the spaces, both physical and emotional, between us in the midst of urban life.

7 – ‘Close Your Eyes, Heal In a Parallel World’ by Firouzeh Saremifar (📍 95 St. Clair W)
Close Your Eyes, Heal In A Parallel World is a body of work by Firouzeh Saremi Far that explores the bond between the human spirit and the natural world through 3D acrylic paintings and steel sculptures that balance strength and delicacy.

GUIDED WALKING TOURS TO BE ANNOUNCED!

Guided walking tours are currently in development and will be announced closer to the festival launch.

These tours will offer participants a deeper look at select installations while exploring the neighbourhood’s built environment, creative process, and the role of design in placemaking. Tours will be free to attend and offered on a limited-capacity, RSVP basis.

Stay tuned for tour dates and registration details.

 

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors and Collaborators

 

 

 

 

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