Located on a prominent civic precinct, the new development consolidates the once residual condition of the site into a revitalized, 24/7 urban park space and event destination. It is a joint-use partnership between the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Eskimos Football Club; combining football operations, stadium programming, and a community centre. The facility adaptively reuses the 1978 stadium fitness centre and connects these user groups over 4 storeys through a cascading promenade.
Three primary masses – Field House, Aquatics and Gymnasium – respond to the dynamic triangulated geometries of the site and frame a central lobby space, ‘the Social Heart’. These in turn define three exterior forecourt spaces.
The building responds to the scale of the stadium and its dynamic nature. The pool massing creates a prow-like gesture, suggesting speed and movement. A southern canopy shields direct light and unifies with the taller field house mass. The cost effective silver metallic cladding is deeply carved to reveal a tessellated phenolic wood panel system. This rationalizes envelope geometries and frames large openings. Walls of variegated ceramic frit glazing modulates heat buildup, solar glare and user privacy.
CONTEXT & URBAN RESPONSE The planning interconnects the fabric of a distressed neighborhood, creates a year round urban parkspace, and draws the public from all three sides to a new social core. Park promenades are developed N–S and E–W through the building, connecting neighbourhoods through the site, creating urban edges, and reinforcing transit.
The project is designed to allow the three diverse groups to share their program specific amenities: The Eskimos: use the community centre pool, track, and fitness centre for player training and host game related events in the gym and meeting spaces. The Community: has joint use of the field house and use the Eskimo meeting and coaching rooms in the off-seasons. The Stadium Operations: hosts side-stage events in the field house, use the community centre and Eskimo meeting rooms for hosting and staging functions for concerts and athletic events.
The project elevates the project type of ‘Recreation Centre’ to an important civic and social meeting space. The rigor of the architectural expression and quality of the detailing sets a Western Canada standard for this program type. The interior daylighting, views and interconnection to the community will ensure the facility’s sustainability, the neighbourhood’s successful regeneration, and the health and wellbeing of its residents.
This LEED Silver Targeted project abated and ‘adaptively reused’ the existing 1978 recreation centre to become the permanent home of the Eskimos Operations. The new building envelope was designed to high performance criteria conforming to the innovative government of Alberta ‘PERSIST’ guidelines and ‘ARCA’ roofing guidelines. No additional parking was added to the site; the replacement vehicular forecourt is designed as pedestrianized event space. Landscape areas surrounding the Stadium Site were expanded and rejuvenated. The project was designed as a Transit Oriented Development (TOD).
