Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/109465
Audley Recreation Centre renderings courtesy MJM Architects By Helen Lammers-Helps he new Audley Recreation Centre in Ajax, Ontario, is a multi-use community complex providing space for both indoor and outdoor recreational activities for people of all ages. The 56,000-square-foot, $29-million facility contains a competition-sized, six-lane pool, warm water leisure pool, gymnasium, multi-purpose room, dance studio and rooms outfitted for use by youth and preschoolers. The 23-hectare site also features a splash pad, outdoor courts, recreational trails, skate park, an inclusive playground and passive green space for community events and unstructured play. The complex is located in a greenbelt area so it was important that the structure complement the surrounding parkland, says Catherine Bridgeman, manager of Infrastructure and Capital Projects with the Town of Ajax. To create a sense that the building is integrated within its park setting, and relates in scale to the adjacent suburban residential neighbourhood, the building���s massing is composed of double-height volumes for the pool and gym, set within a permeable one-storey massing defined by the public and circulation space, explains Kai Hotson, project architect with MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects (MJMA). ���There was also significant use of glass both on the interior and exterior to create open, porous interior spaces, as well as visual connections through the building with the landscape,��� he says. Construction materials were chosen based on esthetics, durability and sustainability, says Hotson. Inside the facility, white ground-faced architectural masonry walls, polished concrete floors, back-painted glass and large skylights in the pool and corridors create a sense of openness. The exterior is a combination of zinc cladding, black ground-face architectural masonry walls and high-performance glazing. Vertical fins integrated with the glazing provide solar shading as well as variegated colour elements in the facades. ���Wood was used on the ceilings as a unifying material to bring the outdoors in and to tie the spaces together,��� says Hotson. Cedar soffits form large cantilevers over the outdoor covered spaces, providing shading on south-facing elevations, and continuing into the building. To complement the exterior finishes of the facility, tones of blue, charcoal and stainless steel were used for the outdoor elements, says Patricia Sharpe, landscape architect with PMA Landscape Architects Inc. T Audley Recreation Centre p86-89Audley.indd 87 The inclusive and accessible playground provides opportunities for children of all ages and abilities to play and interact in a safe, healthy environment. It includes a sensory play area, sensory garden, swings, planted maze, play apparatus, components that make music and other sounds, and a dinosaur dig area. The T-Rex dinosaur ���bones��� in the dinosaur dig, made to scale in a glass fibre-reinforced concrete matrix, are replicas of actual museum specimens. There is a large Mayan rock based on an authentic archeological find and fabricated boulders embedded with replicas of actual fossils. ���The playground is a ���sensory-rich��� environment providing elements that are tactile, visual and auditory to support the needs of the greater community who have varying degrees of abilities,��� explains Andrew Jackson, with the Engineering and Capital Projects Department of the Town of Ajax. The park also features the Ajax Skatepark, designed by LANDinc and Spectrum Skatepark Creations in collaboration with a number of consultants, city staff, contractors, as well as extensive public consultation ��� including a youth group (via a Youth Design Workshop that used a democratic voting system to decide on design elements; workshop participants will have their names on the design). As the park is in a prominent location within the city, the overall composition and esthetic of the skate park was of particular interest. Sculptural 3D letters spelling AJAX act as concrete elements meant to be ridden by the skateboarders in the park and are a prominent feature. ���The overall design can be described as simple and clean, with contemporary flow lines that complement the contemporary and sculptural building by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects,��� says Patrick Morello, principal at LANDinc. ���In terms of design detail, there is an emphasis on horizontal lines and cantilevered/hollow ledges that are usable by skaters and become a plaza and foreground that acts as a main feature for those entering the site and parking area of the community centre.��� The skate park has a central bioinfiltration planter to collect storm water run-off from within the concrete areas that reduces run-off from impervious materials brought to the site. This is further assisted by the other infiltration systems in the landscape plan. The design integrates a landscape perimeter, and the edges were studied from a landscape design perspective. Accessible ramps, low walls that prevent skateboards from entering the non-skate zones, and planting to complement the industrial mass of concrete elements are all important aspects of the park. The facility is expected to achieve LEED Gold. Many aspects of the design, construction and maintenance contribute to this high rating, says Bridgeman. These include a high-performance building envelope with triple glazing on the north and west facades and light-diffusing glass for daylight and glare control; a solar wall system that preheats ventilation air; a solar hot water heating system; the collection of rainwater for irrigation; bioswales in parking lots to purify runoff water; use of regional, recycled and low-VOC materials and FSC-certified wood where feasible; low-flow faucets; occupancy sensors; lowmaintenance native plantings and an educational kiosk in february 2013��� ��� /87 13-01-22 3:50 PM