Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/354800
John Fry Sport Park Pavilion Castle Downs Park Pavilion V ia a Park Pavilion Design archi- tectural competition, the City of Edmonton has four new park pa- vilions (three opening this summer and another next spring) and another (Victoria Park) that will have con- struction start in a few months. "The focus of an awarded competi- tion is not the profile of an individual firm, but the challenges and objectives of the project at hand," says Lavonne Drynan, corporate services materi- als management (Edmonton). "An architectural competition allows for a broad display of inspiration, innova- tion and creativity. The competition is meant to bring a level of interest and design excellence to these projects that they may not have garnered if released through a typical RFQ and RFP process. It is another way of reinforcing the city's commitment to 'cutting edge' quality design, and ensuring that it is brought to all civic buildings regardless of size or budget." And the public are the real winners of a competition that was undertaken by the Edmonton Design Committee and Edmonton Urban Design Awards. "The intent of the competition was to develop schemes that were buildable within the parameters of the competi- tion package," says Drynan, who goes on to say that Citation Awards were added to recognize excellent design ideas that were deemed during technical review to be over budget or have other technical concerns. The firm of gh3 was selected for its designs of the pavilions for Borden Park (Citation Award: Denegri Bessai Studio with KIMIIS) and Castle Downs Dis- trict Park (Second Place: D'Ambrosio Architecture + Urbanism); the design for the John Fry Sport Park pavilion was selected from The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative Inc. (Sec- ond Place: ABSTR AKT Studio Inc. and Citation Award: Sturgess Architecture); for Mill Woods Sport Park, First Place went to Dub Architects Ltd. (Citation Award: 5468796 Architecture); and for Victoria Park, the design from Rayleen Hill Architecture + Design will be built, with the Citation Award going to gh3. "Through this competition, we were hoping to raise the bar when it comes to designing civic buildings in Edmonton," says Carol Belanger, city architect for the City of Edmonton. "The competition is a success, as firms offered our judges a tremendous collection of ideas that take these five park pavilions from the ordi- nary to the extraordinary." This was the first time that the City employed a competition to solicit design concepts for infrastructure projects. It received 135 design entries from 64 architectural firms from Alberta and across Canada and the U.S. in a com- petition which was sanctioned by the City of Edmonton Pavilions by Irwin Rapoport COURTESY CITY OF EDMONTON Alberta Association of Architects. This method was chosen to encourage the best creative minds from large and small architectural design companies from across North America to help continue the trend for creating esthetically pleasing architecture in Edmonton. The design jury consisted of leading architects and design professionals from Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal and City of Edmonton representatives. "The response surpassed our expectations," says Belanger. "Through our efforts to design civic buildings that are cre- ative and inspiring, yet cost-effective, we are transforming Edmonton into a vibrant and inviting place to live. These parks will become even more thriving as the functional pavilions respond to the needs of Edmontonians. Pavilions in parks increase the range of ways residents can enjoy their parks. The concepts had to respond to requirements user groups identified, such as public washrooms, change rooms, storage areas and warm-up space." The combined budget for all five pavilions is $18 million, with funding for the projects coming from the Government of Alberta's Municipal Sustainability Initiative and organiza- tions, such as community and sports groups, that are partner- ing with the City on three of the projects. The pavilion in Borden Park was built in 2013/14 and will open this summer and the Castledown Pavilion, still under construction, will open in late summer. The Mill Woods Pavil- ion is also being inaugurated this summer, while the John Fry Sports Park Pavilion is expected to open next summer. Baseball is the theme for the pavilion in the John Fry Sport Park, which is largely dedicated to hosting baseball games and tournaments, and at times has had close to 5,000 spectators at games. "For the last 28 years the park has hosted world class baseball tournaments, with the use of porta- ble trailers," says architect Jerry Hacker, with The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative. "The team was given the task of designing a pavilion consist- ing of change rooms, washrooms and a concession to serve the City's needs for the next 30 years. The architectural challenge was to create a highly leg- ible sense of place with an extremely constrained budget, and re-define the conventional change room typology to celebrate the playfulness of sport." The park is surrounded by open fields, a few distant warehouse buildings, parking lots and an adjacent driving range. "The site is an expansive space with little spa- tial definition and establishing a sense of place was critical to the success of the project," says Hacker. "Conceptu- alizing the building as an illuminated beacon in the park pro- vides vibrancy and animation to the site and to the surrounding park. Whether walking to the diamonds between games or arriving to the site prior to a game, the pavilion becomes a key wayfinding mechanism and recognizable point of gathering and departure. The 360 degree reading of the building and legible accessibility between architecture and outdoor pro- gram creates a more urban gesture in a seemingly un-urban- ized scenario." He says the conventional change room facility typically has an "innate efficiency – compact shapes with economical and durable solid concrete block materials that are resistant to vandalism," and that "when turned inside out from the con- ventional configuration, can act as a permeable, open, beacon that is day lit, accessible, integrated and connected." The pavilion slated for Victoria Park (in the North Sas- katchewan River Valley and expected to open next summer), designed by Rayleen Hill Architecture + Design, will be a 5,000-square-foot multi-purpose building with four distinct zones: a multi-purpose zone, a space for the Edmonton Speed Skating Association, a public service core for washrooms, and a "back-office" service/garage area. "The pavilion skims across the flat site like a train, gently curving around the existing tree stands," says architect Rayleen Hill. "It's a simple building with elegantly long proportions. The building reveals itself at a large opening between trees then snakes behind the tree line fading into the shadows." The building is sited to maximize views, while also maxi- mizing south light into the building. Large expanses of cur- tain wall are found on the south wall and long thin north wall windows are made by swapping out modules of Glulam timber COURTESY THE MARC BOUTIN ARCHITECTURAL COLLABORATIVE INC. AUGUST 2014 /81 City of Edmonton Pavilions