Award

Atlas Tube Centre by Guy Wilson-Roberts courtesy rob Mathers realty W hen the Town of Lakeshore in Ontario was granted $34.6 mil- lion ($17.3 million each by the federal and provincial governments) to help fund the construction of a new multi-use recreation facility, it came through just in the nick of time. "Our current recreation facility is very old and inadequate for our needs," explains Rita Chappell-Arsenault, man- ager of special projects at the Town of Lakeshore. "We had to rent additional ice time at rinks in two other munici- palities. There were structural deficien- cies in one of our rinks and we were told by engineers it had a limited lifespan. In addition, our community is the fastest growing municipality in our region." And so work began in Spring 2013 on what would become the Lakeshore Atlas Tube Centre – a new recreation complex that would allow for future expansion and provide additional parking. The project site is unique in that there were soccer fields on the site that were required to continue in operation, and with additional sport and exterior amenities planned for the future, this had to be taken into consideration. MHPM was selected as the project manager because of the company's extensive experience in delivering municipal facilities across Canada. "My team and I have delivered a number of recreational facilities in the Greater Toronto Area and Essex County over the past 10 years," explains Deepu Balaraman, senior PM with project manager MHPM. "There was a lot of strategic discus- sions and partnering sessions that we scheduled to complete the master plan- ning, in consultation with the local con- servation authorities, due to the impact on the stormwater management of the site," adds Balaraman. The building was built toward the middle of the site, allowing the central parking and building program to back- stop the exterior sport functions, and for the building parking to also serve the sports fields. "The site and its sur- roundings are almost billiard table f lat, and the iconic saw tooth shape of the arenas is visible from all the surrounding roadways from a great distance," explains Robert Allen, part- ner-in-charge at MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects ( MJMA). The Atlas Tube Centre will be com- pleted in two-phases. Phase 1 is now nearing completion and includes three NHL-sized ice rinks, a double gymna- sium, 100-metre walking track, meet- ing rooms, concession, hall and a library. Brampton's Aquicon Construction was contracted to build Phase 1. Phase 2 will begin this fall and will include the aquatic facility with four lap lanes, lazy river, therapeutic pool and shallow pool area. Outside, there will be a five-kilometre walking trail adja- cent to over 12 acres of trees planted in partnership with the local conserva- tion authority. Other outside amenities being considered – depending on budget and pending tender – include a splash- pad connected to the aquatic centre, accessible playground, tennis courts and multi-use courts. In fact timing and budget drove the decision by MJMA to adapt a steel pre- engineered building solution that could handle the long span issues required by the project. One band of the building contains the arenas (the cold side) and the other contains the library and gym- nasium (the warm side). "Between these bands is a sequence of public interior and exterior spaces containing an entry court, a lobby, a large central multi-purpose room and a garden," says Allen. "Each program- matic band was specifically designed to meet parameters for daylighting and sustainability. The long span are- nas are contained within the sawtooth form that allows for extensive glare- free north light to enter each arena, and optimizes orientation for photo- voltaic panels on the south of each roof form. The shorter span gymnasium and library are housed in a simpler shape that allows for continuous glazing at the base for views out and periodic tall ver- tical glazing to allow light to penetrate deep into the space." T he ent rance of t he At las Tube Centre promotes a welcoming atmo- sphere with extensive use of natural light for low-glare interior illumina- tion and to reduce energy costs. The open concept design also encourages opportunities for casual interaction. One of the unique sustainable design features of the Atlas Tube Centre was the effective use of sky lighting to reduce the amount of artificial lighting required in the ice rinks. This sky light- ing also defines the profile of the rink building. Other key sustainable fea- tures include low-flow fixtures, touch- less sensors for washroom fixtures and occupancy light sensors. The Atlas Tube Centre has been designed to achieve LEED certification with emphasis on sustainable design features that improve the quality of the visitor experience and lowers operating costs including energy efficiency, heat recovery, re-use of low-grade recycled heat, low water consumption, recycled content and designing the building for installing future roof top solar panels. "Managing projects that use public funds [like this] requires a lot scru- tiny, and while the LEED certification aspect adds a degree of complexity, it also represents longer-term savings for the operation of the facility," says Balaraman. As with any project of this ilk, there were a number of challenges. "One of the creative challenges was understanding how to articulate the needs of multiple community stakeholders into the design criteria for the project architect – espe- cially when there are competing inter- ests between stakeholders. With the town's active participation, the team managed various stakeholder expec- tations through clear communications with all parties," says Balaraman. Budgetary constraints were another challenge, but engineering the design elements to get maximum value was a practice adopted by the project team. T he me c h a n ic a l a nd ele c t r i- cal systems leverage the benefits of the building t ype, by including heat recover y on the refrigeration sys- tem and energy efficient f luorescent lighting in the large arena and soccer halls. Balaraman says that his favou- rite part of managing the project was being able to give back to the commu- nity. "The community passion for the project has been a constant motiva- tor. I think success will be delivering a state-of-the-art, sustainable and acces- sible recreation facility, which includes a library, that helps this community stay healthy and happy, to give people a public place to meet and to contribute to the community's identity." Chappell-Arsenault adds, "I love the design of the building and use of glass for natural lighting. The use of win- dows for natural lighting and openness is incredible. The building sits on acres of land we can continue to develop and it has also been designed to accommodate another rink should we decide to go that way." The Atlas Tube Centre was named after primary private local donor, Atlas Steel, one of North America's largest fab- ricators of structural steel tube. ■ Location 447 Renaud Line, Lakeshore, Ontario owner/DeveLoper Town of Lakeshore project Manager MHPM Project Managers Inc. architect MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects (MJMA) generaL contractor Aquicon Construction StructuraL conSuLtant Blackwell Engineering MechanicaL/ eLectricaL conSuLtant Smith + Andersen Consulting Engineering civiL conSuLtant EMC Group LanDScape architect PMA Landscape Architects Ltd. geotechnicaL conSuLtant Golder Associates Ltd. totaL area 196,000 square feet. Phase 1: 172,000 square feet. Phase 2: 24,000 square feet totaL conStruction coSt $57 million october 2014 /69 Atlas tube centre 12:51 PM 3:43 PM

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