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J UNE 2017 | 83 Rocky Ridge Recreation Facility RENDERING + PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID TROYER COURTESY GEC ARCHITECTURE Rocky Ridge Recreation Facility by SUSAN PEDERSON T he role of recreation complex as simply a hub for fitness fans is a thing of the past. Reimagining a recreation complex as its own community, with activities and features for every person who walks through the space, is exactly what Rocky Ridge Recreation Facility (RRRF) will do, when it opens to the public in early 2018. "When you look at other recreation centres, they are often a closed boxes; everything is parcelled up inside, and you never have a sense of what all the activities are," says Andrew Tankard, partner with GEC Architecture. "With Rocky Ridge, everything is integrated, with all activities open to each other." The list of proposed amenities in the LEED Gold-targeted facility includes (besides the requisite pools, rinks and gyms) a 300-set theatre, a library, studio and gallery space, a physiotherapy/medical clinic, and an outdoor skateboard park. It is one of four new recreation centres being built in the City of Calgary as part of a plan to build recreation infrastructure. Two centres have been completed to date. "When you drop off your kid to an activity, why shouldn't you go to the library, or just watch your child, and have a connection to everyone else there? This space will build that sense of community," adds Tankard. The building has the larger community talking, namely about the iconic, undulating roof that is responsive to all the different activities and spaces within the building. "It was inspired by the rolling hills and ribbon horizon of the foothills; the building's soft curving undulations connect the natural features of the site with the activity inside," explains Adrian Benoit, an associate at GEC Architecture. Benoit led the design team in developing these architectural ideas into a deceptively simple solution. "It looks like it's very free form, but it actually has a regular grid, that is a very repetitive glulam structure," explains Benoit. The glulam timbers link the spaces together and respond to their individual height requirements, creating some 190,000 square feet of roof area – said to be the largest roof of its kind in North America. Mark Ritchie, associate of Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. (RJC), adds, "The team wanted to define each beam through the use of one member size, and one shape that was manipulated to give the appearance of many different shapes. "By creating a single jig to define each main roof beam, it allowed us to give the appearance of a unique structure constructed through the use of one shape." This unique approach for the roof construction allowed the contractor to understand one concept, repeated for each of the 30 gridlines. It's a very simple building that appears very complicated," adds Ritchie. Well, not that simple. Being made of wood, the glulams tend to shrink and expand approximately 20-millimetres vertically and three-millimetres horizontally. Magnify those seemingly insignificant size changes across that roof span, and it becomes a much larger issue. "Accumulatively it's 180 millimetres. This roof wants to shrink in on itself, therefore, we had to accommodate this movement in our roof assembly joints. I got more grey hair," Ritchie laughs. Users of the facility may not understand the complexities involved behind the scenes, but will instead enjoy a facility that came about as a result of their input. "During the design, there was significant public engagement in terms of amenities," says City of Calgary recreation director Kyle Ripley. "We also wanted to respond to the surrounding land, following the highs and lows of the knobs and kettles. That's how we ended up with the curving roof that blends with the landscape." As much as the exterior has garnered attention, the interior, both from a systems and an esthetic point of view, is equally impressive. In fact, LOCATION 11300 Rocky Ridge Road NW, Calgary, Alberta OWNER/DEVELOPER City of Calgary ARCHITECT GEC Architecture CONSTRUCTION MANAGER PCL Constructors Canada STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. MECHANICAL CONSULTANT SNC-Lavalin Inc. ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT SMP Engineering LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Scatliff+Miller+Murray Inc. TOTAL SIZE 284,000 square feet TOTAL COST $191 million

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