Architect : MJMA Architecture & Design
Total Construction Cost : $48.5 M
Square Feet : 137,000
Project Description:
The Orillia Community Recreation Centre is a re-inhabitation and reclamation of an industrial brownfield site to create a new recreational and social heart. The project reimagines Orillia’s storied industrial past and references both the site’s previous use as a foundry and the city’s legacy of brick civic buildings with its own bold masonry massing.
The built form of the facility is integrated into a 26-acre naturalized park that includes a wetland and is connected to the city’s trail system. The facility features an aquatic center with a 25-meter, eight-lane pool for instructional, training and competition use, and warm-water therapy and leisure basins. The gymnasium component has two FIBA/FIVB courts with a moveable acoustic dividing wall. The facility also features a fitness center, multipurpose spaces, a community art gallery and an indoor track, with a connective tissue of civic spaces. . Primary program spaces are illuminated using clerestories and skylights, generating ideal light for athletic and performance activities, and light that diffuses throughout the building interior. The running track is integrated with the primary clerestory for the gym and fitness areas, offering exceptional north views back to the city center.
Due to extensive contamination from foundry waste and gas residue from solvents in the groundwater, the site was previously deemed uninhabitable. Careful work with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks in organizing the site uses, and significant capping and venting methodologies were deployed to transform a brownfield site into a safe civic facility.
