Rationale/Concept
The design suggests definition of space through an addition of a foreign surface, one that is placed on the open terrain, not unlike a picnic blanket on grass, to repurpose the surface as a place to be, to play, to stay, to wait, to use, to enjoy. The program elements are then organized above and below this connecting blanket. This singular act provides a new terrain for outdoor habitation, activity and play, and stretches across the site's building allowance, as a roof, a floor or wall and sometimes merely as a outdoor deck. It becomes a place to be and to meet, a destination that serves the sport activities and provides a distinguishable destination for the neighbourhood.
Description of Design Solution
The various program components are divided into objects that inhabit the new undulating terrain. The change rooms are tucked under the corners of the blanket, each facing their respective sports fields, while the public functions of concessions, public washrooms and the park offices are housed into 'containers' laying on top of the blanket deck area. The various sized spaces around these objects provide a number of outdoor rooms with a human scale. Naturally forming amphitheaters, places to play, sit and gather, the undulating blanket is saturated with potential for all civic activity, from intimate groups to large gatherings.
The concessions in turn are perched on the highest fold of the blanket projecting an expansive view across the entire park. The park supervisors office sits in a valley of the fold, while the public washrooms lay in a flat terrain for easy access by all.
There are a number of opportunities for public art on the vast deck area. In addition, the perch of the concessions building provides a dramatic space for sculptural art at the entry just behind the shroud of the exterior skin. In addition, many of the glass facades surrounding the program lend themselves to applied mosaics and glazing graphics.
(From competitor's text)
The solution proposed by this entry is to create a huge, undulating blanket as a "foreign surface to play, to stay, to wait, to use, to enjoy." The programmatic functions, split into various components, are placed either over or below this blanket. Splitting the program elements into separate structures would increase the cost of the project and there were questions about the functionality of the proposed blanket materials and configuration. The jury was impressed with the poetics and imagery of this entry.
(From jury report)
15 scanned / 13 viewable
- Presentation Panel
- Presentation Panel
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Plan
- Plan
- Plan
- Section
- Schema
- Schema
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