How can a relatively small building contribute to improving the overall landscape fabric and community experience of Castle Downs District Park? How can an internalized, highly functional building program be used as an instigator to improve the experience of visitors to a park animated by sporting events and active living pursuits? How should the potential phasing strategy of initiating the project with only 15% of the anticipated program be accommodated in architectural form?
Most importantly, how might an element of civic infrastructure demonstrate, support, and integrate principles of active living, community, safety, sustainability and environmental responsibility?
DESIGN SOLUTION - ACTIVE SURFACE
The design solution proposes a strategy to transform a largely inert building program into a series of visual and inhabited surfaces, vistas and thresholds which sustainably generate and support an active and social park experience.
Initially, the pavilion siting strategy was to turn the building mass at an angle away from the access road and sidewalks leading to the site, opening the site to create a public plaza for arriving, meeting and gathering. This turn aligns the building's longest faces to maximize opportunities for passive and active solar exposure, and north-facing daylight harvesting. The east parking area shown in the 2001 Master Plan for the park is relocated as part of our proposal to a site adjacent and opposite the pavilion site, to further intensify the public plaza as a gathering and meeting area by maximizing the volume of users arriving at the park via the pavilion site.
To address phasing, the initial programmatic elements of public washrooms and maintenance offices are separated and pulled apart from the larger storage component of the program. This creates two linked building volumes which between them create a sense of public threshold to the sports fields beyond. The most active components of the building program - the entries to the public washrooms and the CDRS/NEMFA storage, office, and meeting areas - are then located at the juncture between these two volumes to intensify contact between users of the pavilion and park. Glazing these areas enhances the visibility of activity within the pavilion, and permits the remainder of the building to be disguised and insulated by landforms and site circulation.
To maximize and extend the surface of the park both actively and visually, the floor of the storage volume is lowered by 1m relative to the existing grade, to allow the extension of the park's ground surface over the storage volume. This extension provides a sense of a continuous vista, enhances and maintains views to adjacent fields, reduces the impact of the buildings' scale on the perception of the park landscape, and helps insulate it's interior from exposure to the elements. Inhabitation of this roofscape includes provision of a terraced spectator area and the potential for an open rooftop event area which privileges views to surrounding fields during large scale events and tournaments.
ENERGY + SYSTEMS + STRUCTURE + SURFACES
The pavilion project is considered an opportunity to demonstrate how civic infrastructure can be a generator rather than a consumer of energy and resources. Extensive integrated photovoltaics are proposed to provide electricity to power lighting, HVAC systems and hot water needs for the project. High-level daylighting of principal spaces is intended to substantially reduce lighting loads while avoiding the addition of cooling loads attributable to solar gain. Natural cross-ventilation is to be achieved by motorized operation of this glazing in conjunction with operable openings concealed behind the exterior wood cladding at the south face of the building.
We propose geothermal energy based heating and cooling system(s) be implemented to further reduce the project's dependence on non-renewable energy sources. The project site is ideally located to take advantage of the surrounding open space for installation of a shallow loop geothermal field. Geothermal energy would be distributed via a large scale air handling unit at the storage volume(s) and by remote heat pumps at office and public washroom areas.
The proposed structural strategy consists of a steel column, beam and joist roof structure supported by concrete masonry and cast-in-place concrete foundation and retaining walls. This structure supports both intensive and extensive green roof surfaces to suit the accessibility of various roof areas. Interior finishes are minimal and highly durable, consisting only of painted structure and masonry partitions, and retroplated and/or hardened concrete floor finishes. Use of masonry and concrete materials is integral to overall durability, and to increasing the thermal mass of the building to reduce fluctuation in heating/cooling loads thereby reducing demand on HVAC systems.
Exterior surfaces are durable, low maintenance materials including native species grass planting, site-poured recycled rubber surfaces, "turfstone" porous paving, and painted and unpainted concrete landscape surfaces. Wood cladding (FSC certified) is proposed to deinstitutionalize and warm the mass of the pavilion, and to reinforce its' perception as a community building despite its' position at the heart of a large scale neighborhood park. The design intent of the public plaza landscape is to minimize water usage or extensive planting and to clearly and graphically maximize visibility, accessibility and way-finding to and over the proposed network of inhabitable surfaces.
(From competitor's text)
18 scanned / 13 viewable
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