DESIGN PROBLEM + RATIONALE
The aim of the Victoria Park Pavilion is to create a welcoming and accessible year-round pavilion supporting fitness facilities, multi-purpose rooms for partner associations, housing for the zamboni, and a cafe. Located in a park with a range of activities from skiing to ice-skating in the winter to cricket, jogging, football in the summer, the pavilion serves a wide range of visitors. Overlooked by the bridge from Downtown above, the pavilion will create a permanent activity space that enhances the park as a destination within the City. Responding to the extremes of Edmonton's climate, the pavilion deploys form, function, orientation, and sculptural expression to create a building utilizing passive design techniques to keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter with minimal use of energy. Public art forms the principle facade and, as one of the fundamental devices, becomes a dynamic backdrop to the park and both at night and during the day. It enriches the existing network of circulation, winter skating rink, and landscape to create a space for families, the City of Edmonton and its partner associations. The pavilion is able to be phased based on the arrangements between the City and Partner Association and maintains the architectural expression during all phases. It enhances the park as a destination by providing a dynamic, durable space to support athletic and cultural activity. It is a robust solution to the design problem that responds to the position of the sun and seasonal variations to tread lightly on the Earth, optimizes LEED design principles for a minimum Silver rating, and enriches the cultural fabric and landscape of the City by providing a backdrop for public art, recreational and organized sport, speed skating, and a community space.
The pavilion responds to the design problem by creating a building that one can skate right up to, the form evoking a speed-skater rounding a comer during a race. Reminiscent of speed, the fluid lines follow the line of stretch of ice, poured every winter at the same time as the main rink that connects the south face of the pavilion with the ice-rink beyond, a warm-up lane for skaters to merge onto the main rink. Similarly, skiiers are able to ski right to the door on the north facade from the pathways or slopes of the river valley. This lack of a "front or back" elevation ensures the pavilion is equally accessible to everybody and every activity in equally engaging way.
A continuous open-jointed glass rainscreen characterizes the south facade and is the subject for Public Art, weaving it into the fabric of the architecture. The pattern, suggested to be reminiscent of cracked ice in response the river and skating rink beyond in the winter, while in summer evokes winter recreation. Here, a thermal buffer zone is merged with the corridor space to protect the insulated assembly and manage heating and cooling loads. The east-west orientation responds to the path of the sun, informing a building form that can passively manage heating and cooling. In contrast, the north facade is constructed of two layers of poured concrete with a layer of insulation to limit heat loss to the north and provide thermal mass to moderate heating and cooling loads. The pattern of light at night creates a 24-hour facade animated throughout the year. The pavilion can be phased while maintaining the expression of the design. Programme is arranged such that partner associations can add programme, stretching the building to the west when funds become available. Bolted connections for a SIP assembly allow the wall to be removed, programme added, and the wall re-applied, conserving materials.
DESIGN DESCRIPTION + PUBLIC ART
The Victoria Park Pavilion is composed of 4 key elements: the north wall, structure, the glazed skin of the south facade, and the ring of ice, poured in winter, connects the pavilion to the ice surface. The design solution is rooted in the use of standard construction methods and simple, sustainably sourced yet robust materials. It is when combined that these elements shape the space and create the architectural expression that animates the park when juxtaposed with the skating rink and natural features surrounding it.
The north wall of poured concrete with insulation provides a heavy, insulating assembly on the northern exposure that when combined with the concrete floor, exposes thermal mass to the interior. A polished finish provides a durable interior surface while eliminating the need for extraneous finish materials and a rainscreen of durable zinc panels form the exterior finish. A bolted steel structure, clad with SIP panels on the roof and opaque assemblies on the south, east and west provides a high performance assembly while limiting thermal bridging and a standing-seam metal roof. The roof slopes toward the south to shed rain and show. The bolted connections ensures the envelope and structure are easily erected on-site and facilitate a phased construction without involving demolition and construction waste.
The south facade is characterized by a skin of dry-jointed laminated glass panels with a patterned interlayer. Continuous over both the glazed and opaque components of the weather-tight and insulating assemblies, this rain screen provides protection and renders a continuous, seamless architectural expression. Throughout the day, the pattern of solid and translucent transforms to generate a 24 hour, changing facade. The pattern of the interlayer is the subject for Public Art and its final design is subject to collaboration between artist and architect. The suggested pattern, reminiscent of cracked ice, responds to the ice-skating rink and the river beyond. A concrete channel at its base protects the glass from damage integrating the collection melt-water and rain
The Skating Association programme, including fitness facility and skate changing is arranged at the west of the building with the Zamboni garage creating a hook, oriented towards the ice surface and providing direct access. The City of Edmonton programme, including cafe/warmup space, multi -purpose room and washrooms is oriented towards the east. The phasing line between the two programmes, between the fitness facility and washrooms, ensures the pavilion is functional and maintains the clarity of the architectural expression at all phases of construction.
Access and circulation is arranged in the north-south direction between the volumes of programme, expressed as glass openings in the opaque assembly. Vestibules are combined with corridors to optimize the use of space and the thermal buffer zone to the south allows natural light while passively providing heating and cooling. This space is able to open and ventilate in the summer and close in the winter to maximize solar gain. The building form defines and outdoor space that in winter features a ring of ice for skaters to skate directly to the pavilion.
SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES
Sustainable design principles, rooted in the Edmonton Eco Vision, are fused into the design and not considered an overlay or after-thought. A preliminary point-count of 58 potential credits to achieve LEED-Silver is based on schematic and outline spec and will be clarified through the development of the project. Our intention is to design in excess of LEED standards.
Efficient, responsive mechanical systems, supplemented by passive design strategies are the primary means for heating, cooling and ventilation, with the aim of minimizing the energy consumption. The thermal flux zone at the south is an integrated space that is closed in winter to collect solar gain. In the summer months, vents open to provide air circulation. The thermal mass of the floor and north wall manage peak loads. Daylight sensors on T8 fluorescent tubes in indirect/direct fixtures ensure daylight harvesting on the interior, with LED technology to be investigated during design development. Occupancy sensors in washrooms ensure artificial light is used only when necessary. The patterned interlayer on the exterior glass rainscreen provides shading to manage heat gain along the transparent elements of the south facade. The use of poured concrete and concrete masonry throughout eliminates extraneous finish materials, reducing the project's material footprint. The pavilion is highly durable, and provides excellent thermal mass to store heat and moderate peak loads. The use of radiant heating, when combined with the insulative value of the envelope and thermal mass work to keep the interior space at an even, comfortable temperature. With the low energy consumption expected as a result of the envelope, passive design strategies, and equipment, the possibility of renewable energy to meet a significant portion of the expected loads will be investigated in design development. Low-flow fixtures reduce potable and hot water consumption. The design is expected to achieve the minimum 30% reduction in energy consumption compared to the MNECB.
The material palette maximizes recycled content and local materials through the use of 40% flyash concrete, 90% recycled steel, SIP panels, and limited finishes. Bolted connections permit ease of assembly and easy reclamation of the steel structure and envelope for future phases and at the end-of-life of the pavilion. The separation of services and finishes from structure, the surface mounting of ducts and equipment, and the limitation of finishes are consistent with a cradle-to-cradle approach. Low-VQC, durable, permanent and timeless materials have been selected. The site, being located in a public park, limits site selection credits, however the design approach enriches the environment around it. Stormwater is managed through the concrete trough to slow flow to allow a passive approach to infiltration.
EDMONTON DESIGN COMMITTEE
The design solution integrates the ambitions of the Edmonton Design Committee into the fabric of the project. The project enriches the City and the Park around it by evoking speed, skating and the ability to access the pavilion directly from the ice generate the form, reinforcing existing activities. The translucent rainscreen facade, lit at night, creates a 24-hour character that constantly changes throughout the day, creating a backdrop for the park and city beyond and is the subject of Public Art. The insulating, thermally massive north facade and south facing skin and is an archetypal, functional and expressive response in form and material of the climate in Edmonton and the orientation relates the path of the sun. The landscape integrates the activity of the site to expand the building into its context. All surfaces, from the facades to the roof, are considered. The materials and design intent are legible from all sides, including the High Level Bridge above.
(From competitor's text)
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