The Borden Park Pavilion takes inspiration from, and responds in many ways to the Beaux Arts Iayout of the surrounding park. The plan of the facility is influenced by the curvilinear paths, and reinterprets the two dimensional nature of these curves. It also takes inspiration from the wider park design by framing unique views of various elements arranged throughout the park.
The design manipulates the ground condition by abstracting and exaggerating the contours on the site. This manipulation of the ground plane enables unique interior and exterior spaces to be created fostering a strong connection to the landscape in the surrounding park.
The form creates safe, secure and welcoming spaces with its terraced form and enhances the communal nature of the facility with a striking organic mass.
As one approaches the site from the west down the formal promenade, the Borden Park pavilion will emerge as a land form that pulls the park user into the site. The experience at Borden Park of a spectator at the band stand, a swimmer in the pool or a family having a picnic, will be enhanced by creating a strong public space that shelters users from the winter winds, provides a place to sit and relax in the summer afternoon sun, and envelopes the visitor in hardy trees and native grasses year round.
An analysis of the site conditions brought forward several challenges and opportunities for the design of the pavilion. The pavilion attracts visitors into the heart of the park with a contemporary response to its context, in addition to this, it acknowledges the historic nature of the park.
The Borden Park pavilion is designed satisfies the Edmonton Design Committee principles by being a sustainable building that is well integrated into both the adjacent and wider city contexts. The building will act as one of many focal points in Borden Park, creating a strong link to the neighbouring communities. The pavilion will tie into the existing multi use trait network and provide a rest stop and parking area for cyclists, skiers, pedestrians and joggers. The facility creates an area of relaxation in a neighbourhood dominated by major sporting venues. The Borden Park pavilion will create a community gathering space for the residents of Virginia Park and Cromdale.
The form of the building provides an active public face to the trails winding through the park and helps to define them. In using native vegetation that harbours urban wildlife, and taking advantage of the changes in sun position and prevailing wind direction, the design is responsive to and embraces the differences in seasons. The unique organic form of the Borden Park pavilion provides an innovative forward looking design, that complements the existing structures and landscaping of the park.
The breaking apart of the building into two separate functional components allows for a reduction in floor area, a unique exterior space and a greater connection to the outdoors. Using rammed earth and soil to create a very large thermal mass, the design of the building provides for a sustainable, functional and elegant response to the program brief. This will allow the community to gather around sports, leisure, arts and cultural events, in both the interior and exterior.
Recreational and cultural participants and spectators will access the facility from all directions. The facility negotiates this condition by allowing users to slowly experience the building as a stepped landscape element from all directions, none prioritizing the approach to the pavilion.
As the pavilion is to be used for transient activities, movement between the two building components thrusts the occupants into the park environment and provides a seemingly larger built form.
(From competitor's text)
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