The site is located at an axial point in Borden Park. It occupies a part of the park's main entry's focal point, and this will be the First building Chat the visitors encounter when entering the park via the main access.
This focal point is defined by a line of trees to the east which strengthens the perception of this entry as a focal point. A part of this green wall is located on the pavilion site. Our First priority was not only to maintain the trees and keep the green wall intact but also engage them in the design of the site in a meaningful wag where they play an active role in synthesizing urban design, landscape architecture and architecture.
To the north of the site are a wading pool and its surrounding concrete patio, a dag camp building on an asphalt platform, and a sand playground. These elements define a play zone for kids adjacent to or in close proximity to the pavilion site. Located between the play zone on the north and park's entry court on the south, the pavilion site should not disconnect the physical and visual connection between these Iwo Functions, but should enhance this connection and inform it.
The adjacent play zone also entails creating a separate direct access to the pavilion's washrooms from outside during the warmer months of the gear when the play zone is more usable and active. Providing this direct access reduces the cleaning and maintenance requirements of the interior spaces.
As highlighted in the competition brief, the site needs revitalization to regain a once vibrant and active outdoor space. The pavilion site should make its own contribution to vibrancy and activity. Since freezing temperatures and snow almost shut down the play zone for the colder months of the gear, the design solution requires a space that could attract users and operate in winter as well as summer. None of the activities anticipated in the Borden Park's Revitalization Concept Plan directly targets kids. Therefore the site should offer a space that could attract kids in winter months and provide opportunities to play. This will help keep the site alive year-round.
Any east-west orientation of the pavilion mass will interrupt the desired connection between the play zone and the park's focal point. Therefore the mass of the pavilion should run on a north-south axis. The most beneficial location of the mass is along the western edge of the project site. This creates three equally important elements: the pavilion's mass, a central plaza and the body of trees.
The pavilion will then benefit from unobstructed direct sunlight all day long, and can have multiple access points from the play zone, the plaza and the park's focal point / entry. The plaza acts as an exterior extension of the multi-purpose room which effectively increases the capacity of the pavilion with least added cost. It creates an integrated courtyard for the pavilion's users, designed to operate in both warmer and colder months of the year.
The trees become a strong visual and physical counterpoint to the pavilion across the plaza, and define its eastern edge. They also provide shaded area in the plaza during the summer months to make the plaza more pleasant for sitting, eating or meeting.
This strategy both maintains and enhances the connection between the play zone and the entry's focal point and informs their existence to each other.
(From competitor's text)
