Borden Park needs a new energy--a reinvigoration of life. Respectful of its great amusement past, our new pavilion is a catalyst for change in this important park's redevelopment. As a node it serves to draw together the local community, and the wider population of the City of Edmonton, giving the parle a new focus. Our solution is a sustainable pavilion that offers a high level of adaptability and flexibility while creating opportunities for its users to engage in unstructured play.
Play allows children to use their creativity white developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength.
Play is a state that is necessary for the health of all people and the city. Playing is developmental, formative, captivating, and exhilarating. Through play we formulate our understanding of ourselves within the context of our surroundings and those we play alongside, creating new and healthy bonds to both. As play takes over, imagination rules and the world expands.
Our focus is on replacing the existing amenity building with a sustainable, family destination that welcomes opportunities for children to participate in safe, social and creative play. The building's modest program of public washrooms, a canteen, and a multi-purpose seating/warm up space provides an ideal framework for the design to consider the other uses--namely, providing the opportunity for passive playscapes for children. What is offered is a place where children and adults, locals and newcomers have the opportunity to partake in all of play's possibilities. Civic life and imagination are enriched by the new pavilion through its many experiences and spaces dedicated to the opportunities for play.
Our design response is conceived from the idea of lifting the landscape upward revealing the layers of the site hidden below. An earthen wall forms the north side of the building. Its striations reference the strata of the land below. Integral light ledges function as hand and foot holds within the wall, providing the opportunity to further experience the rammed earth through climbing.
The convex shape of the wall provides stability for the structure, white allowing the washrooms' entry and exit points to be safe and visible. This wall protects the plaza space from harsh northern winds, which extends the comfort of that area through the winter months.
The extension of the landscape of the park over the pavilion results in more green space than the existing condition. The whimsical nature of the guardrail barrier, which provides protection white dividing the natural grasses from the more manicured terrain, is designed to spark curiosity and draw children up to explore the roof scape. This affords new perspectives of a familiar park. In winter, the snow that covers the slope of the roof provides opportunities to slide to the courtyard below.
The sloped underside of the roof above creates an opportunity for a climbing area for young children within the multi-purpose space below. This concave wall is coated in a red rubber, which provides a safe, seamless and durable surface for play. It continues onto the floor below and outdoors onto the plaza beyond creating a playful hardscape. This vibrant topping coats the plaza's surfaces, its topographical groundscape and seating areas, allowing for year round use - from wet feet in the summer to ice skates in the winter.
(From competitor's text)
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- Presentation Panel
- Presentation Panel
