DESIGN PROBLEMS AND RESOLUTION
Cold climate challenges
- Welcoming warm-up areas with fireplaces, as well as enjoyable outdoor seating areas with warm beverage service, are proposed
- Ample overhangs at all entrances provide protection from changing weather patterns
- Appropriate building technologies and envelope systems are employed
- Vestibules are provided at public entrances
- Gabion cage walls provide wind shelter to building and rink users
- Winding pathway leading to building will feature a wall of snow cleared from the ice, providing additional wind shelter and seasonal experience
Context: unique river valley site is set back significantly from public access
- Winding walkway is an experience in its own right: entry from the public parking lot announces trailhead and guides visitors to the pavilion, allowing a ski-in, ski-out option, and providing access to picnic areas along the way
- Height of the second storey provides a sense of vantage and relationship to the verticality of the river valley edges
- Use of local, natural materials references river valley location
- Pavilion's orientation on site, and backing by gabion wall, provides shelter from prevailing winds and allows maximum passive solar potential
Program: pavilion must negotiate sharing by diverse user groups
- Building program is arranged to facilitate accommodated activities - flow of each activity is emphasized
- Main floor caters to skaters, providing a direct relationship from the skate change/warm-up room to the ice surface to the south
- Skiing and snowshoeing program centers on the second floor, with direct flow to the trails at the north of the building, avoiding surface conflicts with ice surface, gravel roads and paved trails
- The multi-purpose room is positioned to provide a viewing vantage of the ice surface, for races, and of the park in general; the space is envisioned as an open seating area for socializing and enjoying food from the concession, and as a potential venue for community events
- Positioning of user-funded program area as a separate and adjacent element allows it to be added as funding becomes available
Access to the river valley should be broadened in the city
- Envisioning the multi-purpose space as appropriate to community and private functions could provide greater opportunity for non-athletes to engage with this key river valley site
- A concession with comfortable eating area and views (from multi-purpose room) could provide a draw for many citizens interested in a river valley destination, providing an anchor for future imagined river valley activities taking place on the site and in the adjacent areas
- Emphasis on user flow encourages tie-ins to river valley trail system and surrounding bike and ski trails in Victoria Park: river valley trail users, or even passing motorists, could stop in for a beverage or snack
- A future extension of the entrance walkway across River Valley Road and to a pier on the river is imagined as a potential destination for the city at large; this expansion could be well-served by the Victoria pavilion's amenities
DESIGN SOLUTION
This pavilion takes advantage of a beautiful setting to enhance the experience of Victoria Park's seasonal offerings. The experience of the winding approach through the trees is further delineated by lighting and surface improvements to the walkway that enable full accessibility for all to participate in activities within the park. A gabion wall continues the line of the walkway to define the entrance for both levels of the pavilion, providing a sturdy spine for the facility to ground itself into the earth. The lower floor is dedicated to the enjoyment of skating: a skate change and warmup area with fireplace opens to the ice rink while being comfortable and well serviced by amenities, including concession. The Edmonton Speed Skating Association inhabits the adjoining second phase of the ground floor with training facilities and ice surfacing equipment that ensures premium skating conditions. The upper floor provides an overlook of the skating oval and surrounding river valley in a multi-purpose room and office space and also provides storage, servicing, and a trailhead for cycling and cross-country ski paths bermed directly to the upper floor exit to the north.
Site approach
The overall design of the site has retained certain elements from the previous layout, including size and location of the parking lot, skating rink and access route. New landscaping features have been added, including a winding path leading from the parking lot to the building, lined with lights and trees.
Program distribution
The main floor caters to skaters and features a change area and concession, which relate to the skating oval; the adjacent ESSA facilities provide Zamboni storage, a training room, and skate storage. The second floor is designed to facilitate use by skiers, snowshoers, and cyclists. An outdoor ramp leads directly to the second floor, where a storage room for skis, snowshoes, and bicycles is in close proximity to a ski waxing room. Adjacent to a shared office for the program team and ESSA, a large multi-purpose room provides a vantage on the skating oval below where facility users can relax. The space is envisioned as a venue for community meetings as well as private functions and events.
Sustainability principles
- Building siting enables a passive solar approach, balancing solar gain with appropriate thermal mass
- Embedding the pavilion's main floor in the earth on the north side, prevents winter heat loss on the north
- All rooms, including service spaces, are provided with daylighting through ample glazing and transoms above activity level
- Emphasis on natural cross-ventilation as an alternative to air conditioning or large mechanical systems
- Use of local, durable materials: wood, river rock, fly ash concrete
Universal design
- Access ramp and elevator provide users with equal access to all areas while allowing a diversity of vertical experience on the site
- Barrier-free washrooms on both levels
- Open layouts provide manoeuvrability and long-term flexibility
- Facility with desirable, accessible community spaces provides occasions for park area to be used by a broader demographic than athletes
Public art and culture
- Opportunities for temporary and permanent public art installations
- Winding path to building as a potential artist's commission
- Night skating provides occasion for projection of artwork stills or video onto ice surface from second storey
- Site adjacent main floor patio as location for more permanent installation of sculptures with potential to respond to large-scale height of trees
Edmonton design committee principles
- Urbanism: by bolstering connectivity, walkability, and the human experience of the site, and through imagining a mixed-use facility, the pavilion preserves and enhances the enjoyment of the park in the natural context of the river valley
- Design excellence: particularly through its emphasis on celebrating Edmonton's northern climate and its focus on sustainability, as well as its potential use as a cultural site in the city, the pavilion's design contributes to local culture
- Scale, Connections, and Context: the design's focus on embedding the facility firmly in its context, including the connectivity to the local area which shapes the design parti, engage the pavilion's unique site location fully
Connections to the park and beyond
- Large windows for visual access, including multi-purpose space as viewing area for oval
- Second floor terraces provide vantage to rink and surrounding park
- Strong sense of physical connection to site comes with embedment in earth on north side
- Concession opens to outdoor rink area for hot chocolate or summer refreshments
- Pedestrian, bike, ski, and snowshoe connection to river valley trail system is emphasized with procession in to building site and a trailhead that announces itself to the parking area
- Future connection of this pathway to the river should be explored, as the city provides few opportunities for water viewing and access: a dock with fruit and vegetable stands are envisioned, drawing on the site's existing legacy of such vendors, and the pavilion could be called on to provide amenity space for these functions
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
- Appropriately-scaled building systems provide efficient seasonal heating
- Glazed walls and mass walls are deployed
- Natural cross-ventilation results from operable windows above walls
- Bermed earth provides shelter to north, preventing winter heat loss
- Building siting orients toward the south sun for controlled solar gain with appropriate thermal mass, minimizing energy use for long-term economic viability
- Roof overhangs maximize shading in summer while allowing solar penetration in winter
ANTICIPATED CONSTRUCTION COSTS
- The necessarily increased visibility of the site's entrance and improved pedestrian access in to the building's secluded location will demand a portion of the proposed construction budget,
- The relatively simple structural approach of the facility, coupled with its small footprint and simple interior elements, should be achievable within the parameters of the budget
- Main materials such as the river rock gabions have been selected for their cost-appropriateness to the project relative to the proposed budget
- A proposed construction cost for the landscape elements at the site entry is in the range of
$400,000, the remaining budget allows a construction cost of approximately $250/s.f., which should accommodate the basic design proposed
(From competitor's text)
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