Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre & Edmonton Elks Fieldhouse

The design of the Commonwealth Community Recreation Complex was driven by a strong civic mandate to create an open, social-condensing facility that allows for shared-use between three partners: the City of Edmonton, the Edmonton Elks professional football team, and the public at large. Located one subway stop from downtown, the four-level 220,000 sf building adaptively reuses a 1978 fitness centre attached to the iconic Commonwealth Stadium, Canada’s largest outdoor professional sports venue. 

While creating new pedestrian-friendly exterior realms, the project’s expression also responds to the scale and dynamic nature of the stadium’s structure. The building’s south façade is sculpted to several effects — breaking down and humanizing the bulk of the building, unifying the rooflines of the complex’s various masses, and forming a shielding canopy along a new public entry plaza. Here the aquatics wing takes a prominent prow-like shape, evoking forward momentum. Silver metallic panels clad the upper levels and are whittled back, revealing tessellated facets of warm phenolic wood, while large expanses of full-height glazing at grade give inviting views of the facility’s inner activities. The entire complex was planned with equal intentionality: the field house on the west is located next to an existing outdoor practice field, while the new gymnasium and team and administration spaces are closer to the stadium, to north.