David Braley Vaughan Metropolitan Centre of Community

The Vaughan Metropolitan Centre of Community is a uniquely programmed complex at the heart of SmartVMC—Vaughan’s new city centre and an innovative 100-acre mixed-use development. MJMA designed the interior architecture occupying the three-level podium below the development’s PwC Tower. MJMA’s scope included three components: a 77,000 sf flagship YMCA; a Vaughan Public Library branch; and the City of Vaughan Studios and Event Space.

Each agency is able to independently schedule its programming, and yet together they form a cohesive and bustling community environment with flexible program spaces able to serve all residents. The lobby is equipped to host public events and designed to invite comfortable lingering but also functions as an internal street—open 24 hours and directly connecting to commercial, residential, and transit amenities. Its light-filled, cantilevered feature stair seems to expand as it climbs, offering views into the lobby and across the complex into the primary activity spaces of the library, community centre, and YMCA. On the second and third levels, the gymnasium and studios open onto outdoor terraces and can be combined to accommodate gatherings of various sizes.