Western North York Community Centre
Toronto, Ontario
With a design and programming informed by an extensive public engagement process, the Western North York Community Centre (WNYCC) provides social, recreational, and athletic amenities that can serve all residents in its diverse surrounding neighbourhoods. The project builds community through creating connections: the WNYCC and its outdoor greenspaces form a conduit that ties together previously disconnected parts of the existing green and urban fabric. The facility’s design, including the natatorium, is focused on encouraging social interaction and offering views and access between interior programs and the outdoors.
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Child Care Architects: Bortolotto
Structural: Blackwell
Mechanical / Electrical: Smith + Andersen
Civil: EMC
Landscape: MJMA
Geo-Exchange: Salas O’Brien
Triple Bottom Line Analysis: Autocase
Program
Aquatics: 6-Lane 25m Lap Pool, Leisure Pool, Universal Changerooms, On-Deck Viewing, Aquatics Outdoor Terrace
Additional Program
Gymnasium, Track, Fitness, Child Care, Multipurpose Rooms, Youth Room, Community Kitchen, Community Art Gallery, Outdoor Multi-Sports Court, Playgrounds
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2025 Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC): Research & Innovation Award
2023 Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) Branding Award: Element Award (Environmental / Experiential)
2022 World Architecture Festival (WAF) Award: Civic & Community Shortlist (Future Project)
2021 Canadian Architect: Award of Excellence
A protected pedestrian promenade connects neighbourhoods previously cut off from one another: two halves of the community can now connect safely, without the need to cross busy roads or parking areas.
Spanning the length of the building, the aquatics hall is aligned with the ‘social-heart’ lobby. The natatorium uses the long narrow site to advantage, with views to the outside on either side: on the south, it faces the new main community path running alongside the building. To the north, it can open up to a corresponding outdoor garden patio via large sliding doors.
Over the aquatic hall, skylights are split over the length of the deck on either side of the pools. Like the facility’s other primary spaces, the soaring hall is also topped with an exposed mass timber structure comprised of glue-laminated beams and laminated wood decking.
The building’s planning prioritizes ease of wayfinding and transparency between programs, resulting in a vibrant and open environment. The aquatic changerooms are accessed directly off the ground-floor ‘social heart’ lobby.
Overlooking the pool are an adjacent meeting room and a portion of the level-2 walking track, popular with seniors and parents with strollers. The double-height natatorium houses lap and leisure pools, the latter with an on-deck viewing area and seating. Integrated ramped access in both basins ensures full accessibility.
The WNYCC is one of the first aquatics-based Net-Zero energy and emissions buildings in North America, using measures such as an open-loop geo-exchange system for heating and cooling and roof-top photovoltaic arrays. The large operable patio doors allow for natural ventilation, while the beautiful mass timber structure aids global carbon sequestration efforts. The skylights provide abundant but soft, controlled daylighting that, combined with deep exterior overhangs over the glazed walls, also reduces glare and heat gain in the pools.
Development of the Western North York Community Centre involved a significant community consultation program, and the creation of "Create Your Place" to encourage local residents to shape the design of the building and its program.
