East Lions Community Centre
London, Ontario
In Collaboration with a+LiNK
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Aquatic Centre, Gymnasium, Multipurpose Rooms, Community Kitchen, Art Rooms, Existing Sports Park: Walking Loop, Playground, Plaza, Playing Field, Tennis / Pickleball Courts, Basketball Court / Skating Rink
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Structural: Blackwell
Mechanical / Electrical: Smith + Andersen
Civil: Development Engineering
Park Masterplan: MJMA
Landscape: Ron Koudys -
2025 Athletic Business: Facilities of Merit Design Award
2023 London Urban Design Award (Civic Design)
2023 London St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR): Don Smith Commercial Building Award
MJMA master-planned the rejuvenation of East Lions Park and designed a new community centre to replace an end-of-life outdoor pool located in the park. The project eschews the trend f consolidation and regionalization of infrastructure on peripheral or centralized drive-to sites and the attendant notion that ‘bigger is better.’ It instead demonstrates how small-scale community buildings can have great impact and maintain an existing delicate ‘spirit of place,’ while delivering an appropriately scaled and programmed facility that re-naturalizes its site and connects new and existing street and green infrastructure.
Conceived as a park pavilion, gathering and welcoming users on all sides, the facility’s design also drew inspiration from the local craft guilds who have spaces within it. The building is a tapestry that projects a singular iconic presence but is refined through texture, shadow, and light — to float, frame, and fit within the finer grain of the surrounding neighbourhood.
The public was involved in the site selection of East Lions Park, an already significant community space located in a well-established, residential neighbourhood.
Extensive consultation revealed that preserving the site’s existing trees was a priority for the community. This determined the location and configuration of the roughly L-shaped building, so that each façade benefits from the tree canopy and the new facility feels as if it has always been there.
A large courtyard bite has been taken from the centre of the building’s park-facing elevation and extends diagonal pathway arms outward to the extents of the site, welcoming neighbours and visitors into the lobby. The courtyard and lobby form the facility’s exterior-interior ‘social heart,’ with a community ‘hearth’ as its focus.
The facility houses an aquatics centre supported by universal changerooms, a large gymnasium, and a number of community spaces.
Inside and out, the design drew inspiration from the craft guilds who have spaces within the building, in particular precedents from the weaving / spinning studio. The interiors feature the textures and patterning offered by materials like wood, concrete, and ceramic tile, with the integrity of their raw form highlighted as much as possible.
On the exterior, the building’s mass is mitigated and enlivened by a syncopated pattern of vertical standing-seam metal panels in varying shades of grey. They contribute a textile-like exterior surface that becomes diaphanous at night, revealing the activities within and embedding the building within the life of the park and neighbourhood.
