StarTech Community Centre, YMCA and Library

London, Ontario

In Collaboration with a+LiNK

Aquatic Centre, Twin-Pad Arena, Gymnasium, Fitness and Studios, Indoor Track, Branch Library, Child Minding, Multipurpose Rooms, Café, Community Kitchen, Playground, Multi-Use Trails
Structural: Blackwell
Mechanical / Electrical: Smith + Andersen
Civil: Development Engineering
Landscape: Ron Koudys
2020 Ontario Association of Architects (OAA): Design Excellence Award
2019 Athletic Business: Facilities of Merit Design Award
2019 London Urban Design Award (Buildings)

Located on the southwest periphery of London Ontario, the Startech.com Community Centre, YMCA, and Public Library brings together a unique array of programming to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The City of London, the London Public Library, and the Western Ontario YMCA recognized that the integration of their amenities and services into a single hub would increase access to them.

The building sits at the front of its site as a lantern of activity, presenting a strong civic identity visible from the main arterial thoroughfare, Southdale Road. Inside, the design deftly accommodates the operations specific to each partner, yet also coalesces them around an active, ‘town square’ lobby. Throughout the building, skylights and exterior glazing are predominately oriented north, to drop an exceptional amount of diffused natural light deep into the plan. This daylighting, along with views across spaces, makes the facility’s various programs highly visible, generating excitement and encouraging participation.

While the project was one of the largest municipal construction investments ever for the City of London, the building’s simple but impactful and sustainable design was highly cost-effective, and our team was able to deliver within budget an additional 15,000 sf of shell space for additional multipurpose rooms and offices.

Lying between residential neighbourhoods to the north and east and agricultural land in-development to the south and west, the project is strategically situated to become a city-wide destination and the geographic and social nucleus of a rapidly developing community.

The building’s planning-prescribed east entry faces the main thoroughfare, Southdale Road, and connects to it with a generous diagonal promenade, drawing in visitors who may arrive by bus, bike, or on foot. A second primary entrance is to the south, off the facility’s parking area.

At both entrances visitors are greeted by generous public plazas. That on the east is embraced on three sides by the building, with soaring façades and full-height glazing revealing the bustle of activity within the natatorium, library, and lobby. The full length of the lobby’s grand stair is visible — a motif crystalizing the complex’s identity as a place of community-building.

The lobby offers views and direct access into the arenas, the YMCA with its aquatic centre, and public library, while functioning as a ‘social heart’ space—with a café, community kitchen, and grand stair that incorporates bleacher seating for casual hanging out and public gatherings.

The interior is opened up with views to the outside and across spaces, to spark interest in other programming and amplify the identity of the facility as a microcosm of the community.