Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA
Toronto, Ontario
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Aquatic Centre (4-Lane 25m Lap Pool, Fitness Pool with Moveable Floor, Hydrotherapy Pool, Changerooms), Gymnasium, Fitness Conditioning Space, Multi-Use Studio, Multipurpose Rooms, Meeting Rooms
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Structural: Blackwell
Mechanical / Electrical: Smith + Andersen
Located in Toronto’s Beaches neighbourhood, the Steve and Sally Stavro Family YMCA replaces the much-loved East City YMCA, built in 1952. After consulting with the community, who wished the new larger facility to remain on the site, the YMCA formed a partnership with a local developer who consolidated the existing land with adjacent sites. The project puts the YMCA on the ground and lower levels of the new building, with four-storeys of residential units above.
Offering programming that serves all groups within the diverse surrounding population, the YMCA’s identity as a nucleus for inclusive community life is embodied in the facility’s transparent design, which allows views between program spaces. It also shares its internal energy with the city through extensive glazing along Kingston Road. The facility’s fit-out meets LEED Platinum. The developer and the YMCA also agreed to share one another’s excess waste heat: at certain times of the year, each can supplement their systems from the other’s hot water and heat exchange.
The project is a model urban development both in that it is multi-use and multi-tenant and in how the building deftly negotiates the constraints of its tight site.
Although set below grade, the gym and aquatic hall are replete with daylighting from clerestory glazing at street level. Throughout the facility, strategically located interior glazing brings natural light deep into the plan, while also creating security and easy wayfinding.
The 64,000-sf YMCA is densely organized over two stories and ‘landlocked’ against buildings to the south and east, but its planning and warm materiality produce a sense of welcome and spaciousness throughout.
