Wellesley Community Centre & St. James Town Library

Toronto, Ontario

In Collaboration with ZAS Architects (Phase 1 Only)

Aquatic Centre, Branch Library, Gymnasium, Fitness, Multipurpose Rooms, Child Care, Outdoor Child Care Play Terrace
Phase 2 Pool Addition:
Structural: Blackwell
Mechanical / Electrical: Smith + Andersen
Civil: EMC
Landscape: PMA
2007 Ontario Library Association (OLA): New Library Building Award
2007 Recreation Management: Innovative Architecture & Design Awards
2006 Design Exchange (DXA): National Award
2005 Building Magazine: Outside of the Box Award (Urban Design Category)
2005 Toronto Urban Design Award

The Wellesley Community Centre is an early example of a building conceived to consolidate several previously typically separated facilities into one complex, to create a true place of community. Situated in the largely low-income but vibrant neighbourhood of St. James Town, the facility has brought social and recreational opportunities to an area of downtown Toronto that had severely lacked such amenities.

The first phase of the project was completed in 2005 and was lauded for its functionality, immediate popularity with the community, and as an example of ‘beauty on a budget.’ Nearly two decades later, the pool addition completes the City’s vision for a ‘full community centre.’ The completed centre occupies a tightly-packed city block. For half a century, the St. James Town neighbourhood has been one of the most densely populated and ethnically diverse in the country.

The building’s elongated form presents the fully transparent of rooms of the library and recreational spaces to the community as gateway lanterns illuminating urban contexts that were previously lifeless.

The pool addition extends the north portion of the first building phase to continue its open expression. It also establishes a new green entrance courtyard at the site’s eastern edge, facing the residential towers of St. James Town.