Atlas Tube Recreation Centre and Library
Belle River, Ontario
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Phase 1: Triple-Pad Arena (1000-Seats), Track, Gymnasium, Fitness, Branch Library, Child Care, Multipurpose Rooms, Cricket and Soccer Fields
Phase 2: Aquatic Centre (6-Lane 25m Lap Pool, Leisure Pool, Lazy River), Outdoor Sports Courts, Playground, Splash Pad, Multi-Use Trail
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2015 Athletic Business: Facilities of Merit Design Award
2015 Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (ARIDO): Award of Merit
The Atlas Tube Centre has become a recreational and social anchor for the Town of Lakeshore. The new facility highlights its cost-effective structure and humble, durable materials, elevating them with a consistent palette dominated by white and wood and a comprehensive wayfinding and graphics program. This wayfinding design provides clear navigation through the 200,000-sf complex while working in concert with the architecture to create a cohesive and strongly contextual identity.
A chief design element is the use of steel tubes — a reference to the project’s primary private donor, Atlas Tube, a local steel fabricator that both made a financial donation and contributed the building’s structural steel.
For wayfinding signage, program spaces are listed on individual tubes, then stacked and arranged to aid in navigation; the longer the tube, the farther away the destination.
Steel tubes are also featured as the donor wall, with the depth of each referring to the amount of the donation.
