Orillia Recreation Centre
Orillia, Ontario
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Aquatic Centre, Gymnasium, Fitness Space, Studios, Pre-School Room, Multipurpose Rooms, Multi-Use Trails
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2023 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Canada: Award of Merit
2022 Graphic Design USA (GDUSA): Design Award
2022 Athletic Business: Facilities of Merit Design Award
2022 Ontario Association of Architects (OAA): Design Excellence Award (Finalist)
2016 Canadian Brownfields Network: Brownie Award
The new Orillia Community Recreation Centre and Park reimagine Orillia’s industrial history and reference the site’s previous use as a foundry. Architecture, landscape, and graphic elements are holistically integrated to offer a richly layered material and intuitive wayfinding experience, while also honouring and interpreting the former industrial history — imbuing this storied past into the daily life of the new facility.
Visitors are first greeted at the sidewalk by a low black iron ‘Foundry Park’ sign. At the building’s entrance and drop-off, monumental steel can marquee letters further reference the site’s previous use as a foundry.
Interior public circulation routes are lined with blackened steel wall panels positioned at strategic points to function as the facility’s primary wayfinding device.
Directional information is printed directly on the blackened steel, using an additive 3D print method of UV-cured inks for durability and tactility, the latter aiding accessibility.
The blackened steel also clads the central stair, acts as a backdrop for the community art gallery, ‘The Stack’, and envelops the sports hall-of-fame and history boxes that exhibit artifacts and tell the site’s stories.
A steel pedestrian footbridge is sensitively integrated into a wetland while connecting the park’s pathways to the 15km Lightfoot trail system. Fashioned in the same machine aesthetic as other elements in the graphic program, the bridge celebrates the transformation of the park’s previously contaminated industrial landscape into a healthy natural environment.
