Halifax Common Aquatics Facility

Located at the centre of a rapidly growing city, Halifax Common is Canada’s oldest urban park and a cherished civic space for Haligonians. The Common is a landscape layered with history: a low-lying network of streams and wetlands once animated the site. By the mid-20th century, it had been developed into a focal point of civic life, offering a wide range of recreational and cultural activities and playing a critical role in supporting the wellbeing of the city’s diverse population.

MJMA’s landscape architecture and aquatic facility engage with the site’s natural heritage while serving the needs of a contemporary urban community. As part of the first phase of implementation of Halifax’s Master Plan for the Common, the project marks a new direction in the park’s design and use: it increases the density and variety of programming in the park while bringing more year-round active and passive leisure opportunities for all residents. The landscape architecture’s nuanced transitions between lively and tranquil zones also capture the layered character of the Halifax Common as a whole—a place where energy and repose, community and solitude, coexist in harmony.