Corp Comm Connects

Meadowvale Community Centre redevelopment: designing for access

NRU
Dec. 14, 2016
By Leah Wong

Community centres continue to serve as local hubs, offering a range of services and recreation programming and functioning as gathering spaces for residents. Recognizing the importance of these facilities, the Meadowvale Community Centre and Library was redeveloped to make it more inclusive and accessible to the area’s changing population.

“Community centres with libraries have become so much more important [to residents] - they are kind of like the third space for people to connect with programs and with each other,” Perkins + Will principal and
architect Phil Fenech told NRU.

“They are threshold spaces for new Canadians, for seniors who want to get out in the world... and very important spaces for youth.”

Fenech said the original Meadowvale Community Centre couldn’t keep up with the demands of the neighbourhood. Meadowvale was built as a planned community, around the man-made Lake Aquitaine in the 1970s.

“The neighbourhood and the park had matured quite a bit, but the building that was there had really served its purpose. It was too small and the program demands had increased.”

Perkins + Will, led by principal and Ontario design director Andrew Frontini, was retained by the City of Mississauga in 2011 to redevelop the Meadowvale Community Centre. Fenech said his firm was asked to incorporate a library that would be relocated from a nearby mall and increase the range of programs that could be offered at the site.

For the redevelopment three options were considered - build an entirely new facility, renovate the existing building or build a new facility around the existing pool tank. Picking the third option, Fenech said retaining the pool tank has worked with the design of the new building and cost less than completely replacing the building.

Making the new facility accessible was part of Perkins + Will’s mandate. As of January 1 municipalities are required to make new and redeveloped public spaces accessible under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. The building was recognized with an award of merit for barrier-free design by the March of Dimes last month.

“Our goal with our clients is to always maximize participation. You want to be able to reach as many people as possible,” said Fenech.

Having universal change rooms with a mix of cubicle types is one of the new features that makes the space more inclusive to a diverse group of users. “The benefit of a universal change room is that it breaks down the barriers of what a change room experience is like,” said Fenech. The separate cubicles are more inclusive and accessible to a range of users, including older adults that need caregiver support, parents with children and transgender individuals.

“If you’ve done that with your change room, which is really the first experience for many people at the recreation portion of a community centre, then you’ve made it comfortable and welcoming and from there they will enjoy the experience and keep coming back.”

The building has also been designed with sustainability in mind. There a number of green roofs on the terraced building, which Fenech said will minimize the heat island effect and the impact of stormwater on the site. The building is also transparent, maximizing daylight and reducing the amount of artificial light that is required.

The colourful fi ns surround the building serve both a sustainable and an aesthetic purpose. Fenech said they block the setting sun during the summer, preventing radiant heat from coming into the building.

“Equally [the fins] have an aesthetic appeal that binds the entire facade together,” said Fenech. “It is a kind of identifier for the community that says, ‘This is yours.’”