Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, University of Toronto Scarborough

Toronto, ON
Construction Cost: $205 million (CAN)
Area / Square Feet: 311,000 sq.ft.
Occupancy Date: September 2014

The Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (TPASC) is a temporary facility for the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan American Games, as well as a post-Games local community center, an athletic facility for the University of Toronto Scarborough, and a national training center. Its distinctive silhouette will act as a landmark for both the Games and surrounding community. The massing landscape design and graphic surface patterns both inside and out are inspired by the dynamic sports it houses and the geological transformation of the landscape of the southern Ontario region, as well as the transformation of the facility from Games to legacy facility.

TPASC contains internationally sanctioned swimming and diving pools, an indoor track, a fitness area, a 38,000-square-foot multipurpose field house and a high-performance training center for elite athletes.

The building is half-sunken into the ground to reduce its visual scale, placing the playing fields one story below the public entry level. This will facilitate the separation of athletes and audience members during the Games and create an overview for visitors from internal public circulation and surrounding exterior sidewalks. Glazed areas provide abundant natural light and views, but are positioned to mitigate playing-surface glare. The bird-friendly transparent glass features a frit pattern that celebrates the sports that the facility supports

Judge's Comments

"This project is a wonderfully detailed and designed creation. The quality of design thought is carried through from the wonderful massing of forms, through the exquisite interiors and down to the smallest of details."   — Mark Williams

"This massive facility is thoughtfully planned and interesting on many scales. It is efficient and provides the many programs and complexities that come with housing the international games, and it will responsibly transform into an attractive community asset."   — Chris Sgarzi

"The building uses strong colors to successfully define sculptural masses both on the interior and exterior."   — Anita Moran