The Alice Ansara Athletic Facility includes a gymnasium, a fitness center, a wrestling room, locker rooms, a sports medicine suite, an equipment room, an administration area and a team/community room. The building layout minimizes circulation and makes it easy to supervise.
Interior glazing accentuates height, spreads daylight and displays the bold colors used to identify activity spaces, contributing to the overall interior design composition. Natural birch and brick finishes add richness to the public spaces. The main gymnasium has a birch floor, and the wrestling room has a sprung floor for added resiliency and so the room can double as a dance studio when the mat is rolled up. The single-story structure manages to provide daylight in every program space; even locker rooms and restrooms are illuminated with windows and/or solar tube skylights.
A cost-effective pre-engineered metal building houses the large-volume spaces and is wrapped on two sides by a lower conventional structure. The roof slope of the metal building faces south and is structured to receive an array of solar panels. Exterior colors match the campus palette, and the barn vernacular and traditional detailing help the building blend in with the campus and its neighborhood. The school logo in the open oculus in the front elevation was created by an area metalsmith.
Portage Credit Union Centre
