The pool addition constitutes phase 2 in a project completed by MJMA and ZAS Architects in 2005 — the Wellesley Community Centre, which occupies two-thirds of a block in downtown Toronto.
The addition expands the facility to include new aquatics amenities, building off its eastern elevation into a previously unprogrammed lawn area to mediate a connection between the city’s urban core and St. Jamestown, one of Canada’s densest and most ethnically diverse communities. A city-operated hybrid civic building, the pool now provides an active street edge along its primary Sherbourne Street elevation to the west, and establishes a new green park zone along the site’s eastern edge, facing St. Jamestown.
Clad in glass and custom-profile zinc, the addition houses a light-filled aquatics hall with a five-lane, 25-meter lap pool, a leisure and hydrotherapy pool, and a steam room. Following consultation with the community, a planned water slide was replaced with a diving platform that includes an integrated waterfall feature. The Centre’s existing two-gendered and family change room program has been expanded and updated into a pair of universally accessible change rooms separated from the staff areas and pool deck by glass partitions to maintain an open visual connection between these spaces.
QUICK FACTS
LEAD ARCHITECT: MJMA
AQUATIC DESIGN CONSULTANT: Acapulco Pools
COMPONENTS
- Five-lane, 25-meter lap pool
- Leisure and hydrotherapy pool
- Steam room
- Diving platform with waterfall feature
- Universally accessible change rooms
SUPPLIERS
Pace Clocks, Lane Markers: Competitor Swim
Filtration Systems: Fluidra
Ladders/Grab Bars, Starting Blocks: Spectrum Aquatics
Swimsuit Extractor: SUITMATE® by Extractor Corporation
Sherwood Community Centre
