The East Lions Community Centre is a destination for visitors throughout the neighborhood and beyond. Its stimulating, fun and inviting environment is capable of hosting a much wider variety of programming that caters to all demographics to promote community-wide recreation, health, culture and learning.
Occupying an L-shaped footprint, the two-story center faces the interior of the park with a stately translucent facade, and a generous entrance courtyard on the park-facing side is sheltered by three sheer walls, including a curtainwall that visually connects it to the lobby inside. Inside,
the center expands the park’s athletics programming with an aquatics center — comprising a six-lane, 25-meter lap pool and a leisure pool supported by universal change rooms and a large gymnasium. An additional complex of rooms, including multipurpose and activity rooms, a community kitchen and art rooms, provide a new home to East London artisans, thereby expanding the park’s programmatic offerings to include not only outdoor sports, but indoor sports, recreation and cultural programming, as well.
Though an energy-intensive facility, the center is targeted for LEED Silver certification, to be achieved by measures such as a 10-kilowatt rooftop solar PV array that links to a didactic LED dashboard display showing visitors the system’s energy-production stats.
ARCHITECT OF RECORD
MJMA Architecture & Design Toronto, Ont.
ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT
a+LiNK Architecture Inc. London, Ont.
PROJECT VENDORS
Gymnasium/Field House/Arena - Basketball Backboards/Supports | Gared - Forum Athletic Products |
Gymnasium/Field House/Arena - Divider Curtains | Forum Athletic Products |
Gymnasium/Field House/Arena - Floor Covers | Gared - Forum Athletic Products |
Gymnasium/Field House/Arena - Scoreboards/Timing Systems | OES - Forum Athletic Products |
Gymnasium/Field House/Arena - Volleyball Nets and Standards | Gared - Forum Athletic Products |
Gymnasium/Field House/Arena - Wall Padding | Apple - Forum Athletic Products |
Indoor Sports Surfaces - Basketball | Robbins Sports Surfaces |
Indoor Sports Surfaces - Multipurpose | Robbins Sports Surfaces (Activity Room/Ballet) |
Indoor Sports Surfaces - Volleyball | Robbins Sports Surfaces (Gym) |
Locker/Shower - Flooring | American Olean (Tile) |
Locker/Shower - Lockers | Lincora |
Locker/Shower - Shower/Toilet Partitions | Bobrick |
Locker/Shower - Swimsuit Extractors | Extractor Corporation 'Suitmate' |
Pools - Deck/Basin Surface | American Olean (Tile) |
Pools - Filtration Systems | Neptune Benson |
Pools - Gutters | Emco (grating) |
Pools - Ladders/Grab Bars | Spectrum |
Pools - Lane Markers | Rainbow (floats) / Recreonics (Pennants) |
Pools - Scoreboard/Timing Systems | OES |