Bostwick Community Centre, YMCA & London Public Library

London, ON
Construction Cost: $45,083,884.00
Area / Square Feet: 167,000 sf
Occupancy Date: November 2018

The building is situated at the front of its site, creating a strong identity and urban address. Leveraging its street presence, the community center is visible from the main arterial thoroughfare, with parking positioned at the rear. Planning requirements dictated that the main entrance was to face out onto the main road. However, with the majority of users arriving from the rear, the design solution sought to provide two entrances, both of which arrive into a unified central lobby.

The design accentuates and celebrates the facility’s special features and integrated partnerships, utilizing rich colors and textures to differentiate each of the partner spaces. A blue mosaic tile ceiling, abstractly mimicking the water basin below, creates a unique and intimate zone over the teaching pool. Acoustically absorptive plum-colored felt creates quiet “living rooms,” designed to encourage visitors to linger and interact. A full-perimeter walking loop, a heavily planted parking lot, a centralized playground, skate and bike amenities, and generous exterior public spaces serve to attract a diverse set of users.

Site sustainability was a key driver for this project. The western boundary creates a substantial open-air storm channel, doubling as a headwater for the local watershed and serving as a habitat for a variety of flora and fauna. Rainwater is harvested from across the site and is filtered through natural bioswales. Large glazed walls and skylights were predominately positioned north, providing ideal indirect natural daylight conditions for indoor activities.

Bostwick Community

Judge's Comments

“I love the powerful simplicity of this project. Its thoughtful use of color, light and form come together to create a very successful project. The site and sustainable feature integration is downplayed but significant to the overall success.” — Jon Niemuth

“The Bostwick Community Centre celebrates community togetherness through simple, clean forms and details that create an easy flow from space to space in dynamic and powerful volumes.” — Mark Williams

“Including both regional and site context really helped showcase the thought process utilized during the design. A very well-conceived site and landscape plan. Beautiful interiors allow the program to take precedence.” — Arash Izadi