TSA Building Tour: Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Community Centre

For our next TSA Building Tour, we are heading to North York to learn more about the recently-opened Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Community Recreation Centre and Library!

Designed to be the new civic and social heart of Concord Park Place—a new high-rise community that will be home to 10,000 residents across 20 residential towers—this recreation centre has it all: a City of Toronto Parks & Recreation community centre, including an aquatic centre, gymnasium and indoor track, a Toronto Public Library branch, a City of Toronto Child Care Centre, and a Toronto Parking Authority underground garage serving the multi-program building. The centre is adjacent to the 3.5 HA Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Park to the east and connects easily to Bessarion Subway Station. Its name—a Wendat word meaning “where they had a good, beautiful life”—marked the first time a community centre in the city was named in collaboration with the Huron-Wendat Nation, recognizing the Nation’s long-time connection to the site. 

During our tour, we’ll have the chance to hear directly from the architects behind the building (MJMA Architecture & Design), all while exploring both exterior and interior spaces throughout the complex. You can learn more about our tour guides below.

TSA Member Priority Access: This tour is 50% off for TSA Members using the promo code found in the latest TSA Bulletin or on the Member Dashboard. TSA Members also receive early access to tickets on Friday, July 4 at 9:00 AM. Spots remaining will then be made available to the public on July 15 at 9:00 AM. Not a member yet? Become a TSA Member today and get access to free, discounted, and exclusive member programming.

About the Project: Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Community Recreation Centre

The Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Community Recreation Centre is the civic and social heart of a high-density 18-hectare master-planned community in North York. Spanning 218,000 sf across 3 storeys, this hybrid building brings together a City of Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation community centre, a Toronto Public Library branch, a City of Toronto Child Services Centre, and a Toronto Parking Authority underground garage serving the multi-program building, as well as the 3.5 HA Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Park to the east.

The Bessarion TTC Station, the Community Centre, and a future TDSB school site align on a north-south zone stretching from Sheppard Avenue East to the 401, organizing public building typologies and a civic elevation along the west side of the park. In response to the long, elongated site, the building is organized in two parallel ‘bar’ volumes along its length. The taller eastern bar building has open ends with large north and south windows for daylight and program transparency.  It contains the pool, gymnasium, walking track, multi-activity room, large meeting rooms, and dance and fitness studios. The double-volume library reading hall forms the southern end of the public building overlooking Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Lane. The lower west bar building, shielded by planted enclosures, opens to outside child play areas and multi-purpose room garden terraces.

A one-storey difference in grade elevation between the east and west sides of the site establishes a split building section that allows for the major program components that require a grade-related location to have direct, level entrances. The Child Care entrance on the higher Sheppard Avenue side and the Library and Aquatic main door from the lower Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Lane central entrance connect in a central 4-storey public lobby that is the social hub for all of the project partners.

The east street elevation has a large continuous canopy with a deep planting bed roof to form an elevated green ‘eye-brow’ to the street elevation. This green roof canopy provides pedestrian protection from the subway station to the main building entrance. The building ‘bars’ are clad in a board and batten panel texture. The 4-storey street facing bar has an undulating pattern of graphite porcelain panels with vertical zinc fins separating panels and larger verticals shading glazed areas. The western bar facing the outdoor play and terrace areas is clad with smaller scale profiled zinc batten panels. The east facing elevation is split by an elevated 3rd level courtyard that is used for child care, fitness and cultural programming.

Part of a master plan, the Centre connects to its neighbours on every side, managing pedestrian and vehicular traffic through the site, and remaining open to future developments. Crucial to a project this size, the centre incorporates multiple sustainability measures, with several focusing on the site’s water strategy, including bioswales, stormwater drainage and retention, and an irrigation model. Other significant measures are found in the use of passive light and temperature control, both inside and out, and in the extensive PV array and high-performance energy systems. 

Learn more about this project here.