UOIT/Durham College Shared Athletic Complex

This competition-winning sports complex offered Ontario’s newest university at the time a dynamic community hub and meeting place for students, athletes and faculty. Additionally, the new facility provides important recreation amenities to the City of Oshawa. The University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s ice arena and pool complex serve as a gateway building to the campus—the angled siting of the building allows views into the pool and lobby while accentuating the point of arrival to the campus.

The facility’s open and transparent design offers opportunities for chance encounters and conveys the university’s vision for a vibrant student life. Separated public and player circulation allows the facility to serve as both an effective athletic facility and community meeting space. Taking advantage of its sloping site, the facility’s design affords campus views from the restaurant/lounge and provides a terraced landscaped plaza situated between the pool and university’s promenade entrance. Careful attention was given to the phasing of this project. This provided a strong design concept without compromising programmatic needs at stage one, while complementing the existing design without disrupting the facility’s continuity at stage two.