Architect : MJMA Architecture & Design
Aquatic Consultant/Engineer : Water Technology Inc.
Total Construction Cost : $35M (Canadian)
Square Feet : 105,000
Project Description:
The David Braley Vaughan Metropolitan Centre of Community is a uniquely programmed complex at the heart of SmartVMC — Vaughan’s new city center and an innovative 100-acre mixed-use development. The DBVMC’s interior architecture occupies the three-level podium below the development’s PricewaterhouseCoopers Tower, with the project including three components: a 77,000-square-foot flagship YMCA, a Vaughan Public Library branch, and the community center, known as The City of Vaughan Studios and Event Space.
Each agency is able to independently schedule its programming, and yet together they form a cohesive and bustling community environment with flexible program spaces able to serve all residents. The lobby is equipped to host public events and designed to invite comfortable lingering, while also functioning as an internal street that directly connects to commercial, residential and transit amenities 24 hours a day. Its light-filled, cantilevered feature stair seems to expand as it climbs, offering views down into the lobby and across the complex into the primary activity spaces of the library, community center and YMCA. On the second and third levels, the gymnasium and studios open onto exterior terraces and can be combined to accommodate gatherings of various sizes.
The project was designed to LEED Platinum standards. Its key sustainability features include a heavy timber structure and wood decking in the aquatics hall and gymnasium, as well as high-efficiency, high-performance mechanical and electrical systems that draw down energy use while creating exceptional interior air quality.