Doors Open: behind the scenes at U of T's award-winning Goldring Centre

Since its grand opening in October 2014, the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport has been making a strong impression on the students, faculty, staff and visitors who have participated in its sport and recreation programs.

But while the health and fitness opportunities that the facility affords the community are clear, the new building is also turning heads for its stunning architecture, recently winning a Design Excellence award from the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA).

“Honours like the OAA’s Design Excellence award are great because the juries understand the challenges in realising a complex project like the Goldring Centre,” said Shane O’Neil, an associate with Patkau Architects Inc. “It’s great to be recognized by a wider audience. It’s our hope that the Goldring Centre will continue to serve the U of T campus well throughout the coming decades.”

Designed by Patkau Architects Inc. and MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects Ltd., the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport will be featured in this year’s Doors Open Toronto. The annual event offers guests free access to more than 150 architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city.

“The most meaningful accolades for us as designers come from the people who use the building on a daily basis,” O'Neil said. “We’re pleased that the Goldring Centre will be participating in Doors Open Toronto as more people will get to experience the building first hand.”

In celebration of the Toronto 2015 Pan American/Parapan American Games, this year’s Doors Open theme is “Sports, Recreation and Leisure.” Through free walking tours (May 23-24), visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy the unique architectural features of the building, including its green, energy efficient roof; the bridge-like steel beams that support the second, third and fourth floors and the outward-facing strength and conditioning area.

“From the beginning, it was clear that a key objective for the Goldring Centre was to promote campus health and wellness through physical activity. To support that, we had to think very creatively about design,” said O’Neil. “We made the fitness area visually open to the street, so that athletes and spectators at Varsity Stadium would have a connection to people training and vice versa.”

This kind of attention to detail is continuing to earn the Centre honours in the world of architecture. It's now in the running for an OAA People’s Choice Award. You can cast your vote for People's Choice before April 15. The winning project will be announced at the OAA’s Celebration of Excellence Ceremony on May 9.

Adrienne Harry is a writer with the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the University of Toronto.