Coronation Park Sports and Recreation Centre, hcma architecture + design & Dub Architects, in collaboration with FaulknerBrowns

Coronation Park Sports and Recreation Centre is an innovative hub that brings together high-performance sport and community recreation in one, world-class facility.

Velodromes are highly technical spaces, with teams of cyclists racing at speeds up to 85km/h on steeply banked oval tracks. In contrast, community centres need to offer both formal and informal programming for users of all ages and abilities, while encouraging social connection throughout. The centre's design carefully considers the needs of all these users, with its velodrome seamlessly integrated with a 4-lane running track, fitness, yoga, and spinning studies, sport science facilities, café, childcare, bouldering wall, basketball courts, and an urban court complete with social stairs and slides. Site & context Originally opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957, Edmonton’s 35-hectare Coronation Park is a mature city park that has become fragmented as subsequent developments eroded the clarity of the original plan. The new Coronation Park Sports and Recreation Centre will help improve wayfinding, acting both as a focal point for the park and a destination in its own right. The park is home to three significant architectural buildings with our project site centred between them. In an effort to minimize our project's presence, three large earth berms surround it and optically reduce the height of the building, allowing the existing projects to maintain their standing in the park. The centre will share its entrance with the award-winning and much-loved Peter Hemingway Fitness and Leisure Centre, now accessed via a tunnel that connects the two buildings. This link means that the two spaces can together operate as an indoor triathalon facility, which is unique in the world and particularly important in a city with very cold winters. Elevated design To ensure a high level of connectivity between recreational facilities, we elevated the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) sanctioned cycling track a full storey above ground level. A 4-lane running track encircles it, with two basketball courts positioned within. This unique design feature distinguishes the centre from the majority of indoor cycling facilities in the world. By placing the cycle track on the upper level, the traditionally isolated sport will be fully visible from the "social heart" of the building, inviting the interest and attention of the broader community. In the urban court, people will be encouraged to gather, socialize, and play, even as a high-speed cycle race occurs just above their heads. This juxtaposition of informal recreation and high-performance sport is central to the building’s design. Challenges The operational requirements of the cycle track necessitated continuous changes in the façade's slope, resulting in dynamic massing that offers a unique view of the facility from every angle. As Coronation is a mature park with successful public amenities, the design focused on respecting the existing context while introducing elements that add value to the experience. The landscape design prioritized adding a range of active and leisure, hard and softscape options to further enrich this much-loved city park.