This Toronto building has just received a major design award and it has not even been built yet

A unique new building coming to Toronto has just earned its designers an award – and construction on it has not even begun yet.

The Western North York Community Center was recognized on Thursday with a 2021 Award of Excellence by Canadian Architect, the long-running magazine about the industry.

Intended for 60 Starview Lane, near Weston Road and Highway 401, the 77,000-square-foot facility will be completely state-of-the-art in its design and facilities.

It will include a pool, multi-studio gym, full walkway, gymnasiums, multifunctional rooms for events, a childcare facility, outdoor green areas and sports courts, and a central “living room” with snack counter, games room and gallery.

View of the central “living room” space in the center. Reproduction by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects and Bortolotto for the City of Toronto.

Along with its sleek exterior design and interior details, it will also quite remarkably be a net-zero energy structure, which CA notes in its review is “particularly challenging in a building with an aquatic center that requires continuous energy consumption to heat the pools.”

It is actually so challenging that the building, when completed, will be the only one to house a non-zero aquatic facility throughout Canada.

The pool will be the only net-zero aquatic center in Canada – a huge achievement. Reproduction by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects and Bortolotto for the City of Toronto.

The jury also praises what it calls a “convincing” community engagement strategy put forward for WNYCC, which includes the emergence of the website createyourplace.ca, where residents can give their input on what they want to see in the center and receive updates about its progress.

The overall design was also considered convincing by the jury, noting that the center will connect two infrastructurally suburban neighborhoods in the Humbermede neighborhood and north of Pelmo-Humberlea through a city park.

It will also make great use of outdoor areas that were originally set to be part of a parking lot, with a kind of “outdoor space” that can be connected to each indoor space or used independently.

Glass and wood throughout provide an open, airy feel with plenty of sunlight and an appealing natural color palette.

All rooms in the center feel open and bright, with glass and high ceilings throughout. Reproduction by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects and Bortolotto for the City of Toronto.

With its on-site renewable energy plan to compensate for 100 percent of the energy used to burn the building, as well as the attractive, modern and practical overall design based on public feedback, the team of architects has certainly deserved the credit.

Construction of the WNYCC will begin in the summer of 2023 and end in the summer of 2026.

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