Nation to understand their interest in extending the name Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ for the new community recreation centre and library facility. In March 2022, the Aboriginal Affairs Advisory Committee endorsed the name, says Pecchia. As any project of this size and scope, some challenges in the construction process were inevitable, for example, finding more ground water than expected during the underground parking evacuation. “We were able to work through them methodically and in a collaborative fashion,” says Pecchia. The building site itself is long and narrow with highdensity mixed-use towers to the east, single-family homes to the west and an existing public transit station to the north. The design was influenced by the topography which lent itself to a split-level stacked building program. The architects designed two bar-shaped volumes of unequal heights: to the west a lower, narrower bar allows for a nine-metre setback facing the single-family homes, buff¬ered by a landscaped area of terraces and a playground for the childcare centre (the western bar also houses meeting, art, and game rooms, and a teaching kitchen). The upper levels of the taller four-storey eastern bar are split into two volumes of unequal height. The east¬ern bar features full-height windows along its primary façade for transpar¬ency to an interior gymnasium and running track, multipurpose activity room, and dance and fitness studios. Both volumes North Aerial View 47 JUNE 2023 | BUSINESS ELITE CANADA
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