Designed by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects, the project is located in downtown Toronto. Regent Park is built in the late 1940?s and it is Canada?s oldest and largest social housing project. The community has historically been viewed as a transitional community for new immigrants, but due to social and physical planning ills, has contributed to the concentration of a socially marginalized population. 41% of the population living in Regent Park are under 18, and over 70% of the population lives below the Low-Income Cut-Off Rate.
Photography: Scott Norsworthy
The 12-year Regent Park Revitalization project began in 2005 to redevelop the 69-acre community to be a vibrant mixed-use mixed-income community. The Regent Park Aquatic Centre, completed in 2012, is the key civic amenity centered on the eastern flank of the new central park development as the heart of the revitalization.
Regent Park Aquatic Centre has been conceived as a ?Pavilion in the Park?, very open at the base, and bisected lengthwise by a ?dorsal fin? of aquatic hall sky-lighting. It is a multi-purpose swimming pool facility that includes a 25m, 6-lane pool, leisure pool, tot pool, hot tub, slide, Tarzan-rope, and diving board. Replacing an existing outdoor pool, the project was mandated to capture a feeling of transparency and connection to the outdoors.
Photography: Shai Gil
The Aquatic Centre is the first facility in Canada to adopt the singular use of universal changerooms, no longer separating males a...