Sponsored by ArcelorMittal Dofasco
Location: Laurentian Main campus, room C-203
1.5 ConEd Learning Hours
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
MJMA (Toronto) / Mitchell Jensen Architects (North Bay)
The NBCC is an 85,000 ft2 community recreation centre in North Bay, scheduled for tender in February 2023.
The site, like many in Northern Ontario, presents challenging site conditions such as undulating fissured bedrock that varies dramatically. Co-located with the existing Steve Omischl Sports Complex, the building is knitted into both the communal aspirations for the developing sport precinct, and into the rough beauty of the surrounding forest and exposed bedrock.
The North presents particular challenges to projects with Zero Carbon ambitions. Extreme climate, heavy snow loads, high demands on the building envelope, and high capital costs all contribute. The team worked closely with city staff on a number of grant applications, and were successful under the GICB branch of the Infrastructure Canada program. The grant provided a measure of budget relief, and allowed us to rework the design in pursuit of Zero Carbon certification. The project will be the first ZCB in North Bay and surrounding area, and the first public ZCB arena in Ontario.
The design transitioned from an elegant but modest neighbourhood community centre to a hyper-efficient ZCB candidate, all during the pandemic, its fallout, and resultant economic strain.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the particular challenges of doing a large-scale public project in the North.
- Discuss the opportunities for accessibility, health, and wellness through multi-use programming.
- Understand the practical and political challenges facing the architecture profession as we bring zero carbon principles to public projects.
- Understand ZCB design and its relationship to architectural and mechanical systems for this project type.
Marc Downing, BES, B.Arch, OAA, LEED AP, is a principal at MJMA Architecture and Design. Previous offices include Teeple Architects, Philip Beesley Studio, and Shore Tilbe Irwin. He studied architecture at the University of Waterloo. A licensed architect and a LEED AP, Marc has coordinated design studios in architecture at the University of Waterloo and environmental design and at OCAD University. He has been a guest critic at Daniels, MTU, Dalhousie, Laurier and Boston College. Marc’s projects are typically part of a public precinct, forming relationships to existing buildings at the civic scale. His work is rooted in the idea that assembly space is always malleable; the challenges of multiple program types necessitate hybrid, multi-use design solutions. Marc is currently leading projects for East Gwillimbury, King Township, the City of North Bay, Russell Township, and Seneca College.
Nathan Jensen is the president of Mitchell Jensen Architects in North Bay. His practice focuses on community, education, and healthcare projects, as well as serving First Nations and Indigenous organizations. He passionately believes in the power of architecture and design to meaningfully improve the lives of people and the communities he serves, and seeks to find creative, contextually sensitive design solutions that are simple, durable, and sustainable. Nathan holds a master’s degree from Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism.