Centre Multisports Et De Santé À L’université Bishop’
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
The new Sports and Health Centre, as an integral and central part of the Bishop's University Master Plan undertaken also by Peter Rose + Partners, offered an opportunity not only to transform the university's scope and role in the larger community as a community centre but also is a key element in moving the campus in a direction of from a car dominated environemnt to a pedestrian friendly landscape.
The project presented three opportunities for the university and community:
- to be a superb multifaceted facility for its diverse constituents
- to begin the transition toward a pedestrian and landscape biased campus
- to anticipate the marking of a new "Green" on the hill and to orient, and thereby connect the new Centre toward the heart of the campus
The existing building, with its large and mostly blank facade, offered very little to welcome or orient student and visitors. It stood aloof, solitary and isolated from the campus, with its interior mirroring its exterior, blank and lacking.
Peter Rose + Partners' goal was to create a building that is welcoming and easy to use and navigate, manipulating surrounding landscape and facade to make the new Centre feel more a part of the campus. The project calls for a renovation of the existing building's fitness facilities with the addition of a new ice rink/arena and double court gymnasium. Community amenities, including a pro-shop and elevated cafe (with spectacular box views of the new rink, gym, and overall campus landscape), as well as a new health centre, are integrated into the project as well.
The new Centre is organized around two axes which intersect and connect at the building's centre; the north-south axis community axis intersecting with the east-west campus axis. These axes provide prominent entrances for the two primary users of the new Centre; and by operating on both major levels of the building, the intersecting axes form a clear and efficient circulation for the project. A slight shift of the axes in relation to the existing building's orthagonal subtly allows a clearer connection for the community axis to the adjacent football field, landscape, and parking lot while also providing a more direct pathway from the centre of the campus into the building.
