Cowan Recreation Centre, Kitchener, ON

The Cowan Recreation Centre is a new model for a resilient community recreational facility, the first of its kind to pursue net-zero carbon facility carbon certification under the Canada Green Building Council’s ZCB Standard v3 – Design. The 222,000 ft2 facility will welcome over half a million visitors annually, and houses an aquatic centre, elevated FIFA-sized soccer pitch, indoor walking and running track, gymnasium, a cricket batting cage, and other athletic amenities. SpruceLab is proud to be the project landscape architect, and to support First Nations engagement for this significant initiative. The Centre is being designed following an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) process, and with a project budget of $174M will have the highest in the City’s history. Located at RBJ Schlegel Park, a large multi-use district park located in the expanding south-west area of the city, it will serve a growing and diverse population. Sustainability aspects of the design include extensive tree plantings and native species gardens, geothermal heating and cooling, a large underground stormwater cistern, an extensive greenroof amenity space, rooftop solar panels, and a high-performance building envelope. Indigenous placekeeping design aspects include a large unfinished metal Thunderbird sculpture / bike rack at the entrance (for 6-8 bicycles), and the planting of a specimen white oak close to the pool (honouring the history of white oaks planted as a wayfinding technique to guide people to water bodies, while doubling as a food forest as the acorns were used to make a kind of flour).   

This work was informed by extensive stakeholder and public engagement conducted by the City of Kitchener from 2019-2022. A groundbreaking event was held May 31, 2024, and construction is now underway. This IPD project is being led by Multiplex Construction and Unity Design Studio, with early support from Colliers International.