Thesis Project
Victoria Community Centre
To situate and design a community centre in a place inhabited by a hybrid of people coming from all over the world, one must take into consideration the people’s feelings, thoughts, and memories. This is the definition of our stream of consciousness. The intent of the design of this centre is to make sense of past emergences incorporating it with present consciousness which will reorganize the sense of time, forming a subjective sense of time with direct relevance. This will be accomplished through a mindful approach to everyday life, a Japanese aesthetic called Wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi finds beauty in things that are
imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. For example, objects/materials in decay or untouched is more evocative than things in full blossom because they suggest the transience of things.
About Victoria Village, Toronto.
Sloane Public School was chosen for it’s central location in Victoria Village. It’s surrounded by residential bungalows, value of 1.5m, and short and mid-high residential buildings, welcoming a variety of people in the neighbourhood. It’s exterior facade made of red bricks appears to be decaying since the school was built in the 1950s.  This project presents an opportunity to transform a public school - with only 270 total students - into a centre that can be used by the entire community through Zen philosophy, which is part of the Japanese culture. Victoria Village is populated by single-moms and grandparents, who spend most of their leisure time at home, reading, or going to a local restaurant. Combining healthy activities in a centre  where they can all meet & interact was the goal of this project.
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Brainstorming
using SketchUp and Adobe Photoshop
These images, also known as "situations", are the activities i wanted to incorporate in my community centre. They also represent how I envisioned each space. Activities were chosen based on what will make Victoria Village a more active, productive, and interactive community. As you can see, later on in the project these "situations" further develop, and some change entirely.
includes floor plans, cross sections, and elevations
PLANNING
Using the concept of Wabi-sabi, i updated my list of "to-do"'s in this community centre. The centre now features an indoor pool, an outdoor zen garden, a cafe, a lounge, large washrooms, a basketball court, a multi-purpose room, a meeting room (first floor), a yoga studio, a weight-lifting gym, an art classroom, a spa - includes a massage/facial room and a fish tank therapy room, and a plunge pool (second floor). The exterior was redesigned to focus on which part of the building was to remain private versus public, and to create a unity between "before and after". The entrance brings you into a two-storey height ceiling of the reception lobby - where members sign up for things like towels, locker room keys, scheduled classes, and where non-members become members. They're then taken to the cafe space, which features a lot of open-ended seating around the staircase and the windows. This space is meant for the public, a space where everyone can get together for a mere hour in their long day. Walking further down, the floor plan leads you to the game room, which then leads to a buffering zone. This zone leads you to the sporting activities and change rooms on both floors. Exit stairs will take you to the same buffering zone on the floor above, which features the spa.
Perspectives
Final piece of the project. These 10 images best illustrate how i've envisioned the community centre to come to life.
