The Open: East Village Public Washroom & Pickleball Court
WINNER OF A 2024 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF MERIT
This entry extracts a lot of impact from a simple palette of bold paint and steel mesh. The design exceeds the client’s expectations by combining a sporty public washroom and pickleball court. Public safety is addressed by reconsidering accepted conventions. One example is exposed washbasins against a glass wall to celebrate an everyday activity in a light-hearted, performative way.
– D’Arcy Jones, juror
LOCATION Calgary, Alberta
The Open is a public washroom that is under construction in the East Village of Calgary. It is the winning submission of a national public design competition hosted by the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation. The hybrid architecture and landscape architecture facility marries sport with utility, aiming to transform a functional program into a meaningful urban place.
The architects chose to locate the washroom at the end of 7th Avenue SE, close to existing utilities and intersecting pathways, where it could reinforce the urban edge of both the park and the neighbourhood. To bring an animating activity to the building, the 3,000-square-foot facility houses both a new public washroom and a single pickleball court. This pairing of programs makes the structure large enough to have a presence amongst its 12-storey neighbours, yet light enough at street level to feel transparent and safe within the urban park.
This modest piece of public infrastructure has a social placemaking element that is intended to serve a multi-generational demographic in Calgary’s burgeoning East Village. Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in North America, and a free outdoor court brings an active use to the facility—countering the common perception of public washrooms as dank, territorial, and in some cases dangerous places. In the architects’ conception, the project is a “mullet”: “business up front, party out back.”
The facility is wrapped with a teal metal screen, and the court is painted with vibrant colours and court lines. At the end of the court, tiered seating encourages spectators to linger. A sedum-planted, wedge-shaped roof nods to the nearby Rocky Mountains.
The firm’s experience with public washroom design over the past fifteen years has shown them that isolating these facilities or turning them into indestructible bunkers only reinforces negative perceptions. “If we intend to make amazing public spaces, then we need to start by composing places infused with value, purpose, activity, and delight,” they write. “One can attract all kinds of activity through design, intentionally or otherwise.”
CLIENT Calgary Municipal Land Corporation | ARCHITECT TEAM Peter Sampson (FRAIC), Liz Wreford, Taylor LaRocque, Sean Vandekerkhove (MRAIC), Noel Sampson, Andrew Lewthwaite (MRAIC), Maggie Bonnetta, Samantha Scroggie (MRAIC), Breanne Baydock, Evan McPherson, Paul Susi | LANDSCAPE Public City | STRUCTURAL Entuitive | MECHANICAL AME | ELECTRICAL CGM | CIVIL Aplin Martin | AREA Project area—280 m2; Building area—45 m2 | BUDGET $2.2 M | STATUS Under construction | ANTICIPATED COMPLETION January 2025
As appeared in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine
See all the 2024 Awards of Excellence winners
You can read our jury’s full comments here.
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