Minoru Centre for Active Living

Replacing three ageing and outdated facilities in the heart of Richmond’s city centre, Minoru Centre for Active Living will serve as a gateway to the adjacent Minoru Park – a local wellness hub for more than a century.

Fast + Epp proposed a longspan hybrid steel and glulam system for the project’s undulating roof. The beams seem to float from one another, creating clerestory windows and skylights that encourage natural daylight in deep interior spaces. To protect the glulam beams as they extend out to the exterior, the team added an extra “face lam” veneer layer to shield the wood from the elements. Locally-sourced spruce was chosen for its aesthetic appeal and its ability to meet the project’s durability, acoustic and structural constraints. Moreover, with 10 different radius profiles, using steel to accomplish this same form would have been prohibitive.

The new aquatic centre significantly increases existing services – it has two 25m lane tanks, a large leisure pool, two hot pools, a cold plunge pool, steam room and saunas, as well as a large change room with gender-specific and universal change areas. Minoru will house an older adults’ community centre, event spaces, a fitness centre and an outdoor sports field.