flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Toronto Maple Leafs arena converted to university recreation facility

Toronto Maple Leafs arena converted to university recreation facility

Using steel reinforcement and massive box trusses, a Building Team methodically inserts four new floors in the landmark arena while preserving and restoring its historic exterior.


By David Barista, Editor-in-Chief | October 8, 2013
This photo depicts the athletic center project after construction. The $60 milli
This photo depicts the athletic center project after construction. The $60 million effort, funded by Loblaw Companies and Ryerson University, with help from the Canadian government, converted the landmark area into a mixed-use recreation center and retail and restaurant space.

Home to the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs from 1931 to 1999, Maple Leaf Gardens was widely considered one of the “cathedrals” of ice hockey. The 16,300-seat arena, designed by the prominent Montreal-based firm Ross and Macdonald, also played host to concerts, sporting events, and political rallies, and was known for its superb sightlines.

By the late 1990s, the grand ol’ gal had seen her better days, and an ownership change in the Leafs organization meant the club would be moving to the newly built and larger (18,800-seat) Air Canada Centre. For the next decade, the historic arena sat mostly idle as the new kid in town attracted the major events in Toronto.

In 2004, Loblaw Companies, Canada’s largest food retailer, purchased the Gardens and proposed several unpopular schemes for redeveloping the arena—including one that called for converting the interior to a Real Canadian Superstore and parking structure. It wasn’t until Loblaw was approached by Ryerson University that it would develop a plan that stuck. The downtown-based university was in dire need of a recreation center and a facility for its hockey team. The two organizations, with funding from the Canadian Federal Government and private donors—including a $15 million gift from Canadian homebuilder Mattamy Homes—committed to partner and bring the building back to life.

Their plan was audacious: retain and restore the building’s historic exterior fac?ade, including its steel-frame dome, while gutting the lion’s share of the interior spaces to make way for a new, four-level, multipurpose structure to house a grocery store and retail space at street level (85,000 sf) and the university’s sports complex on the three floors above (220,000 sf). Topping the new structure is a 2,800-seat, NHL-sized ice rink that emulates the original Gardens, with angled corners, rail seats, and its famous “corner blues” seats, which were restored. The $60 million project also added a level of below-grade parking. The iconic marquee was rebuilt and became the new entrance to the Ryerson University Athletic Facility.

 

The project involved constructing a four-level, multipurpose structure, topped with an ice rink, within the existing shell.
 
 
The complex program required methodical demolition and excavation work inside the shell without affecting the historic structure. This was particularly difficult since the arena’s poured-in-place concrete seating bowl, which had to be removed to make way for the new interior structure, held up the exterior walls of the building, acting as a form of interior flying buttress. To support the shell during the restoration, the Building Team installed temporary steel bracing to prop up the original concrete frames at the building’s east and west sides, and inserted large box trusses spanning some 215 feet between the existing buttresses on the north and south ends.

Throughout the project, the team monitored the existing structure and exterior walls for movement and strain, using a proprietary computerized fiber-optic system that sounded an alarm and sent email notifications when it registered readings beyond the prescribed tolerances.

MATTAMY ATHLETIC CENTRE AT MAPLE LEAF GARDENS
Toronto, Ont.

Building Team 
Submitting firm: BBB Architects Toronto (architect, Ryerson University component) 
Owner: Ryerson University 
Developer: Loblaw Properties 
Architect: Turner Fleischer Architects (base building) 
Historial architect: ERA Architects
Structural engineer: exp 
Mechanical engineers: The mitchell Partnership (Ryerson University); SNC Lavalin/LKm (base building) 
Electrical engineers: Mulvey Banani (Ryerson University); Hammerschlag & Joffe (base building) 
General contractor: Buttcon
 
General Information 
Size: 305,000 sf 
Construction cost: $60 million 
Construction time: January 2010 to October 2011 
Delivery method: CM at risk

Once the shell was stabilized, the team demolished most of the seating bowl structure and then excavated 23 feet below grade to accommodate the parking level. From there, the four-level, poured-in-place concrete structure was erected in tiers and tied to the existing structure, providing the required support for the shell. The temporary bracing was removed and large openings were cut into the corner buttresses to accommodate parking ramps and the main entrance. A large, 80-by-16-foot opening was created in the north fac?ade to accommodate a new loading dock.

Placing the ice rink atop the new interior structure—50 feet above street level—posed a number of issues for the Building Team. Chief among them was ensuring that the rink would be fully isolated from the structure below. This was accomplished by installing a waterproof membrane to manage against leaks and a thermal barrier sandwiched between the chilled rink slab and the structural slab to help regulate the temperature. A portion of the refrigeration’s waste heat keeps the under-slab of the third floor warm enough to prevent condensation below, and a network of piping in the 3-inch-thick under-slab circulates warm water to keep temperatures constant.

The Reconstruction Awards judges praised the Building Team for its close collaboration in executing this complex redevelopment and restoration project while meeting the requirements of working on a National Historic Site.

“You can’t pull off a project this complex this beautifully without having everyone of the Building Team members on the same page,” said judge Rick Juneau, LEED AP, President of Residential and Restoration with Bulley & Andrews (www.bulley.com).

Juneau and the other judges noted that the project serves as a good case study for cities and municipalities dealing with outdated or derelict sports venues.

This cross section shows the different functions in the facility. The program includes: university athletic space (blue), university circulation areas (yellow), Loblaws retail space (beige), back-of-house space (green), washrooms and locker rooms (red), and common circulation space (gray).

 

The program also incorporates a 1,000-seat basketball/volleyball gymnasium, training gym, fitness studios, fitness center, and academic and lab space for the university’s sports sciences, kinesiology, and sports therapy departments.

Related Stories

| Jan 14, 2016

How to succeed with EIFS: exterior insulation and finish systems

This AIA CES Discovery course discusses the six elements of an EIFS wall assembly; common EIFS failures and how to prevent them; and EIFS and sustainability.

Sports and Recreational Facilities | Jan 6, 2016

A solar canopy makes Miami’s arena more functional

NRG Energy teams with Miami Heat to transform an underused open-air plaza and reinforce the facility’s green reputation

Sports and Recreational Facilities | Jul 29, 2015

Milwaukee Bucks arena deal approved by Wisconsin state assembly

Created by Milwaukee firm Eppstein Uhen Architects and global firm Populous, the venue will be built in downtown Milwaukee. Its design draws inspiration from both Lake Michigan, which borders Milwaukee, and from aspects of basketball, like high-arcing free throws.

Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 24, 2015

HOK unveils renderings and video of new St. Louis NFL stadium

Retractable seating in the corners will allow the stadium to be used for FIFA or Major League Soccer matches, as it expands the field to a FIFA-regulated 120 yards long and 75 yards wide.

Sports and Recreational Facilities | Apr 9, 2015

Design for new Milwaukee Bucks arena is ‘modest and modernist’

Designed by local firm Eppstein Uhen Architects and global firm Populous, the sports venue will prominently feature a swoop, which some journalists and critics have likened to an inverted Nike swoosh.

Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 19, 2015

Populous design wins competition for UK's most sustainable arena

The live-concert venue will seat an audience of 12,000, which the firm says will be masked by “the atmosphere and intimacy of a 4,000-seat amphitheatre.” 

Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 11, 2015

Foster + Partners wins bid for 2022 World Cup centerpiece stadium in Qatar

Norman Foster described the design as “an exciting step forward in stadium design—it will be the first to break the mold of the free-standing suburban concept, and instead anticipates the grid of this future city.” 

Sports and Recreational Facilities | Mar 5, 2015

New HOK designs for St. Louis NFL stadium unveiled

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has assembled a task force to develop plans for an open-air NFL stadium on the North Riverfront of downtown St. Louis.

| Jan 5, 2015

Another billionaire sports club owner plans to build a football stadium in Los Angeles

Kroenke Group is the latest in a series of high-profile investors that want to bring back pro football to the City of Lights.

| Jan 2, 2015

Construction put in place enjoyed healthy gains in 2014

Construction consultant FMI foresees—with some caveats—continuing growth in the office, lodging, and manufacturing sectors. But funding uncertainties raise red flags in education and healthcare.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021