VAUGHAN CIVIC CENTRE

While strategizing how to design a new civic centre for this competition entry, it became apparent that a master plan was critical in order to organize the many components of this vast site and locate all the requisite buildings.

Master Plan

With the competition rules requiring the existing civic centre to remain intact until its replacement was built and occupied, a five-part master plan was developed around it. As such, (1) We embellished Major Mackenzie Drive to become a new boulevard lined with both coniferous and deciduous trees, signaling its importance as a civic street; (2) To the north, we increased the scale of buildings along Major Mackenzie Drive with a new mixed-use commercial development, appropriate for such a street; (3) To the south, we created a pedestrian link starting on the east side of the site, at the historically designated “Lord Beaverbrook House” and traveling west through the future mixed-use institutional buildings, through the new civic centre and concluding at the relocated “GO Station” at the site’s western boundary; (4) We added a large pond south of the civic centre, adding a natural focal point for all buildings and adjacent houses and lastly, (5) We wrapped the pond with topography and trees, along with a new five-court bocce ball pavilion and a new seniors’ residence (Maple Manor Retirement Home), completing the vision for this master plan.

Note: For Vaughan Civic Centre statistics, materials and general program, see Institutional Portfolio – Vaughan Civic Centre.

LOCATION: Vaughan, Ontario

ARCHITECT: Adamson Associates Architects

DESIGN LEADERSHIP: Michael Poitras,
Partner-in-Charge of Design

COMPETITION: Open Design Competition – Second Place

CLIENT: City of Vaughan