Canadian Architect features Laurier Brantford YMCA
November 19, 2019
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Canadian Architect magazine features the Laurier Brantford YMCA and explores its history, civic value and what it means for the city of Brantford. The result of a dynamic partnership between the regional YMCA and Wilfrid Laurier University, the YMCA revitalizes the city as a hub for community recreation.
The project includes an aquatics center with two pools for lane swimming, a double gym for sports and competition with retractable stadium seating for 860 people, comprehensive cardio and weight training space, group fitness studios and health intake consultation rooms for specialized community-based healthcare programs. Other key spaces include a childcare area and a youth zone for recreational, social and leadership development programs.
The piece notes, “Laurier University is celebrated for its history of championing adaptive reuse in downtown Brantford, and the university has revived and re-purposed multiple formerly neglected properties in the once moribund downtown core. The intention is the new YMCA will bring more pedestrian traffic to the area and reanimate the businesses in the historic smaller storefronts."
As regional YMCA manager Genevieve Hladysh sees it, "As soon as you’ve got a reason for people to come into an urban center, whether that’s through YMCA community members or students, it then provides an opportunity for future small businesses to come in and take over, and it all starts to form a livelier urban core."
