Cambridge Rowing Club

ARCHITECTURE LANDSCAPE

Rowing Club | Cambridge, Ontario

Overview

The proposed design for the new Cambridge Rowing Club is a hybrid buffer zone that attempts to remediate the tension between existing urban fabric and natural landscape through the medium of recreational comfort.

Treating the site as a singular surface, the concept plays with revelation and recession through slippage that create interesting relationship between public (visitors) and private (rowers) programs and allow fluid and yet dynamic experience of the building as a whole.

1. Orientation: The program volumes are arranged in linear orientation to maximize surface exposure to the water body while providing equal views.
2. Program Shuffle: Club membership lobby, cafe, and training facility are elevated to allow groundlevel perforation and act as buffer volumes.
3. Volume Shift: Size of the volumes are adjusted according to program needs and shifted to create “meandering” circulation on the rooftop.
4. Tectonic Shift: Adjustments to the floor plates were implemented to envision dynamic interior spaces and programmatic relationships.
5. Envelope Unity: Program volumes are sculpted to define a homogeneous and fluid exterior aesthetics and to react to the overall circulation flow.
6. Rooftop Link: The envelope of the building was “pushed” and “glued” to allow accessibility to the secondary rooftop spaces.

Using an open plan, maximum flexibility was given to the usage of the building in response to seasonal shifts in the rowing club.