NIRSA facility feature: University of Windsor Toldo Lancer Centre

At the 2023 NIRSA Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, the University of Windsor’s Toldo Lancer Centre was announced as the recipient of a NIRSA Outstanding Facilities Award! Opened on July 4, 2022, the Toldo Lancer Centre nearly tripled the recreational facility space available for the campus community of more than 16,000 current students. The university’s students were instrumental in the implementation of this project, contributing $55 million (the largest ever student contribution for a Canadian university) towards the $73 million building cost.

Praised by the award committee for the facility’s impact, the Toldo Lancer Centre has significantly increased the recreation opportunities available to users, with visits numbering nearly 10,000 per week. Fitness classes have increased in number and variety by more than 50% courtesy of three new fitness studios incorporated into the building’s design. The pool’s daily hours of operation have doubled, and intentional design elements and programming have made the pool available and welcoming to students with varying abilities and of different demographics. Expanded court space has allowed open gym opportunities to increase by 50%, which has offered students more opportunities to participate in basketball, badminton, table tennis, volleyball, and pickleball. According to one of the reviewers, “The overall impact of this project alone makes it a strong contender for the award.”

About the Toldo Lancer Centre

The Toldo Lancer Centre was designed to adjoin and supplement the offerings of the St. Denis Centre, which had been the center of the university’s recreation programming for the past several decades. The goals for the new facility were to expand recreational opportunities to meet the needs of a diverse group of users, increase student engagement in recreational opportunities, and foster a sense of campus community and belonging.

“The Toldo Lancer Centre has exceeded our expectations in terms of campus and community engagement,” said Dr. Linda Rohr, Dean of the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Human Kinetics, which oversees the center’s operations. “It is well used by our students, varsity and intramural teams, and our faculty, staff and alumni. Members of the community visit daily to use the pool, the courts, the suspended walking track, and other amenities. Children come for swim lessons, school tournaments, and our summer day camps. Community groups use it for team-building and fundraising events. The Toldo Lancer Centre has become a campus and community hub for healthy, active living.”

The facility’s design is based around a central common area: Lancer Commons. Natural lighting and the open design welcome users to engage with the space easily where they can gather while enjoying direct views of multiple activity spaces including new interior views into the existing fieldhouse with the 200m perimeter running track, a new triple gymnasium, upper level multi-purpose spaces, and the two-story fitness center. This configuration allows staff to easily monitor the facility while decreasing both the distance that users must travel between activities and the need for directional signage. The central arrival area has an irregular, “piazza” feeling with café and casual seating as a general student hangout or for structured events and is a short stroll to the poolside seating area.

Elements of the Toldo Lancer Centre include:

• A 25,000+ square foot triple gym with seating for 2,500 people
• A 25-meter-long Myrtha pool which contains eight lanes and eight diving platforms
• A two-level fitness center containing free weights, cardio machines, strength equipment, and studios for fitness classes
• New outdoor facilities including a cricket pitch, two soccer fields, and a recreational trail
• Gathering areas for socializing, viewing the courts, and studying
• A 200-meter suspended walking track

Sustainability was considered throughout the design process; one of the first objectives was to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the existing aged fieldhouse infrastructure, which was constructed in the 1980s. Systems throughout the facility are designed to reduce energy consumption—this includes the use of high-efficiency LED lighting. Windows containing bird-safe glass (glass that is more visible to birds than regular glass) reduce the chance of collisions that can cause bird casualties, especially during migration.

Accessibility and Inclusion

The Toldo Lancer Centre’s design and programming were created to make the facility and activities welcoming and accessible to all participants.

There are three universal restrooms on the first floor as well as male/female/universal changing rooms. The pool has retractable screens which not only protect from UV rays, but also accommodate modesty requirements during designated swim times. There are dedicated time slots for Men’s Only, Women’s Only, and LGBTQ+ Inclusive swimming, allowing pool users to swim when they’re most comfortable.

Visitors to the Toldo Lancer Centre will find accessible showers, restrooms, changing rooms, fitness equipment, and hydration stations as well as wheelchair ramps, wave-to-open doors, and a zero-entry ramp to access the pool. Braille signage and the presence of multiple gym scoreboards—as well as the use of large windows and LED lighting throughout the building—provide higher visibility for guests with vision impairments. Acoustic paneling in the pool area helps to dampen sound for guests with sensory sensitivities.

About the Architect

The Toldo Lancer Centre was designed by CS&P Architects in collaboration with HCMA Architects of Vancouver. Based in Toronto, Ontario, CS&P’s staff of 53 works with clients in both the public and private sectors as they strive to create facilities that are memorable and that enrich the lives of their users. Their projects have included public schools, residential housing, childcare centers, civic buildings, and park facilities.

The firm has received more than 70 awards for its designs, including the OAA Award, the Toronto Urban Design Award, and the Hamilton and Mississauga Urban Design Awards. In addition to NIRSA’s Outstanding Facility Award, the Toldo Lancer Centre was also featured in the March 2023 edition of Award Magazine, a publication focusing on Canadian architecture, design, and construction.

Craig Goodman, architect and Principal with CS&P Architects, explains that the University of Windsor’s campus has grown incrementally through the decades from the original contemplative quadrangle core into the surrounding neighborhoods. The Toldo Lancer Centre site was quite remote from the central campus and connected by an interrupted walking path with railway and traffic obstacles. Early conversations with students revealed that many new incoming students were not aware that the St. Denis Centre existed. A key design principle was finding a way to mass the building so it could serve as the “beacon” to the community.

“Because it is remote from central campus and set back from the street, we built height and transparent mass so the facility glows as an inviting main entrance,” Craig says. “We formed the glass exterior in a sharp, angled prow—like the prow of a ship—with feature lighting and color that glows at night.”

The impact for student life has been significant since the facility opened last year. “We are thrilled with the results” states Craig. “It is a credit to the lengthy hours of student collaboration throughout the design process that each of the stated aspirations have woven into this final built solution. We are also thrilled with the acknowledgement of the NIRSA Outstanding Facility Award as it is a very meaningful commendation towards appropriate facility design that is truly derived from active healthy use.”

About NIRSA’s Outstanding Facilities Awards

The annual NIRSA Outstanding Facilities Awards, sponsored by Mondo, recognize the innovative designs of new, renovated, or expanded collegiate recreational facilities of NIRSA member institutions. Facilities receiving this award are a standard by which other campus recreation facilities should be measured, and from which others can benefit.

The application period for the 2024 NIRSA Outstanding Facilities Awards is now open and will close Wednesday, November 15. Eligibility guidelines, selection criteria, and entry fee details can be found on the NIRSA website.