An ode to the nordicity of Canada that gives shape to speed

Inspired by the Olympic speed skating champions Québec has fostered like Gaétan Boucher and Robert Dubreuil, the new Centre de glaces is primed to inspire movement in Canadians, aspiring and established athletes alike.

Centre de glaces
Photo credit: Stephane Groleau

With a 400-metre oval speed skating track and two Olympic-sized ice rinks, one for short-track speed skating and the other for ice sports like figure skating and hockey, this bold ice sports complex of elegant and restrained designs from Lemay is the largest of its kind in North America and the first on the eastern seaboard.

Rink
Photo credit: Stephane Groleau

Rink
Photo credit: Stephane Groleau

The oval structure is composed of fluid and continuous forms that reflect the speed, dynamism, balance, and skill of a skater gliding on the center’s 13,500 m2 of ice. As a compliment to a well-loved outdoor community skating rink, the Centre de glaces features the adaptive gesture of a floating ring which lifts the entire volume of its perimeter envelope high enough to create a 360-degree band of windows at eye-level. In doing so, the interior and rolling landscape that encircles the building become interconnected, only separated by a wall of glass that merges being seen with seeing.

Window
Photo credit: Stephane Groleau

This visual democratization of the Centre de glaces’ activities is maintained through the elevation of its bleachers by placing them on a higher mezzanine with an integrated multimedia banner for indoor projections. Layers like these present an elegant solution for the concealment of mechanical services, allowing for a better appreciation of the sleek minimalism found throughout the environment.

Stairs
Photo credit: Stephane Groleau

An expression of Lemay’s commitment to northern design, the Centre de glaces promotes wellness and embraces Canada’s nordicity by enticing movement no matter the time of year through the inclusion of two running tracks. One follows the periphery of the ice indoors and is complimented by a second that encircles the complex with rising and falling mounds, allowing for multiple viewpoints along the building’s outer envelope of cut-outs and projections with a metallic skin that shines and fades as ice does.

Running track
Photo credit: Stephane Groleau

Locals and visitors from abroad have already begun to connect skates to the ice of this achievement in architecture and design fit for the blades of Canada's Olympians. Meanwhile, onlookers can watch from either the luminous hall or a lofty mezzanine seat a few meters away from the ice, projecting them into the heart of the action at major speed skating competitions, hockey tournaments, and other events.

Stairs
Photo credit: Stephane Groleau

About Lemay

Lemay has been imagining new ways to create spaces that engage users and bring people together since 1957. Over 450 architects, designers, industry leaders and change-makers work tirelessly to cultivate innovation in their own backyards and in communities around the world. Inspired and strengthened by transdisciplinary creativity, the firm has also developed its very own Net PositiveTM approach to guide teams towards sustainable solutions that shape a better future. With the human experience at its heart, Lemay strives to design with empathy and create spaces to grow.