rare pavilion: The finishing touches

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The finishing touches

Fall found us in the home stretch, with just the landscaping and roofing left to go. Below, Bob is peeling logs that will act as seating and informal steps in the "outdoor rooms" at the north and south of the pavilion.

Luckily, Dave had some timber-working tools he was willing to share for this task. This draw knife was a remarkable tool for removing bark.

Here, Dave and John begin to assemble the accessible entry ramp.

The ramp rests on a floating timber footing at its lower end, and is supported on floating dock hinges at the building edge. Jack gets ready to attach the ramp in place.

Dave and John construct beautiful rubble retaining walls along the entry path. In the background, Jack and and Bob secure sections of log in place.

John's exacting archeological excavating skills are evident in the perfect firepit he dug into the clay.

A small delivery of gravel allowed us to establish a dry area for gathering.

Carpenter Dave came by to bend and help install flashing at the roof.

The transparent acrylic roof allows light transmission but collects rainwater ...

that is then channeled out a scupper and down some drain chains ...

where it feeds into three large interconnected barrels, providing 600 litres of rainwater collection capacity.

Acknowledgements

The Pavilion at the rare Springbank Community Gardens would not exist without the support of the Cloverleaf Foundation and the Kavelman-Fonn Foundation. The Cloverleaf Foundation’s generous initial gift came at a critical time - allowing rare to plan and envision the space alongside the School of Architecture students who designed it. Construction began and the Kavelman-Fonn Foundation subsequently made a lead gift facilitating the full realization of this initial vision. These donors have invested in environmental education for children and in a community-shared space used by school groups, community gardeners, trail walkers, and general visitors to the gardens. We can’t thank them enough!

You can help support Springbank Community Gardens by clicking here to make a donation. We still need additional site infrastructure: new eco-composting washrooms, handwashing stations, interpretive materials, and support for trail enhancements.

The Pavilion Team

Dedicated volunteers from the rare community formed the construction crew. Whether they helped for a few hours or a few months, these folks brought a remarkable commitment to quality, skillful approach, creativity, generosity, and attention to detail to the building site. Their work was truly extraordinary.

Laura Knap (B.E.S. Arch) worked on the final building design and managed construction. In collaboration with rare staff, she also produced this blog.

Structural design and general reviews were by R.J. Burnside and Associates Ltd.

Amanda Newell is the Gardens and Building Project Manager for rare.

Project design and development for the pavilion began in two master's seminars led by Andrew Hunter and Farid Noufaily at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge. The substantial work of these students gave shape to the pavilion, its siting, and its relationship to the surrounding landscape.

Preliminary Design - Arch 684, Spring 2009: Pooya Baktash, Liam Brown, Heather Brown, Maryam Karimi, Sean Irwin, Sara Nejad, Prithula Prosun, Mike Taylor

Design Development - Arch 684, Fall 2009: Lida Arbabi, Timea Jakab, Fariba Khorashahi, Rebecca Lai, Carmen Lau, Darcy McNinch, Parisa Nikkhou, Morteza Rabbani, Lisa Rendely, Poonam Sharma

The staff and board at rare have provided much direction, insight, and support along the way. The staff team, Environmental Advisory Committee, archaeologists, and educators provided input to ensure that no habitats, rare plants, or cultural history would be disturbed by the construction process.