Cloverdale Sport & Ice Complex breaking ground this summer

The Surrey City Council have approved the budget allowing the new Cloverdale Sport & Ice Complex to move forward, with ground breaking planned for this summer. This new community twin-pad facility is to be located within the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, south of 64 Avenue and just east of 177B Street in the City of Surrey, BC.

RDHA with Taylor Kurtz Architecture + Design have come up with a design that rethinks the traditional model for the building type by bringing daylight and views to the arenas and exposing their activity to the street. The ice surfaces are placed end to end, and fully glazed on their long north sides.

For updates on the project visit the City’s project webpage

Architectural Record features Old Post Office Idea Exchange acoustics discussion

The recent Architectural Record Continuing Education: Acoustics article says the "Old Post Office Idea Exchange...represents a new breed of library...intended as dynamic, gathering places...they address more challenging acoustic issues than libraries have historically faced."

In the article RDHA principal Tyler Sharp describes how materials were selected for both their acoustics and aesthetic qualities. "The Idea Exchange primarily uses perforated acoustic drywall to achieve the desired Noise Reduction Coefficients (NRCs). The material meets a budget that Tyler Sharp, principal at RDHA, describes as difficult, given the ambitions of the project. But it also has desired aesthetic qualities, says Sharp. Its continuous, uniform dot pattern flows evenly across the atrium ceiling’s angular geometry, and the dots relate neatly to the pattern of the curtain wall’s ceramic frit.”

Note that in the Spring 2018 the client updated the project name to Idea Exchange Old Post Office.

Rob Bokyo Retires

Looking forward to travelling and immersing himself in new and cheerful cultures, senior principal Rob Bokyo retires after over four decades with the RDHA studio. Through his thoughtful leadership Rob helped to build RDHA into a well recognized and respected Canadian design firm. His extensive experience included leading consulting teams in the design and construction of large and complex transit facilities, secure buildings, commercial and governmental office buildings, and post-secondary education facilities. Rob will no doubt continue to be active in the Toronto design community, and we wish Rob all the best as he enters this next exciting chapter.

New project: Provincial Operations Centre, Edmonton

RDHA, in association with Morrison Hershfield and their Mission Critical Practice Group, is pleased to announce we are working with the Government of Alberta to design the new Provincial Operations Centre (POC). Located adjacent to the Alberta Innovates Technology Futures campus in the Edmonton Research Park, the new sustainably-designed building will act as the emergency planning, training and response hub for the Province of Alberta. By relocating staff from two current undersized office locations, this state of the art facility will benefit all Albertans by providing the Alberta Emergency Management Agency and POC staff with dramatically enhanced response capabilities for extended activation periods.

City of Hamilton awards Waterdown Library & Civic Centre

Waterdown Library and Civic Centre received a City of Hamilton 2017 Award of Excellence, in the category of Public Buildings.

The jury commented: "An elegant civic amenity that makes an important contribution to the public realm in Waterdown. The architecture is well-scaled, beautifully detailed impressively practical and well executed. The landscape, in turn, is elegant and well-integrated with the architecture. Finally, the library successfully addresses the busy arterial on which is is located, thereby drawing attention to an important community asset. The jury notes the opportunity for the landscaping in front and the parking lot behind to allow for more community and spill-out functions."