Architecture  ·  Buildings

An Ode to Speed

July 2, 2023

words by Joel Wong | images courtesy of Stephane Groleau

A standing testament to the success of Canada’s speed skating Olympians, the Centre de Glaces is an ode to the nordicity of Canada that gives shape to speed.

Speed has always been a part of the nordicity of Canada’s Québec, fostering the likes of Olympic speed skating champions Gaétan Boucher and Robert Dubreuil to name a few. Inspired by this fact, the team at Lemay designed the newly completed Centre de Glaces, proudly standing as the largest indoor skating facility in North America as an ode to speed and movement.

Completed in September 2021, the centre boasts of fullsize and short-track speed skating tracks, in addition to separate rinks for ice hockey and figure skating. Lemay wanted to showcase a bold ice sports complex, utilising elegant and restrained designs to convey shape of speed. Lemay floated the idea of using an oval structure, which helps to compose a fluid and continuous form that reflects the speed, dynamism, balance, and skill of a skater gliding on ice. The interior of the Centre de Glaces features an 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. As such, the interior becomes interconnected with the landscape surrounding the building, separated only by a wall of glass that merges the perspective of being seen while seeing.

Another major factor of the design by the team at Lemay focused on the expression and commitment to northern design. The Centre de Glaces embraces Canada’s nordicity by enticing movement no matter the time of year through the inclusion of two running tracks; one which follows the periphery of the ice indoors and is complimented by a second that encircles the complex with rising and falling mounds. This allows 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. 

The Centre de Glaces is visually maintained through the elevation of its bleachers by placing them on a higher mezzanine with an integrated multimedia banner for indoor projections. The centre’s interiors feature a monochrome palette, with steel structures, mechanical ducts, and walls painted white, with a few accents such as wooden ceilings that help enliven the space.

With these layers, the team at Lemay was able to present an elegant solution for the concealment of mechanical services, allowing for a better appreciation of the sleek minimalism found throughout the environment. 

With a focus on absolute transparency, Lemay is able to decompartmentalise the space to open it up to the community, both locals and visitors. This openness is made possible by spectator areas that are lifted above the ice surface, freeing up the ground floor for windows. 

Through the Centre de Glaces, Lemay’s design has done wonders as an achievement in architecture and design, and stands as a testament to the nordicity and shape of speed. The Centre de Glaces will definitely be the pride of Canada’s Olympians.

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 Positive 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.

For more information, please visit About Lemay.