Cannon Design Blog

In my reading yesterday, I found this interesting feature on the Virginia G. Piper Sports and Fitness Center for Persons With Disabilities. The project is hailed as the first-of-its-kind in the Western United States as it encompasses 45,000 square feet and offers a variety of options for healthy, active living for people with disabilities of all kinds.

Reading about projects like this is encouraging for me and the rest of our sports team at Cannon Design. It’s important that we focus on inclusion when we develop fitness and recreation centers. It’s a trend that we’ve noticed over the past few years and we believe will be equally important moving forward. Our firm has worked on a number of facilities focused on inclusion for those with disabilities – be it centers for Paralympics like the Richmond Olympic Oval and/or student recreation centers and dormitories that offer something for everyone. We need to create spaces that are barrier free for all participants and spectators.

Whether a building proves successful in meeting the needs of those with disabilities really comes down to understanding who will use the building and tackling the issue at the outset of each project. Kudos to Baldinger Architectural Studio for their work with the Virginia G. Piper Center – Each and every project that we develop with this focus is a step forward for the profession.

The Richmond Olympic Oval (ROO) has hosted the Vancouver International Wheelchair Rugby Tournament, National Wheelchair Rugby Championships, BC Senior Games and the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Games. The ROO is completely-barrier free for athletes and spectators with visual, hearing mobility and agility impairments.

Colleen McKenna - 01 May 2012

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