Diamond Schmitt Architects' Toronto Central YMCA wins 2018 Prix du XXe siècle

Replacing an old facility at College and Bay streets, the Toronto YMCA provides swimming pools, gymnasia, daycare, dance studios, weights, and other athletic facilities in spaces filled with natural light, views, and a dramatic central staircase. In 2011-2012, Diamond Schmitt Architects renovated and expanded the building.

“The Toronto YMCA project embraced its somewhat modest materials, such as raw concrete and precast masonry block, and gave them an inherent dignity through simple design gestures and daring interior spaces,” the jury commented. “The building was a strong element in the 1980s revitalizing of downtown Toronto.” 

The jury also praised the project's simple design concept, which they described as “large functional volumes connected through logical, yet exciting corridors that encourage the experience of public passage through the building and civic block.”

“In the world of YMCAs, it is distinguished by attracting and keeping new members,” commented RAIC President Michael Cox. “The building, which ushered in a welcoming and secular‎ Y, clearly contributes to that success. It was designed to be, what we would call today, city-building architecture and one which stimulates social interaction...”

Jury members:

• Michael Heeney, FRAIC, architect and President and CEO of the Surrey City Development Corporation, Surrey, BC 
• John Leroux, MRAIC, architect, historian, and Manager of Collections and Exhibitions at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB
•  Kendra Schank Smith, FRAIC, professor and former chair of the department of architectural science at Ryerson University, Toronto, ON