Jasper Place Bowl Stadium

Location: Edmonton, AB
Year: 2021
Status: Completed
Size: 1875 m² / 20,000 ft²

Jasper Place Bowl replaces an aging grandstand within a suburban park that houses multiple institutions including two high schools and various recreational facilities. The project embraces the ground plane in order to tie the “in-between” spaces of the park into a cohesive open landscape.

The design uses the sloped seating of the bleachers as the inspiration for the building form and experience. The overall massing of the design adopts this canted angle. The resulting tilted elevations recall the sculptured landscape of the surrounding bowl and allude to the tilted strata of heaved and sheared geological landforms. Copper cladding on the angled wall elements has an intrinsic elemental quality that will gain a patina over time to enhance geological impressions. The gesture of the building also suggests an anthropomorphic posture - as though the building itself is leaning in to watch the field.

A central entrance serves those arriving from both the north and south. Pulling the building apart at center field to create a public entrance create an entrance plaza, sharply defined as a rectangle, with similar proportions to the sports field below. Within this viewing plaza, the inside and outside of facility is blurred, reinforcing the sense of a continuous public realm. The Spotters Box spans dramatically over the plaza, creating a monument portal that celebrates arrival. Upon entering spectators are presented with a central and elevated view of the field. The entry plaza extends into a viewing plaza within the facility, allowing for places to gather and giving barrier-free seating an optimal viewing possible near center field.