Wasaga Beach Community Centre
The Town of Wasaga Beach in Ontario, Canada, is located on the southern end of Georgian Bay — about two hours north of Toronto. Home to the longest freshwater beach in the world, it has become a destination and gathering place for locals and tourists alike – each summer, crowds flock to the town’s beaches.
Agency
Practice Area
Client
Town of Wasaga Beach
Industry
The Challenge
While the town’s natural amenities continue to accommodate growing demand, its local community-based infrastructure was falling behind. The new Wasaga Beach Library and Twin-Pad Arena is the first public facility developed by the town in decades. As part of the project, an experiential graphics and wayfinding program was created to make it easier for people to move through the facility, and to showcase Wasaga Beach’s unique geography and history.
Project Vision
The Town’s identity is tied to the beach. Using topographical maps as a reference, the design team worked to make sure the beach’s shape would be integrated in the graphics. The shoreline became an abstracted motif that can be found throughout the facility’s signage, wayfinding, typography, and environmental graphics. It creates a common visual identity that connects all spaces within the new community centre.
Exterior and interior donor signage, with mezzanine track floor markings in arena.
Scott Norsworthy
Shoreline motif within signage and typography.
Scott Norsworthy
Design + Execution
Going beyond ADA and other accessibility standards, tactile lettering and braille is used on all room, directional, and wayfinding signage, including back-of-house spaces.
An undulating donor wall made of custom extruded aluminum tubes represents rolling waves at the beach. The removable face plates with sponsor names appear as spines on books. These are a nod to the library, an important component of the new facility.
In addition to the beach, Wasaga’s trails and parks are year-round destinations for outdoor recreational activities like fishing, canoeing, hiking, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and cycling. The town’s branding and trail signage has historically reflected this, with frequent integration of recreation-focused pictograms. The design team decided to build on this legacy to create bespoke pictograms for the facility’s signage.
Newspaper clippings, photographs, and other archival material revealed a rich collection of historical content. Librarians wanted to integrate this into their new space. Custom book collection stack ends in the library form a curated exhibit showcasing the town’s history. A ribbon of the wayfinding shoreline motif weaves through these stack ends, referencing the complex’s broader graphics.
Collection of tactile directional signage with braille – all with shoreline motif
Scott Norsworthy
Collection of tactile directional signage with braille – all with shoreline motif
Scott Norsworthy
Universal and gender washroom signs with custom recreation-focused pictograms.
Scott Norsworthy
Universal and gender washroom signs with custom recreation-focused pictograms.
Scott Norsworthy
Shoreline motif as distraction band in the library space.
Scott Norsworthy
Shoreline motif as distraction band in the library space.
Scott Norsworthy
Custom clad stack ends as archival exhibit.
Scott Norsworthy
Custom clad stack ends as archival exhibit.
Scott Norsworthy
Donor wall in lobby.
Scott Norsworthy
Donor wall in lobby.
Scott Norsworthy
Project Details
Design Team
Viktors Jaunkalns (architecture partner),
Tarisha Dolyniuk, (interiors partner),
Tim Belanger, (experiential graphic design partner),
Haleh Ghodsimaab (project manager),
Vanessa Tarasio (experiential graphic design lead)
Raymundo Pavan, Lily Watson (egd design team)
Collaborators
Spectra Advertising (physical fabrication)
Photo Credits
Scott Norsworthy (photography)
Open Date
January 2024