Residents and visitors to the east side of Calgary’s East Village will soon have a place to find some relief—and use a washroom, too.

The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, along with architects from Public City, broke ground on March 26, on a new permanent washroom and pickleball court located next to the East Village playground and community gardens.

The new washroom will replace both the washrooms that are located along the Riverwalk that have been closed for the past year, and the temporary washroom placed near the playground.

The new facility came about as a result of a design competition that was opened in August of 2022, to balance both user needs and community safety, said Clare LePan, Vice President for Communications and Strategic Partnerships at CMLC,

“We looked for an innovative team and concept that would fulfill the functional needs of the washroom facility, the community’s need for safety, and also aligned with the energy vibrancy and personality of East Village,” she said.

LePan said that architecture firm Public City, which also designed Park Park in Inglewood and High Park in the Beltline, was chosen for their unique approach to the challenge.

When completed, the 3,000-square-foot facility will have four washroom stalls, with one completely wheelchair and limited mobility accessible, shared hand washing and drying space, a fenced-in pickleball court, tiered spectator seating, and a drought-resistant living green roof.

“Finding the solution for a safe, accessible and inclusive design was paramount, and one that we spent a lot of time on,” said LePan.

Construction of the new washroom and sports court will begin in April and is expected to take several months. The expected opening is this fall. Management and construction of the project will be done by Calgary-based Delnor Construction.

Unique approach to meeting community needs, safety

She said that creating public washrooms that were both safe and comfortable to use, incorporated safety and design feedback solicited from the Calgary Police Service and the HELP team.

“The washrooms that we had previously along Riverwalk were an automated washroom facility, that really were limited in terms of sight-lines access into the facility, and how they were managed,” LePan said.

The new washrooms have windows into the vestibule area—although not into the washroom stalls themselves—and were better designed to encourage washroom use only.

“We looked at lighting and sightlines so people feel comfortable coming into the building, they can see what’s happening in the building and in the surrounding area. We also looked at some considerations around electrical receptacles in the facilities, so that those aren’t providing a space for additional charging in the place,” LePan said.

Part of the safety and maintenance differences that will make the new facility different than the washrooms installed in 2012 would be a pilot program to have an attendant at the washrooms, LePan said.

The cost of that program would be borne by CMLC out of the programming budget, with more details to follow in the fall.

Asked for by East Villagers

LePan said that the washrooms would serve the more than 4,000 people living in the East Village who are also using amenities provided by CMLC, in addition to the roughly 80,000 visitors each year to the area.

She said that the usage demand for the temporary washroom was high, and that water was needing to be refilled twice a day to meet that demand.

“It is a sort of important part of infrastructure in the community. So we’re anticipating that demand to carry into this space as well,” she said.

Peter Sampson, co-founder and principal of Public City, said that there was a desire on the part of his firm to create something that would be more than just a washroom for the community and visitors.

“We’ve collided a sport program, which is a growing activity across North America… and we kind of encouraged CMLC to say, ‘well, maybe one’s not enough,'” Sampson said.

CMLC operates another pickleball court at Pixel Park, located in the Victoria Park portion of the Culture and Entertainment District.

“Something that CMLC has been doing for years, which is very close to what we do as a practice, is asking the question about how to humanize the public realm as well. Not just to provide amenity, not just to activate, not just to create sport, not just to create infrastructure, but how do you humanize it,” Sampson said.

Liz Wreford, co-founder and principal of Public City, said that part of the design philosophy was to use bright colours and accessible design that welcomes visitors in.

“A lot of our work has a lot of bright colors in it. You can see that in Park Park and High Park. We’ve used a lot of the same thinking there, and a lot of it comes from this landscape which is white and gray, and having a bit of colour is unexpected but also what we all crave and need in the winter, especially,” Wreford said.

“It feels warm, even if it’s not always warm. So, psychologically it changes how people are in a space, and these particular colours, they complement what’s going on around here.”