In response to the recreation needs of its growing community, the City of Quinte West entered into partnership with the YMCA to create the recently completed YMCA Quinte. Here, Quinte’s citizens now enjoy two recreation pools, a double sized gymnasium, multi-purpose rooms, fitness areas and studio space. To promote active use during the cold winter months, a walking trail is incorporated into the facility’s circulation space. In addition to recreation spaces, the 50,000 square foot building offers several community rooms, one of the benefits of a City/YMCA partnership. A daycare and administration area complete the program areas. Spaces are located in a carefully oriented building to provide sunlight deep into the building’s interior.

Designed to convey an “explosion of activity,” this new centre of recreation and city activities is just that, serving both as a community energizer and generator of future growth. The location of the YMCA Quinte animates a previously vacant commercial-industrial site. A nearby major provincial highway provides easy access to the large volumes of traffic passing by. It is expected that this location will also prove to be a catalyst for future development.