Peter Hemingway Fitness and Leisure Centre Rehabilitation

Edmonton, Alberta

Completed in the fall of 2025, the rehabilitation of the Peter Hemingway Fitness and Leisure Centre represents a sophisticated marriage of heritage conservation and technical modernization.

Working in collaboration with ACI Architects, RDHA served as the Design Architect, providing heritage modernization and visioning design consultancy for the City of Edmonton. As a 50-year-old architectural landmark, the facility required a delicate touch to preserve its iconic status while addressing the rigorous demands of a contemporary aquatic and recreation centre.

Named after its famous architect, the Peter Hemingway Fitness and Leisure Centre is a standalone Aquatic and Recreation facility located on the south end of the City’s culture and leisure district at Coronation Park.The building’s program, which includes an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a lower-level fitness centre, and mezzanine stretching areas, is housed beneath a renowned tensile roof structure. This system features exposed wood beams and decking suspended by an array of tension cables, propped by timber columns and wrapped in expansive glazed exterior walls. This transparency allows the interior to be defined by shifting natural light, a signature element of Hemingway’s original design that the rehabilitation sought to celebrate and protect.

The scope of the renovation project was comprehensive, addressing the critical failure of aging systems through a lens of high-performance engineering and energy efficiency. The intervention included the full replacement of the entire curtain wall system and roof membrane to drastically improve the building envelope's thermal resistance. Internally, the project involved a total overhaul of the aquatic infrastructure, including the filtration system, tank gutters, boilers, and ventilation equipment. By modernizing interior partitions, finishes, and lighting, the design team ensured that the facility met modern accessibility and aesthetic standards while maintaining a profound respect for the original 1970s architectural language.

Images: Sean Stewart Photography Ltd.