An underprivileged inner-city neighbourhood with a dense population, Centre-Sud has high ambient summer temperatures and few green spaces. Local residents have limited access to off-island recreational areas in the heat of summer. Located in the heart of the community, Veterans Park plays an important role as one of the neighbourhood’s few outdoor amenities.
This project for the revitalisation of Veterans’ Park consolidates its function as a source of summer refreshment by the introduction of a new wading pool and by the greening of numerous hard-surfaced areas. An abandoned park pavilion adjacent to the pool has been recycled as a bath house and service facility. Contained within an elliptical enclosure, the wading pool includes colourful water games and an outdoor shower area.
A heritage evaluation of the exterior of the existing pavilion led to the careful restoration of its cut stone facades and their assimilation into the bath house program for the interior. The project was organised around a material theme based on water, stone and metal – restored masonry walls, a concrete pool deck, a galvanised steel fence, and stainless steel shower stalls play against the surface of the pool.
