Canadian cities Quebec, Toronto and Montreal are often considered as being the most ice hockey-mad towns in North America – if not the world. In all three, hockey is more than just a sport. The players are idolised and arenas treated almost as places of worship.

For the past two decades, however, Montreal and Toronto have held a distinct advantage over Quebec – a team to support in the National Hockey League (NHL).

While Montreal is home to the famous Canadiens and Toronto has the Maple Leafs, Quebec’s beloved Nordiques were forced to relocate to Colorado in 1995 due to the “financial environment”.

The problem was that having a successful team on the ice wasn’t enough to sustain the financial goals of Nordiques’ then owner, Marcel Aubut.

The team was forced to play at the ageing, 15,000-capacity Colisée de Québec and Aubut wanted the city council to part-finance a move to a bigger, modern arena where it would be easier to create and operate alternative revenue sources, such as retail operations and a casino. When a deal couldn’t be struck with city officials, Aubut sold the franchise to COMSAT Entertainment Group based in Denver, US and the Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche. It was a devastating loss for the city of Quebec.

RETURN TO BASE
For the past 20 years, the Nordiques faithful have been campaigning to bring an NHL team back to the city. In September this year – after a number of false starts and dashed hopes – those efforts finally took a huge step forward thanks to the opening of the Centre Vidéotron at Quebec’s ExpoCité district. The 18,200-capacity arena was too late to save the original Nordiques, but is seen as the missing piece in putting a solid a case for the NHL to finally award a franchise to Quebecor – the telecommunications company which part-owns Centre Vidéotron (along with the City of Quebec) and has been actively seeking to secure an NHL team since 2011.

For Populous, the architects appointed to design the arena, there was never any doubt who the intended permanent tenant would be. “This is absolutely a hockey-first design with the intention of securing an NHL franchise in the near future,” says Kurt Amundsen, principal at Populous. “The size of Vidéotron and the facilities within the venue mean that this is a major league arena.”

NEW SPACE
The CA$380m Centre Vidéotron is located adjacent to ExpoCite – Quebec’s 4 million sq ft business district which hosts trade shows, events and business gatherings – and the arena has been designed as a flexible, iconic and accessible space.

With a capacity of 18,259 for hockey games, Centre Vidéotron would rank as the 15th largest of the NHL’s 30 arenas, behind Montreal (the largest in the league with a capacity of 21,273) and Toronto (18,800) but ahead of those in other established and larger hockey markets, such as Boston (17,565) and Edmonton (16,839). While primarily designed as a hockey venue, the main amphitheatre’s flexible design allows seven different stage configurations to accommodate a multitude of events, from an intimate 3,700 theatre experience to a 20,000 centre stage concert.

DESIGN
According to Brad Clark, senior principal of Populous, the design was influenced as much by Quebec’s extreme climate as it was by its rich hockey history. “One of the biggest influences on the design was the way the city and its population celebrate the winter months and the cold,” he said.

“Early in the design process, we established that we wanted to capture the sentiment of the cold Canadian climate – the ice and snow – along with the warmth of natural wood to speak to the area’s booming timber industry.  We really wanted to incorporate maple wood and timber in some meaningful way.

“We were creative in using affordable and sustainable materials and natural materials were central to bringing the story to life. Centre Vidéotron is probably one of the first – if not the only arena – which incorporates wood into the primary structure. All of the exterior framing of the exterior skin is glue and wood, as is the main atrium curtain wall framing along the south side. Wood is a very prominent material in this building, more so than any arena that we have done to date.”

CLOSE TO THE ACTION
Perhaps the most innovative aspect of Centre Vidéotron is the way the seating bowls have been designed. The brief from Quebecor was clear – seating was to be as steep and tight as possible, in order to get the fans close to the action and create an unforgettable atmosphere.

“The mentality in Canada is quite different from that in the States when it comes to sport, especially ice hockey,” says Clark. “For Canadians, attending a game is all about the sport and seeing the action, much more so than in the US, where there is a lot of secondary activity going on. In the US, going to a live sports event is seen more as entertainment, an experience, a spectacle. At US arenas, we spend a lot of time designing secondary experiences. In Canada, it’s all about the sport.

“From the get go, we were really driven to design a very intimate seating bowl, to provide fans the best possible sight lines onto the ice. We wanted to place them as close as possible to the action and make the seating bowl as deep as physically possible. The seating bowl is designed in a way that it’s probably less accommodating to get to and from your seat – but once you’re in, the sight lines are amazing.”

In other words, Populous’ design fits with the Canadian way of viewing hockey. Fans are knowledgeable and want to enjoy the game in close quarters and they tend not to get up from their seats for food or drink during the game.

The efforts to place the spectators at the heart of the action has also affected the way the arena’s premium seating and VIP boxes have been designed. Rather than place the corporate boxes at the top of the lower bowl, as most arenas do, the VIP seating areas have been placed at the bottom of the top bowl – which is often seen by fans as “less desirable”.

Therefore, the entire lower level is designated to “normal” seating and can accommodate up to 10,010 people – more than 55 per cent of the total capacity.

“This is one of the first facilities where we’ve incorporated a premium seating product in the upper bowl,” Clark says. “The entire upper level is located above the corporate suites and lounges and has a capacity of 6,940 people. The design allowed us to use a steep seating rig, which still brings those premium seats and suites close to the ice and provides some really incredible sight lines.”

The 80 corporate suites are located on two separate levels and include a wireless network and a remote connection to the concession stands. All suites are accessible through the corporate lounge corridor and by a separate, VIP elevator. There is also considerable disabled access, with the lower bowl offering 26 and the upper 28 wheelchair-accessible seats.

SUSTAINABILITY
The Vidéotron Centre has been LEED certified at the silver level, thanks to its many sustainable solutions – which include energy-saving practices and reduced water consumption across the venue.

Vidéotron has adopted an innovative approach to controlling and managing rainwater, with the aim of limiting pollution of natural waterways by reducing impervious ground surfaces, increasing ground infiltration and reducing or eliminating pollution from rainwater runoff. The building envelope has also been equipped with air and vapour barriers, protecting it against air leakage and diffusion and ensuring its longevity.

IMPACT
Centre Vidéotron has had an immediate impact on Quebec’s entertainment landscape. It hosted its first major concert on 16 September – when rock band Metallica played to a capacity audience – signalling its new role as the city’s leading indoor venue. The centre has also secured a permanent ice hockey tenant, giving fans a taster of what a future NHL franchise would mean. The Quebec Remparts – who play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League – will play its home games at the new venue at least until the return of a professional team. For the people of Quebec, that moment can’t come soon enough.