Reimagining Ottawa’s architecture

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Urbanarchit

Click the addresses for the hyperlink to Google Maps.

Considering the issue with what's happening on Rideau with certain terrible highrise buildings, I thought I'd share some buildings I've found on my google map journeys that I think exemplify good ways of permit multiple highrise buildings on the same block. In some of the buildings below, the materials may not be the most attractive, but the volumes and setbacks from from interior property lines allows for slimmer towers providing spacing between the highrises, no large blank walls, and also allowing light to reach the street. Notably, a lot of them have podiums to provide some setback from the street to be more consistent with existing buildings on that block. I also like that these buildings are tall but not too tall, which I think would work for Rideau. In fact, West Broadway Street in Vancouver has a lot of good examples of smaller highrises, midrises and lowrise buildings commingling that I think would be worth considering for Rideau Street.

They provide great examples of good urbanism. Very generous set-backs. Retail or street oriented residential (townhomes) at ground level. Never (or rarely) an overwhelming shear wall.

We often don't even see these types of set-backs on our traditional main streets here in Ottawa.

[Kitchissippi]

if you're up for a laugh, this advert disguised as journalism might amuse you:

https://www.cntraveler.com/sponsored...s-capital-city

[lrt's friend]

Isn't Austin having trouble keeping its infrastructure up with the crazy population growth?

[Kitchissippi]

Imagine an NHL arena at LeBreton being the podium of something like the Queen's Wharf in Brisbane:



• Video Link

[Brannwagon]

One can dream...

[J.OT13]

That would be a good use of space. I neve understood why arenas are always stand-alone. It would make so much more sense to build on top of them.

Note: In this Brisbane proposal as an example of what could be built on top of an arena, the columns of the tower(s) would be in and around the concourse to minimize the impact on the flow of patrons. Building on top of the actual arena bowl might be impossible or extremely difficult.

[J.OT13]

Not necessarily architecture, but urban concepts to better our suburban areas are create true 15-minute neighbourhoods.

Halifax:

Originally Posted by Hali87

High-level redevelopment plan for a strip mall in Clayton Park (Halifax). Approx. 3000 new residential units and doubling of the commercial space. More significantly, reconfiguring a gigantic parking lot into a quasi-urban environment. This has long been a sort of bellweather site for what redevelopment of suburban parking lots might look like on a larger scale and there are sites with similar potential on 2 of the other corners of this intersection.

This is separate from the Mumford/West End Mall redevelopment plans which are a bit closer to DT.

St. Albert, Alberta:

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

A bedroom City next to Edmonton and not bad!

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Award Construction Ltd.
381 followers
3w • 3 weeks ago
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Award Construction is very excited to be involved in the Pre-Construction activities on Riverbank Landing, a mixed use development by Boudreau Communities Ltd. This master planned, walkable community located right in the heart of St. Albert on the banks of the Sturgeon River is a beautiful mix of residences, restaurants, boutique shops, entertainment, wellness and professional services. Construction to start summer of 2022!









https://www.linkedin.com/posts/award...er_desktop_web

[GeoNerd]

Woof! Angle parking, surface lots, canyons, car-centric… These are pretty bad.

[OTSkyline]

Both proposals seem to be significant improvements to what exists there today. Yes there is a few parking spots on site but still much less than status quo.

Can people drive to these new developments? Yes.
But at the very least most people who will move into/live in these developments would not have to drive to do most of their basic shopping (food, pharmacy, coffee, shopping, etc) - which is the ultimate goal of these 15min neighbourhoods.

I would welcome this in places like Carlingwood Mall, Bells Corner, Place d'Orleans, St-Laurent, Trainyards, etc...

[Admiral Nelson]

Originally Posted by GeoNerd

Woof! Angle parking, surface lots, canyons, car-centric… These are pretty bad.

Out of curiosity, what is the problem you see with angle parking? I see this type of parking a lot in Europe and it seems to facilitate getting away with narrower streets which are the type of street that is lower-speed and friendlier to people.

[GeoNerd]

Originally Posted by Admiral Nelson

Out of curiosity, what is the problem you see with angle parking? I see this type of parking a lot in Europe and it seems to facilitate getting away with narrower streets which are the type of street that is lower-speed and friendlier to people.

Good question. There are a multitude of problems with angled parking. I’ll skip the biggest issue, which is that any street parking in general encourages more driving. Other major problems with angled parking on public streets are:

Statistically, there are higher rates of collisions with other motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians with angled parking. Angled parking and 90° parking requires motorists to reverse into public streets. They often use more than 30% more asphalt than 90 degree spaces on two way streets.

Angled parking does work better on one-way streets, and there are cases to be made about reverse-in angled parking on one-way streets being slightly better, but it is still not ideal, and requires large swaths of asphalt, taking away from public areas.

We see some European cities with angled on-street parking, because they are trying to squeeze in parking into existing tight spaces. If given the chance to design from scratch I’m sure there would be zero on-street parking provided.

[OTSkyline]

Currently in Toronto and was amazed at the look and design of these completed towers, Eau du Soleil. The height, the interesting roof line, and the design, although very simple in nature, looks very nice and distinctive (i.e the thick white outlines or floorplates or whatnot). I just drove past a few times so can't comment on the podium or street-level but wow. Really wish we could get something like this at Lebreton, Bayview or Little Italy.

[J.OT13]

From Minto. In Calgary. To be targeted at Ontario investors. Can we just build it here please?

Originally Posted by O-tacular

An interesting new proposal for East Village in Calgary by Minto:



There was a concept posted by MoDa as part of the competition that Chad shared earlier but it wasn't chosen:



I liked the MoDa one but so far the winner looks even better. It is early in the concept stage so it will probably be VE'd but still lots of potential. Apparently it's being marketed to investors in Ontario.

[J.OT13]

A simple, but very well executed tower in Vacnouver, the Pacific by Grosvenor. Three facades are simple glass walls, with the fourth being a series of balconies that form an interesting pattern. From ground level, that pattern looks even more it resting with the addition of some light and dark sections.






https://www.e-architect.com/vancouve...inium-building

At street level, they added public art to the pillars.


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/pers...venor-americas

[Harley613]

I guess Burnaby doesn't have the same charcoal brick sale going on...

[lrt's friend]

We have to match the various shades of grey snow in late winter.

[OTSkyline]

Forget the charcoal colour, seems like Vancouver just uses a lot more glass and very little brick in its projects. I can't spot brick in any towers in that last pic.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Forget the charcoal colour, seems like Vancouver just uses a lot more glass and very little brick in its projects. I can't spot brick in any towers in that last pic.

A few reasons for, the least of which is climate. We want to minimize glazing for climate efficiency. I'd wager that Vancouver's higher earthquake risk might also provide reasoning for the lower usage of brick.

[pico]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I'd wager that Vancouver's higher earthquake risk might also provide reasoning for the lower usage of brick.

Possibly, but bricks are problematic during an earthquake when they are load bearing (or in weakly supported structures, like chimneys). I can't imagine we've used brick for load bearing in high rises since the early 1900s, or ever.

Besides, a new study finds that ground shaking has been under-estimated in Vancouver: https://temblor.net/earthquake-insig...-hazard-12522/. I wouldn't want to be walking on a downtown street when those concrete buildings start to sway and shed their glass skin.

[OTSkyline]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

A few reasons for, the least of which is climate. We want to minimize glazing for climate efficiency. I'd wager that Vancouver's higher earthquake risk might also provide reasoning for the lower usage of brick.

True, but Montreal which has more or less the same climate as us, doesn't seem so bothered.