Château Laurier expansion | Approved

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by mykl

The NAC blends well on the outside, but the inside does not flow beautifully like the original building does. And tucking the box office away in the basement is unfortunate. The little stairs at the new entrance and the second level runway creating an area with a low ceiling in a space with a huge height are both really unfortunate. Love the floor though.

I am sure tucking the box office away was quite intentional. They realized the almost no one uses the box office anymore....except to maybe pick up tickets which I am sure will be discouraged due to the pandemic. I love every aspect of the new reno. They didn't try to copy the old style but left references to the original brutalist 1960's architecture while moving towards more modern wood/metal/glass materials. And the changes on the outside leave enough of the original building intact so as to not lose the intention of the design.

[J.OT13]

Château Laurier addition, version seven?

• Video Link













Larco's website, where you can view larger version of the images: http://chateauvision.ca/en/home/
DevApps: https://devapps.ottawa.ca/en/applica...BAFWNK/details

[HomeInMyShoes]

The upper mechanical still bugs me, but this is better than what I'll call the 1960s CIBC version two. I can understand an idea as to why, but I just think the concept is right and the execution is not quite there.

The offset halfway up seems awkward to me, but it needs it. If the verticals were not split partway up it would read too tall in scale and not sit as well.

[rocketphish]

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

The upper mechanical still bugs me, but this is better than what I'll call the 1960s CIBC version two. I can understand an idea as to why, but I just think the concept is right and the execution is not quite there.

The offset halfway up seems awkward to me, but it needs it. If the verticals were not split partway up it would read too tall in scale and not sit as well.

I agree. The roof is the most cringeworthy part of it. That copper Aztec pyramid thing going on looks terrible. Why couldn't they do a mansard roof enclosing the top two floors and mechanical. Some modern examples:


https://mizrahidevelopments.ca/portf...51-wellington/


https://www.sigzincandcopper.co.uk/v...tone-cladding/

The weird box between the new and old west wings is weird.


http://chateauvision.ca/en/illustrations/

Ultimately, I would have preferred an "L" shaped addition, keeping the Mackenzie tower with a three or four storey strip along Major's Hill to the canal.

[Kitchissippi]

I find the views from the War Memorial especially painful. It looks dated already, like it was built in the 1970s.

It's about as pleasant to look as as these were:

[Tails2489]

Would a project like this be able to move forward if the hotel filed for Bankruptcy?

[pfaffml]

There's really nothing to comment on since Larco and aA are out of ideas. It's the first proposal in its massing again with the facade from the 3rd(?) scheme. Nothing new to see. In my eyes, the tower on Mackenzie is far too broad from the park and really overshadows the hotel. Also that tower's corner at the park is sharp and awkward from the street. It's trying to be dynamic but Mackenzie isn't at an angle for it to do this. I also agree that the ziggurat roof is odd. A mansard would be best or even the roof from the very first proposal would be better. It's not a bad building but it just doesn't belong attached to the Chateau Laurier.

[Urbanarchit]

And don't forget that renderings are always embellished to make buildings look more attractive to try to sell them. If something doesn't look good in renderings already, they will look even worse when built.

The design is ugly no matter what, but it detracts significantly from several of the most important views of the hotel. It should not be allowed to go through at all. If anything, another architect should be hired with better ideas or they need to change the heritage law to allow for something to be complimentary while small in scale so as not to detract.

[Uhuniau]

Is the bloody barcode-window fad ever going to end?

[movebyleap]

This is bloody awful. Where is a petition we can sign against this travesty? (I recall signing at least one or two previous petitions in the past).

[OTSkyline]

There also doesn't seem to be a lot of windows, for a new addition I can't imagine the views/natural light will be plentiful once inside this addition, which is unfortunate...

[YOWflier]

I can learn to live with the appearance of this addition from the front/war memorial view. I still and always will dislike what this is going to do to the view from the river side in its currently proposed form.

Actually, if I force myself I can learn to live with the west tower addition from that perspective because it has the same general width as the rest of the chateau and "blends" reasonably. The east tower is a behemoth that just dominates that view in a very bad way.

[Kitchissippi]

The architects must be a fan of this Photoshop effect

[rocketphish]

City posts designs and application for Château Laurier addition
Larco Investments is applying for site control and development permits for a nearly 12,000-square-metre, 159-room addition of the hotel.

Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Nov 28, 2020 • Last Updated 1 hour ago • 1 minute read



The City of Ottawa this week posted online the most recent applications by Larco Investments, which owns the Fairmont Château Laurier, for site control and development permits for a nearly 12,000-square-metre, 159-room addition to the rear of the hotel.

The application comes four months after Larco reached an agreement with Heritage Ottawa, which opposed earlier plans, on the new design, which includes two pavilions, one a 10-storey structure, the other 11 storeys tall, with a two-storey connector joining them.

The new design, says Heritage Ottawa on its website, “is more compatible with the hotel’s composition and irregular silhouette.” The original design, the City’s approval of which Heritage Ottawa challenged legally, called for a horizontal bar-shaped addition that blocked the rear view of the hotel.

Heritage Ottawa president Richard Belliveau on Saturday described this most recent development as simply a “pro forma” one.

According to the City, the new application will require heritage and site plan approvals from the City, as well as approvals from the National Capital Commission, and a decision from the province’s Local Planning Appeal Tribunal before construction can get underway.

Members of the public have until Dec. 23 to provide feedback.

Details of the latest proposal can be viewed at the city website: https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/publi...urier-addition

Those wishing to comment, or be notified of upcoming meetings, project updates and decisions, can email chateaulaurier@ottawa.ca.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...urier-addition

[J.OT13]

Not the Château Frontenac, but I'll leave this here anyway.

Originally Posted by davidivivid

https://www.facebook.com/stgmarchite...12655225458802

[J.OT13]

Mathieu Fleury
@MathieuFleury
Join us for a virtual information session on Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 6 pm on the proposed new revised design for a rear addition to the Château Laurier hotel.

If you would like to attend, please register: https://s-ca.chkmkt.com/?e=216272&h=...F3268843F&l=en



1:06 PM · Jan 5, 2021·Twitter Web App

https://twitter.com/MathieuFleury/st...18451498717187

[Beatrix]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

https://twitter.com/MathieuFleury/st...18451498717187

Just DIE ALREADY!!

[J.OT13]

CHÂTEAU LAURIER RENO: Hotel owners could be in a position to put shovels in the ground in coming months

Ottawa's municipal government could brush off the design dispute next month and the hotel owner could be in a position to put shovels in the ground in the coming months.

John Willing, Post Media
January 8, 2021


An architectural rendering for the Château Laurier addition. PHOTO BY LARCO INVESTMENTS / ARCHITECTSALLIANCE /PROVIDED

The controversy surrounding a future addition to the Château Laurier should finally be put to bed in 2021, and maybe sooner than later.

Ottawa’s municipal government could brush off the design dispute next month and the hotel owner, Larco Investments, could be in a position to put shovels in the ground in the coming months after more than four years of churning through proposals until there was a compromise.

Larco and Heritage Ottawa made a surprise announcement last August that they arrived on a settlement over the design of the proposed hotel addition after the heritage group pursued legal challenges to block the project from proceeding and Larco appealed a minor variance decision by the committee of adjustment. It was just a matter of Larco filing the design changes with the city.

A public comment period ended Dec. 23, but the city is holding an online information session Wednesday for people who register in advance.

A joint meeting of the city’s planning committee and built-heritage subcommittee is scheduled for Feb. 5 to address the revised design and site plan. Council will subsequently need to consider a staff report on the heritage permit.

Larco’s reps are scheduled to meet with the National Capital Commission’s advisory committee on planning, design and realty on Feb. 25 or Feb. 26. After that, the NCC board’s next scheduled meeting is in April.




An architectural rendering for the Château Laurier addition. PHOTO BY LARCO INVESTMENTS/ARCHITECTSALLIANCE /Larco Investments/architectsAlliance

Once clear from city hall and the NCC, and after formally ending legal matters at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, Larco can get a building permit to construct the 159-room rear addition designed by Toronto-based architectsAlliance.

Larco’s planning consultants on Thursday reported no project delays because of the pandemic. The entire process of excavation and construction has been estimated to take between three-and-a-half years and four years.

Public criticism waned after the release of the latest design in November. Architects increased the amount of Indiana limestone to make the addition better resemble the parent hotel and reduced the amount of glass, which to some critics was a glaring problem with the first drawings.

Now, the addition still looks different from hotel, but with more nods to the heritage structure. Achieving that balance has been at the centre of the design controversy since 2016.

Veteran heritage expert Julie Harris, who hasn’t worked on the Château Laurier file, said the new design would receive her vote of approval if she had a seat around a city hall decision table.

Harris, who was was highly critical of a previous iteration that Larco presented to councillors in 2019, said she sees a definite improvement in the latest renderings of the addition, especially when it comes to the tower-like extensions of the hotel wings designed at roughly the same height as the hotel’s roofline.

Canadians, and not just those who live in Ottawa, have been rightly concerned about the style of the hotel addition in the context of the surrounding historic vistas, Harris said.


An architectural rendering for the Château Laurier addition. PHOTO BY LARCO INVESTMENTS/ARCHITECTSALLIANCE /Larco Investments/architectsAlliance

“People across Canada have spent billions of dollars protecting capital views, and the idea that you can do what you want (when) we’ve invested so much money, effort and talent, I think it offended people,” Harris said.

Heritage architect Barry Padolsky, a member of the built-heritage subcommittee, was involved in the negotiations between Larco and Heritage Ottawa on the redesign. He said it’s a “monumental achievement” for a community group to effect significant change to a major project.

The Château Laurier file has illustrated the importance of civil society groups in matters of urban planning and heritage protection, Padolsky said.

Padolsky acknowledged that the end result isn’t the best example in the world of designing an addition for a heritage building, but it’s a solid compromise.

“The new design goes a long way toward preventing an embarrassing intervention in the capital,” Padolsky said.

https://ottawasun.com/news/local-new...a-4f1b62483499

[rocketphish]

Newest Château Laurier design faces fewer foes
Hotel owners worked with Heritage Ottawa to find 'acceptable' addition

Kate Porter · CBC News
Posted: Jan 28, 2021 7:48 PM ET | Last Updated: 12 hours ago



Yet another redesign for an addition to the historic Fairmont Château Laurier hotel goes before a pair of city committees next week for approval, but this time, one of the project's staunchest opponents has been involved and sees the latest version as a victory.

Previous proposals dating back to 2016 involved a boxy shape, which critics likened to a radiator or shipping container, that stretched along the back of the building overlooking Major's Hill Park.

The current architectural drawings feature two towers — 10 and 11 storeys — connected by a two-storey base and will use Indiana limestone like the century-old hotel.

City staff recommend councillors on the planning committee and built heritage subcommittee approve a new heritage permit on Feb. 5, followed by city council on Feb. 24. Heritage Ottawa, a group that had launched legal challenges against the old design, will not oppose it.

It's not the first heritage permit the city has been asked to issue.

The former city council had first approved the addition in 2018 and the current city council voted to uphold that decision in July 2019, despite fierce opposition from dozens of residents, including former cabinet ministers and comedian Tom Green.

The challenge didn't end there, however. Heritage Ottawa began an appeal at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal and launched a legal challenge, while the project itself was dealt a blow after part of its previous design was found to cantilever too closely to the Major's Hill Park property line.

Last winter, the hotel's owners approached the group and asked to work on yet another design, said Heritage Ottawa president Richard Belliveau.

By negotiating with Larco Investments, and consulting with experts in architecture and conservation, Heritage Ottawa said they came out with something "perfectly acceptable."

Heritage Ottawa never opposed a modern expansion, explained Belliveau, but did insist it respect the historic hotel and site.

"We are much happier now. Our campaign and all the support we had from the public has stopped what would have been truly an abominable addition on that space," he said.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...ment-1.5892047