What could have been — old visions and plans for Ottawa

[phil235]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Just because a building hasn't been built there doesn't preclude one from being built. You can't expect a generation to finish building the Capital.

The siting of Parliament Hill and the Supreme Court is deliberate in that they correspond to the two protrusions in the river escarpment. Parliament Hill represents the Legislative and Executive branches of the government, and the concept of framing the Supreme Court similar to that of Parliament Hill — a triad of buildings where the central one is offset by a lawn — visually presents the Judicial Branch as an important and integral part of our democracy. You may not agree artsy-fartsy stuff like that but it's visual narratives like this that creates symbolism and deeper meaning in the capital.

In many ways I am glad nothing was built there in the last 60 years as it skipped a lot of terrible architectural styles. I'd like to think it's waiting for a better time when there is a return to richer detailing on buildings. Seeing developments in computer-aided design and fabrication, that time might be coming in the next decade.

Exactly. Government precincts tend to be built very incrementally, so I don't think anyone can write off this being built in the future. There will come a time when someone decides that a federal court building makes more sense that continuing to operate in leased office space (which is pretty painful from a security perspective and not very accessible to the public).

I have wondered if the renos to the West Memorial Building for the Supreme Court have left open the possibility of using it for the Federal Court once the Supreme Court moves back. It probably wouldn't have enough courtrooms, but I wonder how easily that could be fixed.