modern ottawa

A METRO PROPOSAL FOR OTTAWA - PART 2

2012-01-31T00:04:00.000-05:00

This is how I picture the first metro map in Ottawa. Imagine how pleasant it would be to go see a concert at the Scotia Bank Place from your home in Orleans without having to drive in traffic, or how enjoyable it would be to leave your home in Kanata in the winter for a night out in the market without having to find parking.

A proper metro system should connect all the universities and colleges to downtown as well as important locations such as the Scotia Bank Place, the airport, the train station and the Casino. Having an underground metro system in Ottawa would greatly increase the mobility of people and connectivity between places. It would most likely boost the economy as well, since it would be easier, faster and cheaper for people to move around the city without needing a car.

If I was to design a metro map for Ottawa, I would start with 7 lines. Here's what I envision :

The Red Line

There would be a main line going from Kanata to Orleans. This would greatly alleviate the traffic on the 417 and allow the many people who live in the suburbs and work downtown to commute a lot faster and easier. (No more cursing at the bus driver who didn't stop for you). This line would connect the Scotia Bank Place, the Kanata Centrum, the Bayshore Mall, Tunney's Pasture, the University of Ottawa, La Cite Collegiale, Place d'Orleans Mall and the Shenkman Art Centre. The Red Line would also be connected to five other lines running North-South.

The Orange Line

The Orange Line would run parallel to the red line but a little more to the North. It would connect the War Museum, Spark Street Mall (a nicer one), the Parliament, the Rideau Center and Beechwood. The Orange Line would also be connected to three other lines running North-South.

The Purple Line

The purple line would go from Bells Corner, pass through IKEA, Algonquin College, Carleton University, Spark Street all the way to the Casino in Gatineau : very practical for people living in Gatineau and working in Ottawa.

The Yellow Line

The Yellow Line would be the main North-South line, connecting the airport to downtown and a portion of Gatineau as well. This would considerably alleviate traffic specially considering the fact that there's only one main road from downtown to the new CE Centre. This line would run along Bank Street and would would most likely boost the businesses in the area and help with traffic along Lansdowne.

The Teal Line

The Teal line would connect the Byward Market to the metro system as well as St-Paul University. It could eventually expand further south to include areas such as Greenboro and Leitrim.

The Blue Line

The main purpose of the Blue Line would be to connect the train station to the subway system. This line could also be expanded depending on the need for it.

The Green Line

The Green line would mostly run along St-Laurent, giving better access to a lot of the retailers along the street, including the St-Laurent Mall and also connect tourist attractions such as the RCMP musical ride and the Ottawa Science Museum.

So there you have it! Metro's have been around since 1863 (in London). There are now over 183 metros around the world. The largest one (423 km) is in Shanghai (China) and the smallest one (1.8 km) is in Haifa (Israel). However the one with the most station is in New York (468 stations, 368 km)

The current proposed metro system for Ottawa (76 stations, 63 km) would be comparable to the one in Montreal built in 1966 (73 stations, 69 km). Given that we're in the 21st century however, the system would have to be a lot more technologically advanced.

Reference : World Metro Database

A PLAYFUL TRAFFIC LIGHT

2012-01-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

Designer Li Ming Hsing came up with a really interesting concept to keep pedestrians occupied while waiting for their light to turn green. Instead of a boring red hand and a countdown, you see an animated figure instructing pedestrian to do various stretches and watching on both sides before crossing.

Wouldn't that be neat to have something like this somewhere in the city? Imagine the smile on people's faces when they see a group of people on the corner of the street performing yoga poses, tai chi poses or dance moves. There's so much that could be done do with this! Check out the whole sequence in the video below.

A METRO PROPOSAL FOR OTTAWA - PART 1

2012-01-20T19:39:00.000-05:00

A modern city needs a proper transportation system and Ottawa does not have it yet. Although the Ottawa Light Rails project is a step in the right direction, I don't believe the current proposed design will solve many of the issues we're currently facing in the city. So I'm proposing a better solution : Ottawa Metro, a larger underground subway system.

The main "issue" with the streets downtown Ottawa is that most are very narrow. They were not built for buses, on top of cars, on top of bicycles, on top of pedestrians. The population is increasing but the available space has not changed. It just gets more crowded. And with the green belt, we can't really expand either.

There has been various attempts to "solve" the problem, such as adding more OC Transpo buses on the roads, adding a bike lane on Laurier, widening streets on Kent, narrowing the street on Bank, etc. These are all Band-Aid solutions that don't really address the issue: There isn't enough space. Therefore pleasing one group is always going to be at the expense of another. Let's take a closer look at the "solutions".

1. Widening the roads

One of the current "solutions" has been to widen the roads like Kent Street (previously mentioned on Urbsite) so that more cars could come to the city. But widening the roads, eliminates the green space and eventually the sidewalks. Most buildings lose their curb appeal, it becomes less inviting or safe to walk there and the city ends up becoming uglier. Not to mention that it increases pollution. So that's not the right solution.

2. Adding more OC Transpo buses

Adding more buses doesn't do much to improve the situation either. Although buses help reduce the amount of cars in the city, they come with their share of issues. It might have worked at first but we now have ridiculous conga lines of buses on streets like Wellington St. and Albert St. during rush hours. More often then none, it's now faster to walk (and sometime's drive) which defeats their purpose in the first place. Also, on small two-way streets like Bank St., where there is only one lane in each direction, the buses become the cause of much of the traffic during rush hour as well. They have to stop often and cars or trucks can't pass around them. Furthermore most buses also pollute. They are also the subject of many complaints (ex. Public Transit in Ottawa blog) about not being there on time, not showing up at all or bus drivers not picking up people. So that's not the right solution either.

3. Adding more bike lanes

Adding more bike lanes may sound like a good idea at first, but since they just end up taking space where there already isn't enough, this ends up making things worst. The number of limited parking spaces and stopping zones is reduced and we found ourselves in situations where delivery trucks, for example, have to block the bike lanes and/or traffic. It's just a mess.

And sharing the road with cyclists is even worse! (Who thought of that one?) The average speed of a cyclist is 15 to 30 km/h. The average speed in the city is 30 to 60 km/hr. Most cyclists will never go as fast as a car or a bus for a long period of time. So they more often end up slowing down traffic when they share the road in area where traffic should go faster. So definitely not the right solution, not to mention that it's dangerous to cyclists.

4. Adding an underground metro system

The best solution would be to add a modern metro system underground. This is the only solution where we actually create more space to accommodate for the population increase instead of moving things around hoping that we'll find more space. This would release a good amount of the pressure above ground. With a proper metro system in place, there would be less cars, less busses and less bicycles on the road, which in turn would make more space for more trees, benches, patios in front of restaurants. The city would then be a much nicer place to live in. This would make the city more inviting to both locals and tourists alike. We would even be able to turn a couple more streets into pedestrian streets. How nice would that be?

Photo : via Reddit

What if Ottawa was a business ?

2012-01-17T03:15:00.000-05:00

Over the past three years that I’ve been living in Ottawa, I witnessed some successful and not so successful developments in the city, a lot of stagnation as well as a couple unfortunate declines. And although the nation’s capital has a couple good things going for it, I believe it is still (very much so) a diamond in the rough. It could be so much better if only more people were willing to put the required effort and work allowing it to flourish.

This got me thinking : What if the city of Ottawa was run like a business? Imagine it was your business. How would you manage it? What would you change? What would you keep? How would you make it more competitive on the international level? What would be the its brand or signature product(s)? What would make Ottawa a better city for its citizens and its tourists?

I’ve been a big fan of shows like Bar Rescue where business owners of poorly performing establishments are offered the services of an expert consultant and his team to turn their fortune around. After they evaluate the business, significant changes are implemented in order to turn it into a more profitable and successful establishment. I often feel like Ottawa could benefit from something like this, and of course I’ve got some ideas I’d like to share with you. So stay tuned for City Rescue - MOOT Edition. I’m also looking forward to read your thoughts on this.

Photos : MOOT | City of Ottawa

Happy Holidays from MOOT

2011-12-23T14:40:00.001-05:00

Ottawa welcomes the biggest IKEA in Canada

2011-12-12T23:55:00.002-05:00

Last week I attended IKEA's grand opening in Ottawa. I didn't know what to expect other than a line of people waiting to get in. It ended up being a little more than that.

There were quite a few people in line (probably a couple hundred), but I think they were expecting more. It was cold but IKEA had heaters to keep us warm, there was good music playing outside and they even rallied the employees to come out and dance. One person who waited for three days ended up winning a $10,000 gift certificate at IKEA and the first 500 people won various prizes.

Before officially opening the new store, there was an official raising of the Canadian, Swedish and Ontarian flags. Each had their own song as the flags were being raised. I didn't realize it was going to be that elaborate.

Then as we came into the store we were welcomed by hundreds of employees, clapping their hands and cheering. It was quite a scene to witness. I couldn't help but think that this is one of the reasons why IKEA is so popular and successful : they value their customers. Why else would they go through such trouble?

Since I was in a hurry I didn't get a chance to visit the 55 inspirational room settings, but I managed to take a couple pictures I thought I'd share with you. I think they did a great job on the lounges and cafeteria. There's also a large covered parking lot underneath a portion of the store which will be very handy in the winter.

Apparently there's a new shopping services offered where you can bring your shopping list and an IKEA member will do the shopping for you and have it delivered. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be in place on opening day. Hopefully they will offer this service as it would be very useful. All in all I think the new IKEA is a great addition in Ottawa. It's much better than the little store Ottawa had before which was carrying only about 50% of their inventory. You can imagine how frustrating this used to be for designers and decorators who shop at IKEA. But thankfully this is no longer the case. Below shows what we got.

On another note, IKEA-Ottawa will not be the biggest store in Canada for long. I was told by an IKEA member that they are planning a bigger one in Montreal in the years to come. From what I've been told, it will be the biggest one in North America.

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUMS : HALLWAY TRANSFORMATION

2011-11-13T22:54:00.001-05:00

Above is a series of pictures showcasing one of the hallways located on the north section of Central 1. Although not all the pictures were taken on the same floor, they illustrate the transformation that has been taking place over the past couple months. With the walls now primed and painted, the doors and the light installed, you get a better idea of what the finished space will look and feel like. The finishing touches make a much larger impact on the overall product. Soon the floors will be installed and the first units will be ready to move into.

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUM : MIAMI MODEL STAGED

2011-11-06T03:41:00.004-05:00

A couple months ago, I introduced the Miami floor plan from Central 1. The construction is moving along and a couple units are almost ready on the north side. In order to inspire buyers and owners, one of the unsold Miami units has recently been decorated by Central's main designer in Toronto. It's a great way to showcase what can be done with this space.

Here's a picture of the unit before when the gypsum board was being installed...

And here's a picture of the same space after it's been staged. In this unit you can see the Tuxedo cabinets, with the snow white countertop, the iron backsplash and the walnut floor. In this case the accent color is red (you can actually see it from the street). Since the colors of the finishes are neutral, you can easily pick an accent color of your choosing to get a similar effect. Almost any accent color would work.

Here's the space from the kitchen's point of view before staging.

And here's the same view after staging. Noticed the sliding door is painted the same color as the wall. It's a good idea to paint the sliding door the same color as the wall for better continuity.

The color scheme continues throughout the space, as you can see below. This is a great method used in condos to help make them feel bigger.

OTTAWA INFILL HOME DOCUMENTARY

2011-11-03T21:48:00.000-04:00

Travis Boisvenue recently sent me a sneak peak of a short documentary he's currently working on about infill houses in Ottawa. In this preview, the narrator is Phil Castro, who recently built an infill house in Hintonburg featured on Apt613 and Spacing Ottawa earlier this year. I thought you might enjoy it as well.

NCC'S INFO CENTRE CLOSES ITS DOORS

2011-11-02T00:14:00.003-04:00

CBC News recently announced that NCC decided to close it's only tourist information centre because it would have been to expensive to update. Instead, they are going to abandon the building they already own, hire information officers with purchased electronic tablets to stand at various notable landmarks (good luck finding them when you're new to the city) and open a small kiosk inside the World Exchange Plaza that caters to office workers during the day and is usually deserted on the weekend.

I'm not particularly fond of the building's architecture, but at least it was in the best possible location : right in front of Parliament Hill, Ottawa's main tourist attraction! And it was actually useful! According to the article the staff helps 325,000 people per year. This was actually a good thing for the city! Instead of scaling down the $5 million dollar reno or raising money to help with the renovation cost to keep it at it's prime location, the NCC has decided to move it further away from Parliament Hill in a little mall, making it harder for newcomers to find it. That should work right?

Meanwhile in the city of London (UK), the old tourist information centre was replaced a couple years ago by an architectural gem that has since become a landmark in the city. The building is located on a main tourist route in London, so it's easy for tourists to find it.

So although NCC says it wants to improve the city and help it evolve, the decisions they make seem to point the city in the opposite direction. I wonder what's going to happen to the the building now that it will be abandoned. My guess is that it will probably join the group of decaying NCC owned buildings on Sparks Street.

Photos : NCC Watch | e-architect

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUM : INSIDE THE COURTYARD (PART 2)

2011-10-24T21:08:00.001-04:00

[See Part 1 here] The courtyard at Central 1 is coming along nicely. The last time I visited the site, some workers were getting the soil ready and some trees were already on site.

For the people living on the main floor facing the courtyard, there's a short stone wall that separates their terrace from the common area for a bit of privacy.

Having a little backyard is a nice feature for condominiums in the city. There isn't a huge amount of parks or green spaces around, so it's a nice addition. I'm looking forward to see what it looks like before winter comes.

OTTAWA CONVENTION CENTRE : THE NCR'S LATEST LANDMARK

2011-10-06T23:54:00.004-04:00

As of April 2011, Ottawa has a new landmark we can all be proud of, thanks to BBB Architects, who designed it. You can't miss it. It's the big biomorphic glass building located right by the Rideau Canal : The Ottawa Convention Centre. I finally got a chance to visit the building on a beautiful sunny day recently and the architecture is truly spectacular. So here's a summary of my little tour for your viewing pleasure.

Outdoors

I just love the shape of this building. I imagine you'll see it on many postcards and illustrations of the city for many years to come. It's the kind of building that will entice people to come and see it with their own eyes. The sidewalks around the entrance are wide and nicely paved, and includes a nice little seating area with a couple trees and large wood beams used as benches. They also acts as a barrier between the pedestrian area and the road.

Indoors

All this glass provides a great amount of natural light inside the building, as well as a great view of the Canal. It gives you a nice feeling as you walk through the space.

The interior design is also coherent throughout the building, which is nice. There's a large "block" of dark chocolate slats on each floor with a blue light behind it. It creates a nice focal point in the building and great texture as well. So the space is not visually boring.

On the first floor, there's a series of potted plants that create a visual rhythm along with the columns and adds to the esthetics of the place. The seating area viewed from the escalator provides a really nice setting for taking pictures of events such as corporate parties or weddings for example. Quite inspiring for various photo opts.

On the top floor, there's a nice grouping of pendant lights that also doubles as an art installation. I wonder if they can change color. It would be fun to create different ambiences depending on the event.

The doors leading to the conference area are etched with images from the city depicting buildings such as the parliament, which is a nice touch.

All in all the design of the building is well done and can compete with other international landmarks. However, I have to point out one recurring "issue" I noticed the day that I visited : tidiness. If not addressed, the lack of tidiness can completely eclipse all the effort that went into erecting such a beautiful building in the city. Why? Well, first of all it shows lack of care (which is kind of disrespectful if you ask me) and second, garbage attracts more garbage.

Here's what I saw on my way out from the top floor : Trash randomly sprinkled on the 3rd, 2nd and main floor, including cardboard boxes piled up in random places, open trash cans, empty bottles of water, empty cups of coffee, plates with crumbs, etc. and no staff in sight to clean it. Not good.

I don't understand why there wasn't anyone there cleaning this up. Obviously the event that took place earlier was over a while before, where was the cleaning crew? It gives a really bad impression to visitors and it's distracting. I hope really this was a fluke and that whoever is responsible for the maintenance of the building keeps the building in top shape. You only get one chance to make a good first impression.

The vision stated on NCC's website is to "inspir[e] people creating extraordinary events", so I hope they do and a lot of beautiful and creative events take place in this building. More than that, I hope it spreads outside the building and helps improve the area even more because it has the potential to become even greater. Now that we have such a beautiful building next to a beautiful canal, it's time to take it to the next level and attract more people to come and enjoy it. Here's three points that came to mind:

1. Bring back the green to bring more people.
I found a picture of the canal from 2007 and compared it to a picture I took recently and it looks like we lost a lot of green around the canal in the past few years. The pavement is nice but it's not as inviting as the green area that was there before. The green created a barrier between the cars and canal. It looks more suiting for people to walk by, relax and enjoy the view. In fact, it was sad to see how deserted the area was on such a beautiful day. But I imagine it's not very comfortable or people friendly. If it was up to me, I would bring back more trees, more grass or plants around.

2. Freshen up the paint
The bridge that crosses the canal needs a little TLC. It's not expensive and it's effective. In fact, why not paint it red?

3. Refresh and let us use this beautiful staircase
There's this really neat spiral staircase I noticed coming down from the bridge. It looks like a piece of art that's slowly dying. All it needs is a little TLC. Why not give it a little bit of color as well. It deserves a bit of attention. It's such a beautiful structure and it's fun. Unfortunately it was closed. I wonder why.

Photos : Hussein Abdallah| MOOT

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUMS : DESIGNING KITCHENS

2011-09-29T01:44:00.000-04:00

Part of my work with Central was to help unit owners select finishes for their kitchen. We created color schemes that best suited their needs and budget, based on the available samples. The owners had to choose from a group of nine cabinet samples, eleven countertop samples and fifteen backsplash samples. The available colors were neutral for the most. It's always a good idea to choose a neutral palette for items that are fixed and use bright colors as accents for items that can easily be changed at a reasonable price (in case you grow tired of a particular color).

Needless to say, there are a lot of possible combinations : 1485 to be exact (just for the kitchen). That's a little more than 6 times the amount of available units! So it would have been possible to make sure that none of the kitchens in the building would be identical. Granted, not every sample works well together and some finishes were more popular than others. Still, the owners had a lot of choices and it was fun putting various combinations together during our meetings.

All in all, there is an interesting range of color combinations for kitchens throughout the building. The installation of the kitchen happens after the walls have been primed. Prior to fabricating the cabinets, the kitchen suppliers visited the site and checked the dimensions of the kitchen space in various units, marking down the position of each appliance.

After carefully checking the dimensions on site, the kitchen suppliers started delivering and installing the cabinets a couple weeks ago. On a recent visit to the site, I took pictures of the progress in some units where the kitchens were almost completed. The surface still needs to be washed, but you can still see how different combinations of color can alter the mood of the spaces, as shown below:

With a medium colored cabinet, the white glass backsplash and white countertop brightens and freshens the look.

The metal backsplash is a nice contrast against the dark textures cabinets and the dark counter. Once the track lights are up, it will look spectacular.

The lighter cabinets with the warmer countertop and backsplash softens the look of the space and gives it a bit more traditional look while staying contemporary.

Using the same traditional style counter with the darker cabinet and complementary glass backsplash, modernizes the look a little more than the previous combination.

The dark countertop and backsplash mixed with the lighter cabinet gives a very graphic look due to the high contrast. This look is more dynamic and will look great with a bold accent color.

It's possible to go completely dark with a dark cabinet, dark countertop and dark backsplash. With the white appliances contrasting the dark finishes, this combination will require a good balance of color with the accessories. Using stainless steel or black appliances instead, this space could look very sexy with dark walls to get more of a lounge ambiance.

The darker cabinets also look great against the white countertop and white glass backsplash, which softens the look of the kitchen and brightens the space.

Horizon 2067 : A sign for change?

2011-09-28T01:24:00.009-04:00

About a month ago, I mentioned that the NCC was also interested in knowing what citizens would like in Ottawa and that they were starting a new project, Horizon 2067, to that effect. Today the group held their first event about the future of the Nation's Capital at the Ottawa Convention Centre. I attended the presentation entitled "Creating a more representative and vibrant capital" to see what was it was all about, and thought I'd share my findings with you.

Upon my arrival, I was surprised to see what looked like a big media production. Literally: Lights, Camera , Action! Lots of spotlights in the front for the speakers and other guests, cameras in front and in the back, tables reserved for the medias, and posters in the back with NCC staff describing the seven challenges NCC would like to take on over the next years. In fact, Rogers TV was also there and they will be showcasing this event on TV this Sunday. There were quite a few people present, but I can't say how many were members of the public and how many were NCC staff.

For the opening speeches, Marie Lemay, CEO of the NCC, talked about what they have done in the past and the former minister of foreign affairs, Lawrence Cannon, talked about some of his observations while traveling in Asia and made some comparisons with Ottawa. The moderator for this event was Rebecca Makonnen, current TV and Radio host for Radio-Canada.

The panel consisted of George Hazel (chairman of MRC McLean Hazel Ltd), Florence K (artist, signer-songwriter), Stephen Lewis (professor at Ryerson University) and Richard Florida (senior editor of The Atlantic and professor at the University of Toronto). The panelists had interesting views and ideas for Ottawa. They each did a short presentation and then they had a discussion between them moderated by Makonnen. The discussion almost turned into a left wing vs right wing political debate between Lewis and Florida. Good thing there was a moderator.

Here are some of the great ideas I noted from the panelists during their presentation:

From George Hazel's presentation :

NCC getting the opinion of the public was a great initiative to help Ottawa grow. In fact a similar exercise was conducted in Australia in the 80s and had a great turn out from it. What stuck in my mind was the fact that Australia did this 30 years ago! That's how behind we are. Never mind the fact that the plans are for 2067. But at least it's a start.
"Cities are about people and that it's people that make a city work." So what people want and need should be taken under consideration when aiming to build a better city.
It is important to maximize the number of parks, community centers and businesses and minimize number of large roads and parking spaces. This promotes more interaction between people, makes for a better community and a more attractive city.
The canal and the river are underutilized assets. Most cities around the world would love to have such great features.
There should be more use of technology in the city like and like an app for smartphones to find out about the next bus schedule, dynamic parking like in San Francisco, etc.
The bus system should be the same in Ottawa and Gatineau to the people riding them. In London, the buses are run by various companies but they all look the same to the public.
Don't underestimate the power of public chairs. Chairs invite people who are tired to take a break, take in the scenery and stay in the city. If they are tired and they are no places to sit and rest, they'll just go home.

From Florence K's presentation :

Attractions such as concert halls and museums are too far apart from one another, which makes it difficult for tourists and citizens to enjoy them. They should be more centrally located.
Canada Day should be upgraded to Canada Week. With all the tourists coming from many places we're missing an opportunity to make it a bigger and better event. A lot of effort is put into it every year and it's kind of sad to have it jam packed only one day.

From Stephen Lewis' presentation :

It's important to build from the community up and not the opposite. In order words, building a better city starts with the people not the government.
Ottawa should build upon its current identity and become an internationally recognized conference centre where people from around the world could gather to talk about various topics that matters to the world. Ottawa could be the city of international dialog.

From Richard Florida's presentation :

Ottawa should be a capital that others can learn from.
Openness to diversity is very important. Diversity is one of the key factors in increasing the level of happiness of a community and you need diversity to fuel creativity.
Having a community care about its beauty is also very important to the success of a city. I guess it builds up self-esteem on a city level.

From the discussion session:

Arrival points such as the airport, the bus station and the train station are the "shop windows" of a city. (Did they read my blog? ). Our airport is better than some but could be better. There's nothing interesting around it or on the way to the city. Think about places like Grand Central Station in New York. We have a long way to go.
To promote more movement between Ottawa and Gatineau, the areas around the bridges should be more pedestrian friendly. This would build stronger relations between the two areas of the nation's capital and in turn make the city better. There should be things that entice people to want to cross the bridge and explore as opposed to see the river as a divide between two provinces.
The Embassies should be have more presence. We have so many of them, they should be part of Ottawa's identity. Perhaps with a Canada Week they would be able to participate as well. Also, it would be interesting to have embassies invite artists or chefs from their countries to some sort of international festival in Ottawa.
We need to build more communities. New York is a city of community that seamlessly fits together.
We should not look to the government for solutions or to take action. This is a major problem in Ottawa. People and businesses should take the lead instead.

All in all it was an interesting presentation. There was a good turnout. It's unfortunate that the public could not participate in the discussion. It sort of goes against NCC's statement saying that they "want to hear about [our] values, aspirations and stories, and about how [we] think [we] should be represented in Canada's Capital." Consequently, I have to admit, I'm a bit skeptical of the outcome. It's nice to hear people talk about the possibilities and hear new ideas, but what actions will be taken from that? Will it take 56 years to implement? Will this end up as a dusty shelved report? Right besides the Sparks Street Mall Vocation Study?

I keep going back to the mess that is Sparks Street, which to me is a benchmark. How many years have they been studying Sparks Street? There's a new NCC website, photo opts on flickr, and a TV show coming this Sunday on Rogers TV, but I think what we need are less talk more action. I really side with Richard Florida on this one: If we want change, we can't wait on the government, we have to do it ourselves. Now who wants to makeover Spark Street?

Photos : MOOT | roonsari |

Successful Park(ing) Day in Ottawa

2011-09-23T21:48:00.002-04:00

Ever heard of Park(ing) Day? It's an annual worldwide event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to transform metered parking spaces into temporary public places known as PARK(ing) spaces. This clever project is the brainchild of an interdisciplinary studio called Rebar in San Franscico. They produced the first one back in 2005 and this quickly turned into a worldwide event. As such, each year on the third Friday of September, Park(ing) Spaces are created in hundreds of cities around the world.

This year Ottawa had one too, thanks to yowLAB. They created a nice Park(ing) space in front of a restaurant in the Byward Market, with a bright yellow fence, benches, astroturf and potted plants. Well done!

Wouldn't it be a great if Ottawa participated every year? It would be fun to have several Park(ing) spaces likes this in the city. We could even turn it into an annual competition between different wards. And perhaps get citizens to help fund these projects by installing a special parking meter placed next to future location of a Park(ing) space to help with the cost of materials to create the spaces. This doesn't need to be promoted by the city. I think it would be better and faster if individual businesses with parking in front of their store would team up with some people to make it happen.

If you're thinking about participating next year, check out what other cities have done over the years below for some inspiration.

Photos : yowLAB | the green dots | laughing squid | object | goodlifer | parking day nyc | designing hong kong

CeraGres is finally in Ottawa

2011-09-20T22:43:00.003-04:00

One of the suppliers I was sad "leaving" as a designer when I moved to Ottawa was CeraGres. I worked with them while in Montreal and was really happy with their products, services, and especially with the way they organize their store. Every time I went there, I was inspired (which is a good thing for designers). Imagine my delight when I learned that they opened two new locations in Ottawa and Toronto.

I went to visit the new Ottawa store last week (they opened approximately a month ago), and I'm happy to say that they did not disappoint. The store is brightly light, clean and well organized. You can easily browse through all their inventory without too much effort, there's a lot to choose from and work with, you don't have to constantly ask for the price of a tiles as they are clearly labelled, and there are a lot of unique and original products that you can't find elsewhere.

They're not short on samples either. Check out these walls of backsplash tiles, each perfectly place on a little white cardboard and clearly labelled in the back. Notice also the slots underneath the counters where larger tiles are placed. There are also benches to make it more comfortable for clients, and even padding to put the tiles on so the surface of the counters don't get scratched. It seems like they thought of everything and that's the way I prefer shopping for tiles.

All in all, the new Ottawa location is just as inspiring and easy to browse through. So if you're into modern design and you're looking for something different, this is the place to be. On my recent visit, I was able to spot a couple nice tiles for the project I'm currently working on. I'll definitely be back.

Photos : CeraGres | MOOT

CAN OTTAWA HANDLE AN H&M?

2011-09-14T02:17:00.001-04:00

On my last trip to Las Vegas, while visiting some of the huge shopping centers on the strip I discovered the H&M at the Forum Shops (shown above). My first thought was : "WOW". The design and decor of the space was spectacular!

Look at the size of the shoppers at the bottom compared to the height of the ceiling. This place is probably 40 ft high. This looks like it was designed to inspire and entertain shoppers and make shopping fun. A lot of care and attention was put into creating an exciting experience with music, colorful LED lights, suspended mannequins and shiny balls. I bet the people who designed the store had a lot of fun in creating this display. But these photos don't do it justice. Luckily I found a video on YouTube to paint a better picture :

Seeing and experiencing this store made me think of Ottawa. More specifically, the fact that many people here would love to have an H&M in Ottawa. If you Google it you'll find many people talking about it as shown here, here, and here. There's even a Facebook group called Bring H&M to Ottawa. Still despite the fact that there are currently 56 H&Ms in Canada, including 9 in the Montreal region, there are none in Ottawa. Why is that? Could it be that Ottawa is just not ready for an H&M?

I often hear people going on shopping trips to Toronto, Montreal and even New York to find stylish items. I do it too. The last time I went on a shopping spree was on my last trip to Montreal earlier this summer. I think the problem is the "best" Ottawa has to offer in terms of trendy shopping downtown is probably the Rideau Centre. And compared to a lot of fashion forward cities, it's not impressive nor inspiring. And the bridge it such an eyesore.

I wrote a post last year about how Sparks street could use a little help becoming more fashionable. A commenter said, maybe if H&M would come first, it would help revive the area. But this made me think, maybe one of the reasons why they are not in Ottawa is because it's unappealing in the first place. Ideally if they came to Ottawa it should be downtown, but where? And who or what would be around them? If Sparks street was better maintained, it could be a great place to shop. But this street is far from looking like a high fashion district. Most of the occupants offer nothing for passerbys to look at. Window shopping is non existent. It's kind of depressing if you ask me. Instead of waiting for H&M to become the anchor, perhaps Ottawa needs a makeover to become more visually appealing. We are talking about fashion here. It has to look good!

Here's a collection of photos of some H&M stores around the world. Where would a building of the same caliber fit in Ottawa?

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Photos : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUM : INSIDE THE COURTYARD

2011-09-13T23:16:00.000-04:00

As some of you already know, the amenities at Central 1 include an interior courtyard. This feature essentially allows everyone living in the condo to have a shared backyard in the city. While the priority is to complete the units, work is also being done in the courtyard. I've been taking pictures of the courtyard as subtle changes occurred, documenting the process. Last week all the original construction material was gone and some workers were preparing the ground. I have enough pictures to show you a bit of the evolution of the courtyard so far.

Previously the courtyard was the perfect location to store various building materials. There was even a little "office" (blue box on the right). The big red structure on the right is for the crane used to lift items. It's really high.Once most of the windows of units facing the courtyard were in, almost everything was taken out. You can see the concrete slab underneath.Last week, it lookeds like rigid insulation was added on the side wall and the ground was water proofed. I'm looking forward to see how this looks later on. Also given the fact that the building is so close to the neighboring house, some of the workers were also repairing the roof of the house next door, which was much needed.

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUM : LOS ANGELES MODEL

2011-09-06T22:57:00.002-04:00

The construction process is going well at Central and the rooms are taking shape. The Los Angeles is another available model that faces North. It’s a two-bedroom-two-bathroom unit. There are seven units with this floor plan in the building.

It's nice to see the finished walls. It makes a big difference. You can see below a before and after of the view of the entry from inside the unit. It's not completely done but it's well under way. You can also see a portion of the master bedroom with the closet opening on the right and the smaller opening leading to the ensuite on the left.

For a lot of the units, the cabinets are in. Here you can see below the popular Tuxedo finish in one of the Los Angeles units.

This model has a compact kitchen tucked in a nook. I took pictures of this nook at different stages of construction to see the evolution of that space. The fridge will be placed in the large opening on the left and the stove and fan will be placed in the opening on the right. In front of these cabinets, there will be an island attached on the wall to the left that will house a sink and a dishwasher. You can see the pipes protruding from the side of the wall and some of the cabinets are already installed. The owners had a choice between different types of appliances. From the look of it, it looks like this one will have a slide-in stove.

The tiles in the bathroom are also being installed. For example in the ensuite below, you can see the Beta in Crema tiles on the floor and on the wall. In this particular unit, the owner has decided to upgrade the tiles on the wall surrounding the tub, so the tiles on the floor and the tiles around the tub are the same. It gives a nice effect. The grout should follow soon after.

There's also work being done on the outside. The frames for the railings on the balconies are also being installed.

MEANWHILE IN PARIS...

2011-08-31T14:40:00.003-04:00

After the UK, France recently started to install holograms to boost customer service in their Oslo airport. Talk about innovative! Sadly, I doubt this will happen anytime soon in Ottawa's airport. Still it's fun to see what other countries are up to, and perhaps also sad to see how for behind we really are...

MEANWHILE IN SWEDEN...

2011-08-25T11:04:00.009-04:00

Unfortunately, it looks like the impromptu swing didn't even last 24 hours before the fun police got rid of it. Meanwhile in Örebro (Sweden), a Big Yellow Rabbit created by artist Florentijn Hofman has been temporarily "thrown" in a public space since June and will remain there until September for the 3rd OpenART exhibition

This temporary exhibit is a summer-long event, involving over 50 artists from around the world showcasing their work in unconventional locations of the city for visitors and locals alike to experience art. Doesn't that sound like fun? The event is run for the Municipality of Örebro by the art gallery Örebro Konsthall with the help of other groups and local businesses.

The art exhibits are scattered throughout the city and there's something for everyone : movies, paintings, sculptures, toys, etc. Below are some examples of what is being presented (the giant rabbit is my favorite). You can see the full list of participating artists as well as their art on the OpenArt website here.

The Shadow Of The Monument by Radoslaw Gryta (Finland)

Page by Natalie Sutinen (Sweden)

Mirror by Mats Åberg (Sweden)

The airplane by Göran Hägg(Sweden)

Paint Your City by Mark Jenkins (USA)

This reminds me of a friend who once referred to Ottawa as "the city that fun forgot". In fact if you Google "the city that fun forgot", the first few links that come up are about Ottawa. How sad. This needs to change. Ottawa deserves better, don't you think?

Photos : OpenART

A BIT OF FUN IN THE CITY

2011-08-23T14:59:00.003-04:00

This picture was taken by Reddit Ottawa member don_pace who happened to notice a swing attached to a bus shelter on the corner of Slater and Kent earlier today. I just love this! It makes me smile. It's a simple way to inject a bit of fun in the city and I feel it perfectly matches the personality of Ottawans. There's even a the cute little stick figure sign above.

We need more of these is the city, don't you think?

A TOUCH OF COLOR - UPDATE

2011-08-20T17:33:00.002-04:00

A couple months ago I posted an article about a particular building on Bank street that could use a touch of color. It was great to get positive feedback from you and see that some even wanted to get involved (See comments on MOOT's Facebook page here).

Imagine my surprise, when I recently passed by the place and noticed that it had been painted. Maybe it's a coincidence but it seems like the owner or tenant got the message and it looks much better. There's just a couple little things to fix to complete the new look and I really hope whoever is responsible keeps at it to make it a successful makeover. So if you're reading this (or someone who know that person does), please consider the three following suggestions:

1. Add some color

Now that the triangular panels of top portion are painted in the new charcoal grey, I doubt it will change to implement the initially suggested rainbow effect. Still this building needs a bit of color. The panels above the windows are a great alternative. They currently look beige and would look a lot better with some color. (Notice the left most panel is charcoal for continuity).

2. Finish the bottom portion

To really separate this renovated building from the old ones next to it and complete the new look, the bottom part should also be renovated, either by painting it or replacing the tiles so that it matches the new charcoal paint. The metal trim will look great against it too.

3. PLEASE modernize the signage

The big light boxes are old and bulky and take away from the architectural features of the building. Raised letter with LED light behind them would be ideal. Something like the signage in the photos below taken from my last trip in Las Vegas (shown below).

It's also a great opportunity for Knit Knackers and Biogenie to redo their logos as well so that they better represent what they are offering. I pass in front of that building on a regular basis and I had no idea Knit-Knackers was "Ottawa’s largest yarn and knitting store". There's nothing about the logo that indicate that.

Look how cute the logo from Ravelry (it's like facebook for knitters) is. Something along these lines would be fun and probably better portray the company. Maybe a sheep, a yarn and cat next to the company's name? How about the name knitted with a cute alpaca on the side?

photo : ravelry | MOOT

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUM : HRV

2011-08-19T02:20:00.000-04:00

Central 1 is registered with the Canadian Green Building Council as a LEED Silver building. As such, a LEED consultant also works on this project, meeting the trades on a regular basis to check the progress of the building. One of the main LEED features is the presence of a Heat Recovery Ventilator (also known as an HRV or Air Exchanger) in each unit. The HRVs, which will be hidden in the ceiling, contribute to making the building eco-friendly, by reducing energy consumption.

Having access to fresh air is very important in a home, but in Ottawa, fresh air is rather cold most of year. Opening the windows in the winter to let fresh air in and stale air out, also means that the space inside will get cold and will have to be heated again, which wastes energy. Enter the HRV which is essentially a box that "recycles heat" so that you can get fresh air without having to reheat it too much.

Here's how it works: In the winter, we know that the fresh air outside is cold and the stale air inside is warm. By having both streams of air passing through the HRV, the heat from the stale air leaving the unit is transferred to the cold fresh air entering the unit. The two air streams don't get in direct contact with each other but there is a transfer of heat that occurs. The heat from the exiting stale air is transferred to the entering fresh air. As a result, the heating system doesn't have to work as hard to heat keep the indoor temperature at a comfortable level and the occupants pay less in energy bills.

There are a lot more eco-friendly features in this project. Stay tuned for more.

NCC ASKS: WHAT DO YOU WANT IN OTTAWA?

2011-08-17T21:15:00.005-04:00

It looks like the NCC also wants to know what do you want in your neighborhood with their new project : Horizon 2067. The two most important steps in making positive changes is to voice them and then to take action. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

I have a growing list here, and my first order of business would be to redesign Sparks Street (ex1, ex2). How about you?

Don't forget to share your opinion below and on Facebook.

MINTO PLACE'S LIVING WALL

2011-08-12T23:39:00.007-04:00

A couple weeks ago I discovered a really nice living wall inside the Minto Place downtown. It looks like a natural pieces of abstract art measuring 18 ft by 40 ft with over 6,000 plants. There's a little plaque at the bottom stating that this wall can support oxygen for 15-20 humans per day. Pretty neat isn't it?

Based on a previous post on Urbsite, it looks like this wall was installed a little over a year ago. It's a great feature and the air definitely feels nicer inside compared to other buildings.

According to Green Over Grey, green wall specialists, there are a lot of benefits in having a green wall in a public space like this, including better indoor air quality, reduced noise pollution, higher property value, reduced stress and increase in well being. It definitely feels good to be in this place. There are also live plants and flowers along the walls and around the eating area. Aren't they beautiful? I also like how clean the place was when I was there. A+ to the building managers and maintenance staff!

The skylight is also a great addition and allows natural light in the building which is another great plus, specially in the winter. If you're around and have a bit of time, I suggest you go check it out. Let me know what you think. We can never have too many green walls in the city! I hope others building developers and owners will do the same in the near future.

Do you know of any other places in town with great looking living walls? If so, let me know by commenting below and on MOOT's facebook page.

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUM : MIAMI MODEL

2011-07-26T18:33:00.014-04:00

The Miami model is another interesting floor plan from the Central 1 project. Half of the walls defining the unit have floor to ceiling windows. So there's a lot of natural light that comes in. This larger unit also has an island in the kitchen and a pretty neat walk-in closet.

The construction of this unit follows the same work breakdown schedule as the other units : first the demising walls, then the interior walls studs, followed by the rough-ins and the gypsum boards.

The following fours images taken in sequence were taken standing in the living room area looking towards the kitchen.

Similarly, the following four images were taken standing in the kitchen area looking towards the living area.

There are six Miami models in this project. Each at different levels of completion as the building crew moves towards the top of the building. The ceramic floor in the bathroom and the cabinets should start soon (if not already). It will be interesting to see how the rooms take shape.

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUMS : TORONTO MODEL

2011-07-16T02:55:00.003-04:00

There are several types of floor plans available in the Central 1 building. One of the smallest ones is a 478-square-foot-one-bedroom-unit called the Toronto, one of the models I will be following throughout the construction process. There are six units of that kind in the building

The Toronto unit faces North. It is slightly recessed and nestled between two other types of unit. As a result, this unit receives a bit less natural light compared to other units with a similar orientation. It will be interesting to see how different finishes affect the overall look and feel of this space.

Temporary wooden railings are installed while waiting for the concrete to cure. There are also temporary posts (shown in yellow) supporting the slab above. During that time, framers trace the location of the future partition walls on the floor (shown in red).

After a certain time, the windows are ready to be installed. In this case, the window frames were installed without the glass and the glass was installed after. You can see above the frames for the unit leaning on the wall on the left and the installed windows on the right. In each unit, a copy of the floor plan as well as the schedule of finishes is taped to the windows.

Here's the overall view of the installed windows in one of the units. There are openings on either side of the wall: one for the bedroom on the left and one for the living area on the right.

The view is rather nice on a sunny day.

The unit is taking shape. At first there's an opening between the Toronto and another unit that needs to be closed in. Since both units share a wall, this wall will have to be fire rated. Along with any wall between a unit and a common area, this wall is the first to be installed in the building. They are called demising walls. By code, they have to be inspected before being closed in.

Typically, one side will be built first so that an inspector can make sure they are built to code. Once the installation has been approved, the wall can be closed on the other side. This is to ensure that the building code is respected regarding the smoke and fire rating of the walls as well as sound insulation from one unit to the other. Following the approval from the inspector, the wall is closed in as shown above. At this point a heat recovery unit (HRV), the beige box above on the ceiling, is installed. In this case, the HRV unit is located in the ceiling above the future bathroom. This unit enables users to save energy.

This is a similar view after the metal studs have been installed to form the bedroom and the closet that will house a stacked washer and dryer.

After that comes the rough-ins, shown above. At this point all the outlets and switches are installed, as well as the main ventilation ducts, plumbing pipes, valves, etc.

This is a view of the entry wall with basic framing on the left and the installed demising wall. This wall separates the unit from the corridor. The concrete portion is adjacent to the building's stairs. Only the small opening requires the demising wall which consists of four layers of drywall (2 on each side of the metal studs), insulation, fire rated tape and caulking.

Here's a view of the wall behind the future kitchen before the installation of the partition walls.

Once the metal studs are installed, you can see the space taking shape. On the left side you can see the wall that will surround the fridge and hide the closet from the living area. You can also see how the kitchen will fit in the space and a portion of the wall in the dining area.

After the framing is done, the electrical, mechanical and plumbing crews install their rough-ins for the ventilation, heating, cooling, water services and electrical outlets. The red flexible pipes are for the hot water and the white ones are for the cold water. The pipes in the middle of the image will be for the kitchen sink. The one on the right will be for the washer.

Next on the schedule is the installation of the bulkheads and the drywall. This will make a big difference in the look of the space. The gypsum boards are already in some of the units and should be installed soon.

DEMOLITION OF THE MEDICAL BUILDING

2011-07-03T01:48:00.004-04:00

A couple weeks ago the old medical building on McLeod was demolished to make way for future condominiums. It was interesting to see how the demolition process took place. A multi terrain loader with a scrap and demolition shear attachment was used to demolish the building. To me it looks like the head of a mechanical dinosaur eating the building bit by bit. Quite entertaining. Here's a little time lapse of the demolition process.

Here's a close up of the demolition shear. See the resemblance?

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUMS : CONCRETE STRUCTURE

2011-06-21T02:12:00.000-04:00

Central is a building made out of concrete, one of the most common construction materials that can be used in a vast range of applications such as dams, foundations and walkways. It's also one of the most economical and versatile construction material and essentially consists of cement, aggregates, water and additives.

To create a structure, concrete is poured into a mold so that it can take its shape. In this case, the mold is made out of plywood sheets supported by a metal scaffolding system. For each floor, the scaffolding system has to be assembled and disassembled. The plywood sheets are added on top. That's quite a bit of work!

There are many ways to build a concrete structure. In the case of Central, the large U-shape structure is being built in two sections. The north section (Part 1) was built first and the south section (Part 2) is currently being built. I imagine it will be done relatively soon. The structure of the north section was completed a couple weeks ago and the 6th floor of the south section is being poured. Building in sections allows other trades, such as plumbers, framers, and electricians, can start working sooner.

To build the structure, every so often a concrete truck comes on site to deliver the concrete. The concrete is hoisted to the appropriate level with a crane, one "giant bucket" at a time. Pumping the concrete would have been faster, but also more expensive. On each level, steel bars have been arranged in a grid pattern ahead of time in order to reinforce the concrete, hence the name "reinforced concrete". Concrete is very strong when you compress it but not as strong when you try to bend it, so the addition of the steel bars gives it more tensile strength. Most concrete structures nowadays require steel bars.

So the concrete is poured on top of the temporary plywood floor to cover the steel grid. It is then made smooth by the workers. The tall steel bars you see sticking out of the concrete slabs are used to reinforce the concrete walls which come next. After the floor slabs are poured, forms in the shape of boxes are placed above the slab to create the walls. Concrete walls will be present throughout the building for the elevator shaft and staircases for example.

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUMS : CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

2011-06-03T04:13:00.001-04:00

It's fascinating to see how a high rise building takes shape and changes the landscape of a neighborhood. Not too long ago, this corner of Bank and Gladstone essentially consisted of a parking lot. Now you can see a 9-storey building taking shape.

The goal of this series is to share the process of constructing an urban condo downtown Ottawa step by step and share my findings. So I'll take you from the plans all the way to the final product : A completed condo unit. Hopefully, I'll also be able to show you the common rooms and the commercial spaces that will be on the main floor.

So far the main structure on the north section is completed and the concrete slabs are being poured on the south section. There's obviously a lot of preparation that needs to be done before pouring the concrete and then the concrete walls and columns are poured.

The fitting of the condo units will be an interesting process to follow as well. During my first couple visits, I noticed that the location of the interior walls were marked up (shown as red lined on the floor) and then the base of the interior wall structures attached.

In this case, the demising walls are built first. Demising walls are basically the walls that separate one residents's space from another, and from the common corridor. You can see them in the picture below.

I also learned an interesting fact about the numbering system in a condo unit. Typically, the numbering will start from the left of the elevator and continue in a clockwise fashion. This has to do with making it easier for the visually impaired to find a unit. I like how each unit number is marked on the floor so it's a bit easier to figure out where you are.

Another interesting fact that I discovered is that construction workers have the best view. The following two pictures were taken from the future mechanical room area of the building.

I hope you'll find this new series interesting and informative. Comments and questions are welcomed, as always. Stay tuned for some more.

CENTRAL CONDOMINIUMS : BEHIND THE SCENES

2011-06-03T04:10:00.000-04:00

I recently started to work with a large toronto-based building developer called Urban Capital, specializing in modern multi-residential buildings. The project I'm working on is called Central and is located in the heart of the city of Ottawa.

The first phase of the project is currently under construction. It's a U-Shaped building with 240 loft-style units surrounding a central courtyard. An old church used to be located on the site, and the facade of the old building was preserved and integrated into the design of the new building.

There's a set number of finishes and items that were selected by the lead designer for owners to choose from. My role with this project is to help the owners select the finishes for their condo (i.e. floors, cabinets, tiles, etc). It's a fun process.

You can see below some pictures of the model suites for Phase 1. Each type of floor plan is named after a city. The model suite is called the London.

Central 1 has a lot of interesting features. It has been registered to receive a LEED Silver certification. I have the opportunity to visit the site on a regular basis to check out the progress and learn more about these features. So, I'll be starting a series of blog posts talking about the construction progress and my favorite selection of finishes throughout the process.

Construction started a couple months ago and it's progressing fast. Here's the latest shot of the building's facade.

Photos : Central Condominiums | M2JL STUDIO

A TOUCH OF COLOR

2011-06-01T23:34:00.010-04:00

When you look at a building like the Sugamo Shinkin Bank above, the first words that comes to mind is "happy" and "fun". Designed by emmanuelle moureaux architecture + design, this bank in Tokyo, Japan doesn't come across as austere and most likely affects the mood of passers-by in a positive way. Using color is one of the smartest, cheapest and most effective ways to update a building and I think the following building on Bank street could use some color.

When walking in front of this building there's not much to it, but I noticed the vertical white "architectural features" on top. I was also thinking something fun could be done with them and almost immediately thought of adding some color. It would be neat to paint them in a rainbow as shown below

photo : designboom | MOOT

OTTAWA'S OPEN HOUSES WEEKEND

2011-05-23T21:46:00.010-04:00

Every year since 2002, the city of Ottawa as well as a dedicated group of volunteers, organize Doors Open, an event that celebrates the city's building heritage, architecture and design. This year, on June 4th & 5th, several buildings, such as the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, the Shenkman Arts Centre and the Embassy of France, will open their door to visitors.

A full list of the participating buildings are included on the city's website. There's also a handy Google map to help plan the day. I doubt it would be possible to see them all in two days, but there are certainly a lot of interesting modern buildings on the list. Not to mention a Geocache event going on at the same time.

Photos : City of Ottawa | Informatics | Flickr | French Embassy

FORMALLY KNOWN AS THE IMPERIAL THEATER

2011-05-16T19:08:00.006-04:00

I think it's safe to say that the Barrymore's building, formerly known as the Imperial Theater, is in great need to TLC. Doesn't it look sad? Every time I walk in front of it on Bank Street, I can't help but think "I wish I could help fix it. It has so much potential, it just need some TLC". The peeling paint, the dangling wire, the bird poop, the boarded up windows, the broken or missing reliefs, the mismatch signage and facing,etc. All of that can be fixed before it's too late. It just needs a bit of tender loving care.

Below is how the building used to looked like back in 1938. Notice the two large windows on either side of the giant signage. Now they've been boarded up like an abandoned building. It looks like the middle window was replaced and the large vertical signage was removed, leaving a large gaping hole above the Barrymore's signage, for pigeons to nest in perhaps? I don't think it needs to look the way it did back in the days, but even for a modernist like me, I think it would be nice to restore some parts and modernize other parts in a way that will respect its history,after a good clean of course.

If it was up to me this is what I would do.

Wouldn't it be nice if this building was restored to it's former glory in a modern fashion? I had a chance to visit New Orleans earlier this year and was amazed to see how their older buildings were preserved and restored (especially considering Hurricane Katrina). One particular building that I think would be a great benchmark for Barrymore's building is this beautiful police station in the French Quarter with black framed windows.

There was also this dramatic and impressive a hotel called "Le Pavillon". It's a big white building with a lot of architectural details, but the fact that it's all white makes it modern and really showcase the relief of the building. Doing something similar to Barrymore's building would emphasize the neat sculptures left on the building. I also really like the way they designed the signage.

A portion of the building is currently for lease. This is a great opportunity for a major and relatively affordable fashion retailer such as H&M, Guess, Parasuco or Mango to move in this developing area, but it's just not attractive enough for these retailers. At least not yet. It's too bad because their customers have already moved in the neighborhood in new condos such as Mondrian, Hudson Park, the Pinnacle. And more will move in soon considering other condo projects such as Central, Gotham, Soho. Another great idea (if it's still profitable nowadays), would be a movie theater that would hopefully feature films well into the night. Only time will tell. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

From tacky to classy

2011-05-03T11:34:00.004-04:00

I was walking along Cooper street yesterday and noticed this beautiful modern little store (Pat Flesher) that really stood out. Of course I had to take a picture to share with you.

The design is very understated but very effective, the signage is simple and to the point and the lighting emphasizes the beautiful texture of the stone wall veneer. Very classy!

Check out the "before" photo of the store from Google StreeView. It really needed a makeover. What an improvement! It's such a simple makeover but what a difference it makes.

Industrial Design Exhibition

2011-04-13T23:20:00.008-04:00

The industrial design department from Carleton will be hosting their 33rd Industrial Design Graduation Exhibition from Saturday, April 16 to Tuesday, April 19, 10 AM to 5 PM.

The exhibition will showcase projects centered around six different topics : Mobile Life, Firetactics, Adaptive Sports, Connected, Lota Renovation and Workspace Next.

Mobile life : new product opportunities under the theme of travel and communication
Firetactics: products to support firefighters

Adaptive sports: new products that will increase the participation of individuals with specific disabilities, enabling an athletic life style.
Connected : products to connect remote populations to meaningful opportunities through the use of technology.
Lota renovation : practical solutions for the revitalization of the town of Lota, Chile.
Workspace next : investigation of the impact of the mobile worker and its effect in changing the office environment.

For more information, check out IDES Graduates 2011

images : Industrial Design Carleton

Getting the community to express itself

2011-04-05T23:33:00.005-04:00

Every so often, I come across a inspiring project that makes me think "It would be so cool to have this in Ottawa!". This is one of them. Candy Chang who's a public installation artist amongst many other things, created this really neat project where she painted an abandoned house with chalkboard paint, encouraging locals to write what they would like to do before they die.

For some reason, I find this to be a very positive way to bring people together and share what's really important to them. This could brighten up someone's day, enable someone to express themselves, sharing dreams and aspirations with total strangers, or simply make people laugh. It's interesting to see what people write and it looks like this project was a success. Wouldn't it be great if we had something similar in Ottawa. Although I think ours we should say "Ottawa could use more _______". I wonder what people would say.

Cindy's project took place in New Orleans. You can see more of her photos here.

Photos : Candy Chang

Miele official launch in Ottawa

2011-04-02T02:00:00.005-04:00

Miele recently opened a new showroom on Bank street and had an official grand opening event this week. I got a chance to go and check out their sleek modern German appliances and try some of the excellent food prepared for the occasion. Love it!

Called Miele Gallery on Bank, it is "the first free-standing, independently owned appliance store in Ottawa that exclusively sells Miele appliances". I'm pretty sure it will make a lot of designers, decorators and design savvy people very happy. Even the inside of the fridges were staged!

I'm always happy to see places like these open in the city. I think and hope it is the first of many hip businesses to set root in this area of the city. Add to that several new modern condos being built in the same area, it is bound to become one of the hippest places in Ottawa. I sure hope so. In the mean time if you're in the area, you might want to go check it out on Saturday as there should be more cooking demonstrations sometime between 9:30 am and 5:00 pm.

Photos : MOOT

Ottawa Home and Garden Show raising the bar

2011-03-26T23:01:00.002-04:00

As you might already know, the Ottawa Home and Garden show is going on right now until March 27, 2011. I really think many Ottawa exhibitors have stepped up their game because a lot of the booths are looking a lot nicer and more polished than before. Don't you think?

I think those who worked hard to make their booth visually appealing deserve to be mentioned. So here's my list of "best in show" booths in the "Home and Decor" section (in no particular order):

A special mention must go to the really cool animal-shaped ottomans. We had to bring one home :)

My main contribution this year was the urban lounge sponsored by IKEA, Mikaza Home and Permacon.

I also had in bit of influence in other features such as the two model homes, the stage, the artist gallery and the foodies section.

There's one day left, if you want to go check out the exhibitions.

There's a new condo project in town

2011-03-10T21:49:00.006-05:00

I recently was invited to attend the launch of a new condo project by Domicile called hom. This new project is located on Champagne street, right in front of the current Ottawa Humane Society. (So once you get your condo, you can cross the street and get a pet too)

The building is targeting a LEED Silver certification. Some of the eco-friendly features of the building include individual utility meters, dual flush-toilets, water-efficient shower-heads and faucets, low VOC materials and plans to divert more than 75% of their construction waste from the landfill. Of course there will also be standard amenities such as a lounge, a fitness room, etc. But some original and notable amenities include a pet washing station (hint hint), separate bicycle storage rooms, and car wash supply tap, hose and brush on each parking level.

There were two furnished and staged models suites decorated in a contemporary way for visitors to explore. What I liked the most was the use of european-style counter-depth fridges in both kitchens, which I think is very appropriate in small spaces.

The one-bedroom plus den suite had an interesting layout for the bathroom/laundry area. It's a long room accessible from the bedroom and the den. The advantage of such a layout (from a construction point) is that all the plumbing is located in one area.

One another note, it was also neat to finally meet some fellow bloggers and tweeples that I had only "met" online thus far (i.e. Matt Richling, Phil Castro, Eric Darwin and Jane Daly)

photos : MOOT | hom

Trends in Design : Night 5

2011-02-28T21:18:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday was the last night of the Trends in Design series and this time it was hosted by Elaine Cecconi of Cecconi Simone, a renowned interior design firm based in Toronto. If you're an "HGTV connoisseur", you might have seen her and/or partner Anna Simone in Design Interns (amazing show). They also appeared in other shows such as Designer Superstar Challenge and Big City Broker.

Cecconi Simone are well known for their innovative and unique design and have done many condominium projects. During the lecture, Elaine gave an overview of how condo's have evolved over the past couple years, and the various innovative solutions they came up with to maximize the use of the available cubic feet (as opposed to square footage). She showed some beautiful examples such as the possibility of completely closing off your kitchen in the Tableau project in Toronto, a clever use of storage where the backsplash would be in a kitchen and their signature candle fireplaces for condos.

She also showed us some really neat amenity rooms such as the the video-game room and spa room. I'm glad she like my idea of the workshop room (allowing condo dwellers to have a space to do little projects such as painting a piece of furniture). It will be interesting to see if they integrate it in a future condo project.

All in all it was a great night. The room was packed, the conversation/question period was interesting. I'm a bit sad that this was the last presentation from this series, I really enjoyed them. Hopefully there will be more to come. David Wex, from Urban Capital, is considering doing this again in two years.

Photos : Urban Capital | Tableau condos | MOOT |

Turn-key modern homes in Ottawa

2011-02-14T18:56:00.005-05:00

Ever heard of Hidden City Design? It's a group of building professionals specializing in turn key green and modern homes in the Ottawa/Gatineau region. They basically design and build modern homes from scratch that you can buy.

The first time I heard about this concept was through the Cassels Avenue project by Reigo and Bauer in Toronto. I just love the way they integrated a modern minimalist home in a traditional neighborhood, as shown below.

I'm glad we have that here too. Check out the beautiful kitchen of the Carruthers project, a semi-detached home in Mechanicsville, which includes several eco-friendly features such as tank-less hot water heaters, renewable bamboo floors, energy efficient equipments and organic paint.

Next on their list is the Keyworth Collection project,three modern single family homes individually designed for buyers looking to live in an environmentally responsible way. This project features several eco-conscious items such as radiant floor heating throughout the houses, integrated garbage and recycling units and rain collectors. Looks like this project is well underway based on the latest Google Street view.

I'll definitely keep an eye on them to see what else the come up with.

Photos: Hidden City Design | Reigo and Bauer

New Exhibition Centre in Ottawa

2011-01-30T22:08:00.006-05:00

With the upcoming changes to Lansdowne park, the new site will no longer be appropriate for large exhibitions like the Home and Garden Show. Fortunately there's a new exhibition centre currently being built by The Shenkman Group, designed by David S McRobie Architects. The Capital Exhibition Centre is schedule to open at the beginning of the year and is located next to Ottawa’s Macdonald-Cartier International Airport.

The site is huge and because it's all on one floor it will be easy to bring in large items to the site like model homes. The building is also a candidate to LEED Silver certification.

Inside it looks pretty standard. I hope they use more interesting colors indoors. The color palette used on the picture (gray, beige and burgundy) is very old, conservative and uninspiring. Specially compared to the Palais de Congrès in Montreal, which is colorful, lively and fun. You can feel the energy when you enter the building and it puts you in a good mood. Color can do that. It would be neat if they would use a more current color palette to inspire visitors.

Trends in Design : Night 4

2011-01-30T18:05:00.004-05:00

Last week, for night four of the Trends in Design presentations, Rob Claireborne, lead architect of Lansdowne Park Stadium talked about the design process in architecture. What I got from his presentation is that "architecture is not just about form but about the gathering process over time" and it's that gathering process that gives you the inspiration to create something unique and interesting.

Of course the Lansdowne project was used as an example to explain that process. Based on Clairborne's knowledge of Ottawa, he knows that the current stadium and is not a pretty site. So for him it was important that the new site would make a good impression not only for the people living here but for all the visitors from all over the world. He was inspired by the movement of things around the stadium and wanted to create a stadium in a park. As opposed to the typical stadium surrounded by parking lots, the proposed stadium will be surrounded by trees and the goal is to have it open at all time for people to be able to enjoy the park as well.

I really like the wooden veil over the structure of the building, it's very organic. It definitely softens the look of the site. The wood to be used is called Alaskan Yellow Cedar. It's a Canadian tree that grows in BC and it's probably the strongest and most resistant tree we have here in Canada. It doesn't rot and has been used in various outdoor applications in Canada, including the awesome wave deck in Toronto (below). For the stadium the wood will "emerge of the landscape like trees dancing over the stadium".

The Frank Clair Stadium was apparently designed by the same company who constructed the Champlain Bridge in Montreal, so essentially "it's a bridge", as Claireborne pointed out. The shape of this building clashes with the Aberdeen building : Mid-century constructivism steel frame against a gentile Victorian facade. It doesn't work.

One thing I thought was a little concerning during the presentation is that the budget for the project is $85 million. Claireborne pointed out that a previous stadium project in New York cost $500 million and $700 million in Dallas. Typically, small neighborhood arenas cost $30-40 million. So the budget for Lansdowne is a bit of a challenge.

Nevertheless, it's a great change for Ottawa. Hopefully everything works out great and this will become a building for the city to be proud of... oh and hopefully whoever is designing the towers on the side of the stadium (I think they might be condos) come up with a better design than three gray towers, as shown in the picture below. To me they ruin the organic concept of the site and stick out like a sore thumb.

Photos: Cannon Design | Wikimedia Commons | skyscrapercity | OSMO Canada | MOOT |

WHY NOT IN OTTAWA ? | fun bus shelter

2011-01-15T14:22:00.003-05:00

I'm a big fan of creative ambient advertising. I think it's a great way to grab people's attention and make their day a little more interesting and fun. Take this latest ambient ad from Colle+McVoy in Minneapolis. They turned a bus shelter into a giant heating toaster oven for Caribou Coffee to advertise their new hot breakfast sandwiches. People waiting for the bus can not only see the ad, but they can also benefit from some heat during the cold weather.

photo by Terry Brennan via Ads of the world

cardboard wall at Bridgehead

2011-01-11T19:57:00.002-05:00

Over the holidays I came across this neat little project in the Bridgehead coffee shop downtown Ottawa : Cardboard pieces attached to a wall arranged like art. As per the shop's blog, this is a nod to the Ini Ani Coffee Shop in New York designed by LTL Architects. They used cardboard on the walls as a way to meet their tight budget, site limitation and time frame (shown below).

Cardboard is a eco-friendly and inexpensive material to use in a space to add texture and interest. Check out these other neat spaces using cardboard on the wall.

Wall Wave from Splace and designer Tung Chiang (via Mocoloco)

Istanbul Santral (via tom$ Flickr)

Papercut shop by darchstudio

Old wall for a new building

2011-01-09T21:00:00.004-05:00

The construction of Central condos is showing progress. The project includes the preservation of the facade of the Metropolitan Bible Church, as shown in the image above.

The 73 year old brick facade has been sitting on the construction site, strapped with a custom metal frame and Styrofoam boards to keep it as intact as possible. This weekend, the streets surrounding the construction site were closed and two large cranes moved the 300,000 lbs facade in place.

Several people stopped by to see the construction crew in action despite the cold weather. It will be interesting to see the final result.

Smart Solution for OC Transpo

2011-01-01T11:44:00.007-05:00

photo: Public Transit in Ottawa

If you've taken the bus in a busy downtown area like the Rideau Center or Albert Street, you've probably experienced the frustration of having to run and find your bus somewhere in the long line of buses, hopefully before it left. If that's the case, you might appreciate this solution from designers Chae-woo Park & Tae-eun Kim of Hongik University in Seoul, Korea. They came up with a very clever and simple solution to help people get to their bus a little quicker.

When the buses are in line, it's hard to see their number since they are located in front of the bus, and therefore hidden. By adding a "Folding Plate", a folding number plate that sticks out to the side as the bus door opens, it's easier to find your bus number and to get to it faster. Check out the following demo from the two designers presented for the 2010 Graduation Exhibition Probono.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE MOOT READERS OUT THERE!
THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!

Show me yours, I'll show your mine ....

2010-12-24T22:47:00.003-05:00

Here it is. Our little Christmas tree for this year is full of shiny disco balls! The holiday season has always been an opportunity to use our decorating creativity and I thought it would be neat to see how Ottawans decorate their trees for the holidays, so if you'd like to be featured on MOOT during the holiday season, send your picture to designer@m2jlstudio.com.

Thank you for reading and commenting on MOOT! Happy holidays!

Beautifying Ottawa one lot at a time

2010-12-07T20:25:00.005-05:00

I recently met one of the architects from James Colizza Architects Inc who are currently finishing a really neat modern project in Hintonburg consisting of four singles homes and a semi-detached building. I believe most, if not all, are already sold too. I added some pictures from the architects with some street view images for comparison. What an improvement! The ugly brown fence and poorly maintained sheds are gone and the lot will now house six families as opposed to one car. I'll have to go check it out myself at some point, in the mean time enjoys these photos!

photos: James Colizza Architects Inc | Google Map

Trends in Design : Night 3

2010-11-30T22:21:00.004-05:00

The third night of the Trends in Design series was really interesting. This time the speaker was Julian Goss, program chair of the industrial design department at the Ontario College of Art and Design. He's also a teacher, a consultant, a designer and a very fun speaker to listen to.

After giving us a bit on info on his background, he started with sculpture in Glasgow, he walked us through the history of design, highlighting the major eras of industrial design from the 50s until today as well as where we might be heading. According to Goss, globalization has impacted design in general. It was also interesting to find out that from the outside (he's originally from Scotland) Canada is "the most awesome and confusing country" when it comes to design and "NAFTA decimated product design". Nevertheless, companies such as RIM, Cervélo and Teknion are great Canadian companies that deserve a bit of the spotlight.

EQ3+ is in town

2010-11-27T00:10:00.004-05:00

Last week EQ3 and Azure magazine launched a new partnership between EQ3 and designer brands such as Herman Miller, Alessi, Stelton, Vitra, Pablo and Design House Stockholm. I had a chance to check it out during the launch party at EQ3 Byward, there were some neat items on display including iconic pieces and great gift ideas as you can see in the photos below.

It will be interesting to see what can be purchased through EQ3+. Vitra, for example, has a lot of neat items including cute mini Panton chairs for kids. This is great news for Ottawa's design community and the design savvy since iconic items will now be more accessible in Ottawa

MODERN MCDONALDS IN OTTAWA

2010-11-21T23:26:00.004-05:00

Last year I blogged about how McDonalds is modernizing the look of its restaurants on M2JL STUDIO Blog. Well it seems like it's now happening in Ottawa. I took this picture a couple weeks ago at the McDonalds on the corner of St-Laurent Blvd and Bourassa St. You can see a fireplace on the left side. There was a lounge on the other side. It would be neat to design a modern McDonalds restaurant. I would use a bit more color.

Trends in Design : Night 2

2010-11-04T23:42:00.005-04:00

Last week I attended the second night of the Trends in Design series at the Central sale center. George Dark, a landscape architect and urban designer was the speaker for the night. There was a great turnout (I believe it was sold out) and the finger food was delicious!

Dark gave a lot of neat examples on how cities are evolving, discussing what people are doing and can do to improve our cities. One of the points to consider is who we're building the cities for. The rules have changed, people are not looking for the same thing as before. The younger generation tends to put location at the forefront of their needs as opposed to the size of their house. What I retained from the presentation is that a sense of community and a constant interaction with nature are very important factors for the future of cities. This was illustrated with the presentation of projects such as the somewhat controversial gumwall in Seattle. It's a little nasty (at least for me), but I get the point that it brings people together. In fact, one of the attendants told me about the mini Inukshuks project in Ottawa. She built one just for fun near the Ottawa river and when she came back there was a series of them.

Dark also showed neat examples of projects aimed to make the city greener. One of my favorites is the Guerilla Gardening project, which has been going on for 5 years in Toronto as a way to embellish the city and allow visual beauty to "bring the joy back". All in all it was a very inspiring presentation with great ideas.

The next presentation will be about Industrial Design by Julian Goss on November 25 in Ottawa. Stay tuned for more

Ottawa on Slow Home

2010-11-02T11:50:00.002-04:00

For those who read the Ottawa Citizen last spring, I wrote an article on the Slow Home project, which spread like wild fire to many newspapers all over Canada (that was cool). Ottawa has recently been getting some attention on the Slow Home website. John and Matthew, as well as several participants recently redesigned a little townhouse for some Ottawa residents. Check out the video sessions below.

For more details on the project, check out Slow Home's online workshop section here.

For those who missed the tour

2010-11-02T01:14:00.004-04:00

Habitat for Humanity-NCR received the biggest donation thus far: a nice home in a great neighbourhood. Called the Gift Home, it was completely revamped with the help of many local professionals in the building trade. Listed for $1,17M, the money will help build about 10 new low-income houses. For those like me who missed the tour there is a little video on it, and Design Ties posted some great pictures here.

Great party at ARC The Hotel

2010-10-23T03:00:00.000-04:00

I'm really happy I got a chance to attend the Rapture Ball last week to celebrate the North American launch of THANN all-natural hair, skin and body care, as well as 10th anniversary of ARC The.Hotel. There was a great turnout. Over 400 people (according to THANN's blog) including TV personalities such as David Clemmer from Style by Jury,Shannon Kook-Chun and Cory Lee from Degrassi, as well as R&B Singer JDiggz.

The menu prepared by the ARC's executive chef Jason Duffy was Thai-inspired as a nod to the product line. It's too bad I didn't get to try everything, but the mango salad and the soup shooter were really good :) There were also delicious mini cupcakes from Thimble Cakes and plenty of signature cocktails inspired by the THANN collection. Live models were wearing THANN clothing sold in their high-end boutique in Asia.

The event was presented by Blackbook Lifestyle and sponsored by Porter Airlines, Effen Vodka, Bombay Sapphire, Alize, Bacardi, The Small Winemakers of Ontario, Steam Whiltle Brewies, VOSS Water, Angie's Models and Talent, Models International Management, BODE Spa. Consequently the gift bag had awesome items and gift certificates!

I was happily surprised with this event and am planning to check out the ARC's Lounge during their Thursday Grey Goose Cocktail Hour at some point. Hopefully the DJ will be back, I really liked his set.

Check out more photos of the event here, here and here.

Building 22 Book launch

2010-10-04T01:55:00.000-04:00

Last Friday was also the book launch day for Building 22, a magazine created by students highlighting the work of a select few from the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University. I believe this is their second edition. Last year's magazine was sold out.

This year's editor is Christopher Bretecher, a master student currently focusing his thesis on abandoned buildings. There was a great turn out at the event. I also got to meet architect Andrew Reeves from Linebox Studio who sponsored the event, along with Mikaza Home, Stantec Architecture, the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects (ORSA) and Mags & Fags. Reeves, who blogs about the Mini House project has another great project coming up now that the mini house is completed. I also got to meet the owner of the Murray house and just might get to see the famous roof top next summer.

Ottawa Home & Design Show 2010

2010-10-04T00:46:00.000-04:00

I went to check out the Ottawa Home and Design Show on Friday. I was curious to see the Fab 4 Design Showcase by Kiersten, Luc, Jane and Suzanne I had been hearing about. They did a great job.

I also particularly liked Luc's nicer alternative to the default black curtains for his booth. He used Whooshi-like curtains to create his space. It's a simple and cost-effective solution and gives an ethereal feel to the space.

Two items that caught my eyes were MOOOI's pig table from Modern Light, a new store in Ottawa that I still have to go check out, and the hand crafted coconut ice container from Artfrik Home, also new in Ottawa.

It's great to see improvement in the Ottawa home shows over the past year. It's also really neat to know that I had something to do with it (so I've been told). Let's keep raising the bar so Ottawa can compete with the likes of the IDS show in Toronto and the Salon de l'Habitation in Montreal! There's nothing better than a little friendly competition to elevate the design standards in the city and present good design to the public. There's a lot of great things on the way for Ottawa's shows (stay tuned for more). I'll be working on some features for the upcoming Ottawa Home and Garden Show in March next year. By the way, if there's something you'd like to see at the show don't be shy to send me an email and let me know :).

Modern Green and Affordable

2010-10-03T19:33:00.000-04:00

I was recently made aware of a neat new building development project by Centertown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, a non-profit social housing provider. Located between the museum of nature and the 417, this rental housing complex, called Beaver Barracks, is a multi-phase / multi-building project on the site of a former air force barracks, demolished in the early 90s after which the lot was left vacant.

The two-phased project includes several energy efficient and green features such as a geothermal heat pump system (said to be the largest residential geothermal unit in Canada to date), low-flow water fixtures, energy Star appliances, energy efficient lighting systems, a community garden, a green roof, composting and recycling stations.

Argyle apartments

Catherine Mixed Use Building

Catherine Mixed Use Building

Stacked Townhouse Building B

Metcalfe Mixed Use Building

There's even photo blog updating readers on the construction process. The Metcalfe building is almost ready and the foundation for the stacked townhouse has already been poured. CCOC is planing to be handing over keys to 160 units at the end of this year and is currently accepting applications.

It’s great to see such projects in the city, and it's definitely a nice add-on to the area. Based on Loom's knitnut, a former tenant of CCOC, the landlord is really good and caring too, which makes a huge difference in the sustainability of this kind of project. It will be interesting to see the completed project with the green roof.

photos: Beaver Barack | ottawa.ca | ccoc

Trends in Design : Night 1

2010-09-19T16:31:00.008-04:00

The first night of Trends in Design had a great turn out despite the rain, the crazy traffic and the construction mess on Sussex street. The night began with an introduction by David Wex of Urban Capital, then canada.com editor Lara Ceroni spoke about the fashion trends for fall 2010 and beyond, followed by a short fashion show by Schad + Shadblü with great music (I just wish the fashion show lasted a little longer).

David Wex, who came up with the idea, is hoping to repeat this event on an annual basis and expand to other areas of design such as automobile design. I can see this taking off in Ottawa. Wouldn't it be cool if in a couple years from now well known experts from all over the world would come to discuss various design topics with the public here in Ottawa? I'm glad to see this happening in Ottawa.

Lara Ceroni, the editor for ellecanada.com was fun to listen too and has a great sense of humor. The fashion trends this fall are Restraint, Cocooning, 50s Inspired Styling, Neo-Lady, Minimalism, Rebellion, Smart Shopping and Military. She showed some examples for each and explained what it entailed. The future of fashion and is likely to be centered around two main themes: The "Art of silence" and the "Flight of fancy". It was very interesting. There's still a chance to hear Lara's presentation in Toronto on the 20th of January if you missed the first one.

At the end of the event, there was a neat little gift bag on our way out including the latest edition of Azure Magazine, the latest edition of Ottawa Shopping Magazine, a rebate letter from Schad + Shadblü, a gift certificate to SAAB Salon Spa and a ticket to the upcoming gift show.

I also had a chance to chat with some people from Urban Capital and Central, a great bunch with great plans for the future. I'm looking forward to the next evening with George Dark, Head of Ottawa's Downtown Urban Design Strategy who will be talking about designing cities.

source: Urban Capital

Trends in design coming to Ottawa

2010-09-14T01:13:00.006-04:00

I'm really excited about this! Urban Capital is organizing a series of interactive lectures to discuss the evolution of design. For the next couple of months a series of five lectures regarding design trends in the city building, architecture, fashion, interior design and industrial design will take place in Ottawa and Toronto.

The schedule for the five lectures are as followed:

NIGHT 1 | SEP 16 2010
Fashion Trends by Lara Ceroni, editor at ElleCanada.com

NIGHT 2 | OCT 28 2010
New Thinking in Designing Cities by George Dark, Partner at Urban Strategies Head

NIGHT 3 | NOV 25 2010
Where Industrial Design is Taking Us by Julian Goss, Program Chair of Industrial Design Department at the Ontario College of Art & Design

NIGHT 4 | JAN 27 2011
Architecture in Our New Century by Robert Claiborne, Design Lead at Cannon Design Lead Architect

NIGHT 5 | FEB 24 2011
Interior Design Thinks Small by Cecconi Simone, Partner at Cecconi Simone Interiors

The lectures are open to the public and tickets are available for purchase at Urban Capital and the proceed will go to support Philip Beesley’s Hylozoic Ground, Canada’s entry to the Venice Biennale 2010. Of course I have to go. I'm looking forward to see this.

The first lecture will take place at Shad Boutique (512 Sussex Drive) where senior editor Lara Ceroni for ElleCanada.com will talk about the trends in fashion and where it's going, followed by a Fall/Winter 2010 fashion show. It will be interesting to see if what's presented during the show follows the fashion trend forecast for fall/winter 2010-2011 as per Cosmoworlds. The four themes for the upcoming seasons are "Body performance", "Trady Twist","Rustic Root", "Dark Poetry".

Body Performance : A ballet dancer style express by skintone palettes with fleshy tones, plastery pastels ans talcy mauves with some tonic accents, luminous coral, and graphic contrast of black and white.

Trady-Twist: The Retro English style of this theme is evoked by muted tones, luminous camel, greenish-blues, taupey-gray, rich burgundy. Add British cakes colors: cupcake pink, acid marmalade, electric anise, milky blueberry.

Rustic Roots: The range of green is omnipresent complete by two industrials colors: grayed and pinkish cement. A palette of autumn reds with different grape tones. The accent is on materials associating rusticity and refinement: compact or boiled wools, tweeded flannels, quilted linig and patches and sportswear fabrics like cotton/polyalide foamback.

Dark Poetry : A poetically nocturnal palettes with deep black, slate gray, inky blue and deep purple completed by flaming garnet, blushing pink and hallucinogenic green. Flashes of copper and gold.

Images : Urban Capital | Cosmoworld

Mikaza Home is moving to a new showroom

2010-08-30T22:48:00.003-04:00

If you haven't heard already, Mikaza Home is moving from their small starter boutique on Bank street into a much larger showroom. As a result, they're having a big clearance until September 1st on the items currently in the store.

The new showroom gives them the much needed space to showcase more of what the store has to offer. Located just on the other side of the Portage bridge (near all the federal government buildings) it is now closer to downtown Ottawa with parking in the back.

Urban Outfitter coming to Ottawa

2010-08-23T02:17:00.008-04:00

If you follow Apt613, you probably already know that Urban Outfitter is coming to town. Since I moved here I always thought that it would be a great store to have in Ottawa (specially near the Byward Market) I even sent them an emailed them about it a little while back! They are coming to town this fall and will be located on Rideau street.

They have a great building to work with and it looks like Sajo will be taking care of the renovations of the building. Lucky them! I hope they come up with a really neat design for the store. I used to love talking a stroll to the one in Montreal to see how they designed their space and what neat modern-vintage items they had at their store. I can't wait to see what they come up with. Here's what the one in Montreal looks like (although they change their decor on the regular basis)

Here a small sample of original items you will find at Urban Outfitter.

lock of bird pillowcase set, 3-D Faux chandelier, Birdcage Hanging Lamp

Antoinette fainting sofa, Pod table, Flip storage sleeper sofa

Imm Living Alice Shake Me Salt and Pepper Set, Test tube shot set, Coke embossed Glass.

Photo: MOOT | Flickr 1, 2 | Urban Outfitter

Canadian War Museum

2010-07-30T01:46:00.006-04:00

I recently went to check out the "new" Canadian War Museum. And although the exposition was interesting and informative, the building's architecture got my attention. What a beautiful building! It's very modern, minimalist and understated : perfect for a war museum.

I did a little research to find out more about the building and learned that this project was a joint venture between Moriyama & Teshima Architects from Toronto and Griffiths Rankin Cook from Ottawa. Apparently, the vision behind the concept was to create a space that would hint at the oppressive atmosphere of the battlefield by incorporating a bit of brutalism in the architecture. So there's a lot of raw concrete walls both inside and outside the building. I also like how they broke up the concrete with angled glass walls.

The lobby is very spacious and minimalist.

I love the starting room reminds me of some sort of military command center.

The best room to me was the "Regeneration Hall". It's this angular room with very a high ceiling and angled walls where plaster casts from the Canadian National Vimy Memorial are shown. When you enter this room, you can hear an ethereal sound which adds to the experience of this space. I suspect that the shape of the room affects the architectural acoustics. I wonder if it was planned that way. The architects wanted to create a physical representation of hope for the future, so they designed the window to frame the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. I think it's a very well executed room.

I have to admit, I was disappointed with the look of the washrooms. I was expecting something along the same lines as the rest of the space: Modern, rough and minimalist. A long concrete sink for example would have been nice. I don't get the green and yellow. It reminds me of public school washroom from the 70s. Too bad.

I absolutely love the exterior of the building! There's a ramp that brings one up to the green roof (apparently the largest in North America), and you have a great view of the city.

There's also a very large open space that would be ideal for a great outdoor party. I would organize a party there if I could. The place is perfect for it! I already have some ideas of where everything would go : a DJ booth, a dance floor area, a lounge, an eating area... Maybe one day...

I noticed there was some pieces furniture on one side of the roof but I don't think they are appropriate for this kind of space.

Outdoor furniture that would complement this space should be angular and minimalist, a bit like the products from Qui est Paul. The white would look awesome against the gray concrete wall.

Photos: MOOT | Qui est Paul?

Do you think Lansdowne Park is moving too slow?

2010-06-14T16:29:00.009-04:00

There's a lot of debate going on about the future of Lansdowne Park. A couple days ago, I heard a conversation on the radio about the future plans for Lansdowne and the new proposed designs. The hosts were arguing as to whether or not anything would eventually happen. Apparently, debates about Lansdowne have been going on since the 80s!

Let me illustrate :

Here's a picture of Shanghai in 1990.

Here's a picture of the same place in 2010, 20 years later. A lot has changed and evolved in 20 years right? Things are obviously happening there.

Okay, now let's do the same for Lansdowne. Here a picture of the exhibition grounds in 1962...

And here's a picture of the exhibitions grounds in 2007, 45 years after! Notice any major changes?

Okay, what if we go a little further back? Let's compare Lansdowne of 1954 to Landsdowne of 2007. Surely there has got to be a bit of evolution in 53 years, right? Nope. Actually, it looks like there were more back then.

photos: City of Ottawa | Business Insider

Urban Barn opens in Ottawa

2010-05-25T11:22:00.005-04:00

I recently was invited to visit the new Urban Barn store in the Byward Market, where Roche Bobois used to be. Coming from Montreal, I was not familiar with Urban Barn but some of my peers from out west were really excited to learn that the store was opening in town. They've done a great job with the space, which took them approximately 10 weeks to transform.

I was able to sit down and talk to Rick Bohonis (on the left), president of Urban Barn and Sébastien Duhaime Fauteux (on the right), general merchandise manager for the store (photo by Christopher King).

Rick started the company 20 years ago. A broken shoulder from an accident on a construction site while working as a materials supplier is what got him into the business. He started with one store in downtown Vancouver, which grew into several stores in Canada. The Byward location is their 38th store. When the space became available, they couldn't pass the opportunity, especially considering the fact that they've been looking into opening a store in Ottawa for a while. Eventually, there might be more Urban Barn stores with possible future locations in Kanata and Orleans.

Sébastien gets to travel all over the world to find unique items for the stores. He had many stories about the people he met and items he had found. For example, they carry a line of furniture from Vietnam made of recycled timber to custom rugs made in Montreal. Sébastien gets to pick trends and this year, it's all about birds. He got a little bird obsessed he said, so you'll see a lot of accessories inspired by birds, as shown below.

Clockwise (from top left) : Floral Bird Cutout Bowl, Reflect Mirror Wall Decor, Bird & Tree Tea Light Holder, Willow Candle Holder, Crunch Square Can, Baroque Regal Pheasant Statue, Finch Glass Bird Salt and Pepper Set, Bird Nest Vases

Photos: MOOT | Elevator Communications inc | Christopher King

Showroom Makeover

2010-05-20T23:53:00.006-04:00

Earlier this year I taught a decorating class for graduating students at La Cité Collégiale. Since the objective of the course was to decorate commercial spaces, I thought it would be fun if I could find them real clients with real projects to work on. And I did! Andrew from Custom Home Interiors and Christine from Tripp Photography volunteered their spaces.

On a recent trip to CHI's showroom, I noticed that the space my students worked on for their project was under construction. CHI's owners were really happy with the design suggestions, so on top of rewarding the winning design, they decided to go ahead and implement a good portion of the changes proposed by the winning student.

The photo above shows how the showroom looked at the time my students were assigned their project. The client wanted to use that room to showcase flooring, window treatments and paint.

The winning concept makes use of the floor in the showroom to showcase some of the flooring available in the showroom.

It will be interesting to see the final result... more to come soon.

MOOT Innovator : Modern Achitecture is for Fish too

2010-05-09T07:21:00.009-04:00

I recently came across this really neat design while browsing through an Umbra catalog : the Fishcondo. Designed by Teddy Luong, a student from Carleton University, this "fish box" is the perfect addition in a modern home. I don't think it even matters whether you have a fish or not. It's a great sculptural piece on it's own. Made with a white ABS shell, Luong's awesome and affordable concept can also be stacked, thus enabling you to create various architectural arrangements.

Not surprisingly, this design won Umbra's "Build a Better" design competition. It is currently available at unica home and the San Fransico Museum of Modern Art Store

photos : Living with white | The Well-Appointed Catwalk

Recycled Design at Fresco Bistro's New Guest Room

2010-04-28T20:02:00.008-04:00

Last Thursday was also the launch of the 2nd floor of Fresco Bistro Italiano. The new Guest Room is designed by Crawford Alexander, who used recycled and reclaimed materials in their concept. There were all sort of reclaimed items in the room: old windows, suitcases on the wall, wood shingles, reclaimed wood planks, funky lamp shades, etc.

There was way too many people in the space for me to take pictures of the entire space that night, but fortunately photographer Michael Davidson was able to take some pictures of the space, shown below. Enjoy!

Photo : MOOT | Michael Davidson

Modern Condos are selling like hotcakes in Ottawa

2010-04-26T22:37:00.010-04:00

I attended the Urbaina VIP Event last Thursday to see the new model suite for phase 2 of the Central condo project: Central 2, from Urban Capital. The place was buzzing with people. There was a serious line up to get in and people were there to buy.

I also got a chance to meet David Wex, co-owner of Urban Capital, who explained that a lot of the people who came to the event were people who didn't get a chance to buy the first time around (Phase 1). He also felt that there would be a good chance that a portion of guests present that evening would have to reserve space for phase 3 since the condos were selling so fast! I wasn't there long and already a lot of red dots were on the plans.

Central 2 will be located at the corner of Bank and McLeod. The building is designed to have a low carbon footprint, be very stylish and affordable. The Central building and units themselves are projected to be LEED-Silver certified with eco-friendly features including a green roof, a rainwater storage system, energy-efficient windows, sustainable materials, and even a car share program.

The suite showcased during the event was modeled after the "Brampton" unit, a one bedroom + den unit, slightly over 600 square feet. All units come fully loaded with five-star energy-efficient stainless steel appliances,engineered hardwood floors, huge windows that flood rooms with natural light, custom-designed European kitchens and bathrooms, and exposed concrete ceilings. In the bathroom, the cabinets provide maximum storage (similar to the re hotel and residences) and nice finishes. I also like how they eliminated the handles of the upper cabinets in the kitchen by using taller doors that can be opened from the bottom, giving the kitchen a clean look.

Photos : MOOT

re Hotel and Residences Launch Party

2010-04-18T12:46:00.005-04:00

Last Wednesday, I attended the launch for the upcoming re Hotel and Residences I mentioned earlier. It's great to see people taking matters into their own hand and revitalizing this street in great need of a lot of TLC! I thought I'd share my visit with you :)

As we came in, we were greeted by hostesses dressed in black, white and with a teal accent scarf. I thought it was a nice touch. After checking our names on the list we continued to the tent furnished with Mikaza Home furniture.

In the tent, you could look at some renderings for the project.

The lobby was great and grand. There was a DJ, lots of people, waiters serving drinks. (I had an really good lychee martini). I thought the colors used in the lobby were conservative (very neutral) but by using interesting material, it made the room interesting. Notice the mini subway tiles on the reception desk and the white tile on the wall.

There was some great scale models of the building project. The penthouse will have an amazing view of parliament. The project consists of a boutique hotel and luxury condos. Both will have an entrance on Queen Street. There should be retail stores on Spark Street. Finally. I really hope some great stores will come there. Hopefully whoever is in charge will seek appropriate tenants to help revitalize this area. As mentioned earlier by fellow blogger A.K.T. of Small City Streets we could use an anchor store such as H & M. But I would suggest bringing some great young, vibrant, fashion forward Canadian brands such as Rudsak, Mackage, Browns, Dubuc, etc. This is the place for flagship stores showcasing the best of what Canada has to offer! (Go big or go home).

THE BATHROOM
The model bathroom had some great features using modern fixtures. The floor to ceiling tiles created a neat effect (I was surprised to see they were the same than the ones I used for a client 2 years ago). There was a washer and dryer tucked away in a little closet on the side. The best feature for me was the extra tall cabinets behind the mirrors that provided ample storage. I thought it was really smart.

THE KITCHEN
The model kitchen was nice and sleek. From the look of it, it would be possible to host a party with a large number of people there. It was not a big kitchen, but I like the european style backsplash made out of colored glass. I wasn't sold on the light fixture above the table. They look a little too much for that small glass table, not to take away from the light fixtures themselves, because they look pretty awesome.

THE LIVING AREA
I really like the feature wall in the living room hiding storage behind and the stainless steel sleeve under the flat-screen TV. Imagine adding an ethanol fireplace in there. The small living room had access to a small balcony on the side as well.

THE BEDROOMS & ENSUITE
The master bedroom had real life models in it showcasing jewelry. Nothing against the model, but I didn't like that concept and though it looked a bit tacky. From the master bedroom you could access the second bathroom and the walk-in closet. It probably would have been better to inverse the bathroom and walk-in. The second bedroom was small but had great storage solutions.

So the old and ugly will eventually be replaced by the new and beautiful. And you can have a piece of it for a price. The smallest condo (570 sq. ft or 53 sq. m) starts at a little under $400,000. There are some great amenities that come with the purchase of one of these condos including underground parking, concierge, party room, lounge, theater, etc. Maybe I'll get to design some spaces in there. Now I really hope that the rest of the street will also get a face lift. You can see more pictures from the re hotel and residences website.

photos : MOOT | re hotel and residences

A cleaning station for dogs

2010-04-18T03:11:00.004-04:00

Beautiful entrance with a sleek dog shower station in the Echo House designed by Kariouk Associate

I came across this great design solution by Ottawa architect Paul Kariouk a while ago where he integrated a dog shower in the entrance of a home. It inspired me to write an article about design solutions for dogs in the Ottawa Citizen. Find out more here.

Kariouk and his late dog demonstrating the dog shower at his entrance. Photo: Rod MacIvor, The Ottawa Citizen

Source : Kariouk Associates | Ottawa Citizen

Bringing the spark back into Spark street - Sneak Peak

2010-04-11T04:03:00.006-04:00

Hotel Lobby

Sparks street is in great need of a makeover: something exciting to bring some life back into this area. Fortunately, there's a new project coming up that will hopefully inspire more people to improve this area of town and make it shine. Re Hotel is a new boutique hotel and residences pioneered by David Choo of Ashcroft Urban Developments and designed by architect Roderick Lahey of Roderick Lahey Architects and by interior design firm Cecconi Simone.

6th Floor lounge

An exclusive launch will take place this Wednesday on Spark Street. Amongst other things, guests will be able to see the floor plans and a fully decorated model suite. I believe David Choo, the visionary behind the project, who also recently started his own blog. Other Ottawa personalities will also attend this event. Based on these renderings, it will look really nice!

Residential lobby

Sky lounge

renderings : designtor

Designer's Touch at the Ottawa Home and Garden Show

2010-04-05T15:36:00.007-04:00

Things are finally getting back in order after a couple crazy weeks getting ready and setting up for the Ottawa Home and Garden show. This year, as some of you already know, I really got involved with the show. My biggest project was to create and build four trendy dining rooms based on the 2010 spring/summer fashion trends and Benjamin Moore's 2010 Envison Colors. The rooms were named after each theme as shown below :

For the list of items in the Ode to Nature room click here.

For the list of items in the Popular Appeal room click here.

For the list of items in the Southern Comfort room click here.

For the list of items in the Light Tech room click here.

I also helped put together a mini art gallery on the way to the stage. I contacted Lisabel Filiatrault from Montreal and Jennifer Bisson from Ottawa to showcase their work.

On top of that, I also participated in the preparation for the decor of CDECA's booth and the Cameleon House and came up with the 30 Designer Finds.

It's too bad I didn't find time to check out all the booths from the show (there's just not enough hours in the day really), but I did notice that Custom Home Interiors did a great job decorating the Décor Stage. Same goes for the booths of 2Go Custom Kitchen and Corbeil who were nice to help us with the wood panels in the first dining room.

Doing the show was a great experience and I would do it again and even better (I got tons of new ideas). I got great feedback for the rooms from visitors and, as I suspected, quite a few of them said they wanted to see more finished rooms to show them how to use various items and inspire them to redecorate or redesign their own home. I hope more exhibitors will see the value in staging their rooms or hiring designers and decorators to help them out.

I'd like to thank the volunteers again who helped me set up the booths. It was really appreciated!

P.S. LSI Floors, Logs End and Bemz donated their items to Habitat For Humanity, which was really great too!

Photos : MOOT & Ottawa Home and Garden Show

30 Designer Finds

2010-03-30T00:22:00.003-04:00

As some of you already know, I had a large feature booth at the Ottawa Home and Garden Show this year and part of it consisted of showcasing 30 great items that can be purchased in Ottawa. Each of the items were provided by suppliers based in Ottawa : Custom Home Interiors, Modern Karibou, Mikaza Home, Holtzunmetal, Canvas Pop, dna11

If you missed it, here's the list :

[01] Marina Console Table
Supplier : Custom Home Interiors

[02] UU72 Table
Supplier : Modern Karibou

[03] Ovopur Water Filter and Ecobase Bamboo Table
Supplier : Custom Home Interiors
Designer: AquaOvo * CANADIAN*

[04] Miller Ottoman and Twin Bed
Supplier : Custom Home Interiors

[05] Cubic End Tables
Supplier : Mikaza Home

[06] Eames Style Wood Stool
Supplier : Mikaza Home

[07] Timber Tables
Supplier : Modern Karibou

[08] Lujuria TV Stand
Supplier : Mikaza Home

[09] Mètahlowski - Fatboy Chair
Supplier : Custom Home Interiors

[10] WTC Lounge Chair
Supplier : Holtzundmetal
Designer : Holtzundmetal* CANADIAN*

[11] WTC Media Stand
Supplier : Holtzundmetal
Designer : Holtzundmetal* CANADIAN*

[12] Eiffel Rocker Lounge Chair
Supplier : Mikaza Home

[13] Coco Plexistyle Lounger
Supplier : Modern Karibou

[14] Rochelle Side Chair
Supplier : Mikaza Home

[15] Drop Lounge Chair
Supplier : Mikaza Home

[16] RC-1 Rain Collector
Supplier : Modern Karibou
Designer : Hero 365 * CANADIAN*

[17] Vivian Stool
Supplier : Modern Karibou
Designer: Y Design Studio * CANADIAN*

[18] Wallflutter
Supplier : Mikaza Home
Designers: Marion Lanktree/Alan Wisniewski

[19] Centrifuge Transite Mailbox
Supplier : Modern Karibou
Designer: Centrifuge * CANADIAN*

[20] Poetry Shelve
Supplier : Mikaza Home
Designer: Olivia Bradateanu* CANADIAN*

[21] TEWO Key Board
Supplier : Modern Karibou

[22] DNA Portrait
Supplier : Custom Home Interiors
Designer: dna11* CANADIAN*

[23] Canvas Prints
Supplier : CanvasPop
Designer: Canvas Pop * CANADIAN*

[24] UU71 Fruit Trough
Supplier : Modern Karibou

[25] Vers Sound Systems
Supplier : Modern Karibou

[26] Season Metal Lantern
Supplier : Modern Karibou

[27] Pestle and Mortar
Supplier : Modern Karibou
Designer: a.j.* CANADIAN*

[28] Oil Bottles
Supplier : Modern Karibou
Designer: a.j.* CANADIAN*

[29] U22 Wine Tray
Supplier : Modern Karibou

.

[30] Anidar Bird Feeder
Supplier : Modern Karibou

Big thanks to all the suppliers who were nice enough to lend their products for the show!

Ottawa Home and Garden Show Sneak Peak

2010-03-22T21:29:00.007-04:00

It has begun! The Ottawa Home and Garden show is underway and some of the booths are up, including the one that I'll be working on :). I hope it goes well! So far so good. Instead of the black curtains that I really don't like, there will be walls. It's an interesting system that just comes together like a puzzle, from a company called Event Design here in Ottawa. You can see their crew installing the walls from my booth below.

They had already completed CDECA's booth when I was there and it should be painted tomorrow as well.

Discovering places with CDECA

2010-03-20T00:39:00.003-04:00

I recently joined CDECA's board of directors for the National Capital Region Chapter as the new Program Director. My role is to organize various outings and events for members and guests. This enables us to learn more about the various products available in the national capital region (and other cities) and get together to talk about decorations and design. The first event, which took place last month was at Logs End. After discovering and blogging about them last year, I though it was a perfect occasion to go check them out. It was very interesting. You can find out about that visit on CDECA NRC's new blog here.

How warm is it?

2010-03-16T23:06:00.003-04:00

The weather has been so nice lately that hot dog stands are already back out downtown... in the middle of March!

PechaKucha Night in Ottawa

2010-03-12T02:09:00.003-05:00

Here's another interesting event that's coming to Ottawa : PechaKucha Night. PechaKucha Night was born in Tokyo in 2003. It was created as an event for young designers to meet network, and show their work in public. The presentations are formated in a very interesting way, called PechaKucha 20x20, each presenter shows 20 images for 20 seconds each and talks along to the images. This concept spread internationally all the way to Ottawa earlier this year, where the first PechaKucha night was held. (I wish I had known about it then!) Looks like it was quite successful night.

Fortunately, there will be another one at the end of the month. I'll definitely have to go check it out :). I Here's an example of a very interesting presentation from Gary Chen in Tokyo the evolution of the design of his apartment.

photos : PechaKucha nigtht Ottawa

Art Chairs for Charity

2010-03-06T17:28:00.009-05:00

I recently found out about a really neat project by IKEA and OCRI: “Pull Up a Chair for Breakfast” Fundraiser Auction. The goal is to improve the ability of children in-need to learn by providing a nutritious breakfast in a safe, supervised environment. According to OCRI, approximately 10,000 children in 145 schools in the city begin each school day with a nutritious meal provided by the School Breakfast Program. The program provides funding for equipment, program monitors and food.

In order to raise money, several IKEA Stephan chairs have been hacked by various people and are currently up for auction until Sunday March 7th. The modified chairs (shown below) are also on display at the entrance of the IKEA Ottawa store until March 7th.

There are some really original ideas but personally the top 3 in terms of originality has to be:

1. Stefan the Man by Pierre I. Brunet, local artist
2. Ode to Mondrian by Charlotte P, Fatima S, Melissa B. and Julia T (students)
3. Calamari by Marlaina D & Kennedy B. (students)

Click here for larger photos.

We are One

You are What You Eat

Hotwheels

Where's the Doctor

Breakfast of Champions

Ode to Mondrian

Blooms

Beary Fun

Get in the Game

The Spirit of the Heart

Breakfast Bonanza

Hot Hits

Stefan the Man

Calamari

The Reader

B.O.B. - Big on Breakfast

The Paradox of Zenon

The Diva's Chair

Hope

Changes at EQ3

2010-03-04T02:15:00.005-05:00

I recently went to visit EQ3 in the Byward Market and was pleasantly surprised with the changes they've made since I was there last time. The current color scheme for the first floor uses a lot of red accents in various places which catches your eyes as you come in. I love the new red lamps above the cash counter. They moved the beds to the first floor and the brick wall in the back is exposed. There's a much nicer flow to the space and you can really see the neat architectural features of the building such as the hardwood, the brick wall on the first floor or the large windows on the second floor.

It's always neat to see stores constantly changing things around to keep things interesting. It allows customers to discover or rediscover items they would otherwise miss. I'm looking forward to see what they do on the third floor as they are still undergoing some changes.

A major step back for Ottawa

2010-02-26T23:18:00.005-05:00

Ottawa recently lost an outstanding modern furniture store. Roche Bobois is an internationally renowned, beautiful and inspiring furniture store with very unique pieces. Their stores can be found all over the world in almost 40 different countries! The one in Ottawa was in a great spot in the Byward Market with parking all around it and a great store frontage. Now there's no sign of its existence. It's too bad, because the Ottawa location was the best looking one in Canada. I can't help but wonder "What is wrong with Ottawa?" Anyone knows what happened? Whatever the reason, it's a real shame. I wonder who's coming next. They're are already construction workers in the building.

Deserted Roche Bobois location in Ottawa,ON

Roche Bobois in Calgary,AB

Roche Bobois in Laval, QC (newly opened)

Roche Bobois in Montreal,QC

Roche Bobois in Quebec,QC

Roche Bobois in Toronto,ON

Roche Bobois in Vancouver,BC

The Ottawa Home and Garden is going modern

2010-02-24T00:18:00.005-05:00

That's right! This year's show should be interesting as it will include a couple modern design elements amongst other things. Remember last year, I was talking about the good and the bad from my visit and how Bonneville did a great job with the presentation of their home? Well this year they are showcasing a modern bungalow : an adapted version of the Cameleon model (no garage).

I did get a sneak peak at the house and it's really nice. For the Ottawa show, it will be furnished by Home Furniture. I was surprised to see that they do have modern pieces when I visited their store. There isn't a lot of modern pieces on their website. In any case it should be interesting.

Stay tuned for more on the show as I have a bit of an insight this year :) And check out the Ottawa Home & Garden Show's website for more details.

source : Bonneville

Airport Design - Part 4

2010-02-16T20:00:00.001-05:00

DUBLIN AIRPORT

The Dublin Airport is reported to be the busiest airport in the republic of Ireland. There's a lot of neat design elements in this airport. I love the etched glass art. This international airport is currently undergoing a transformation to expand and modernize its facilities. So far, as you can see from the construction pictures and artist renderings below, the transformation is quite spectacular and very futuristic, using curved architecture. What I really like also is the fact that the actual construction resembles the renderings. The interior looks promising as well. I love the blue "box" contrasting with the orange furniture, orange accent wall and white walls.

AMSTERDAM AIRPORT SCHIPHOL

The design of the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is also amazing. One of the first design elements that greets you as you come in is a glass sliding door with two cute little characters kissing. It seems like there a lot of attention to detail in this design. Notice the ceiling with the round openings for the lights above the mechanical ramp.

I can't forget about the Privium Club lounge, also in the airport. The design is out of this world: Sleek, modern and futuristic. Now, THAT is a VIP lounge!

Source : Wikipedia | Flickr Members 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | Dublin Airport Authority | cafe naver

The Interiors Edition of OTTAWA Magazine is out!

2010-02-08T00:17:00.003-05:00

I'm really happy I was able to attend the launch party for Ottawa Magazine's Interiors 2010 last week. It was great to see so many people with an interest for art and design in the city and discover many great local talents and retail owners in Ottawa (I'll post about them soon). The magazine is packed with beautiful photos of modern homes and furniture pieces. I really believe that Ottawa is on it's way up in modern design! Stay tuned for more.

photos: MOOT

Ogilvy Lofts - Why not?

2010-02-02T19:38:00.000-05:00

If you're downtown a lot, you probably noticed this really neat building on 124-126 Rideau street. It's been sitting there lifeless forever. Every since we moved here, we've been looking at that building wondering who owns it? How can we can get our hands on it? It has such great potential! Well, I found out a couple months ago from Spacing Ottawa that it used to be an Ogilvy store. Founded by Charles Ogilvy, it used to be a "phenomenon". At the time, Ogilvy wanted to enhance the shopping experience and the store was designed with great attention to architectural details, lavish interiors and elaborate display windows. What happened?

The building is currently owned by Viking Rideau who, according to a documents from the city, submitted an application to demolish the building and expand the Rideau Centre. But since the building is considered part of Rideau Street's heritage and has been designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, I'm guessing that plan was refused. So nothing happened since 1992. Maybe they're waiting for the building to fall apart on its own... What a waste. If I owned this building, I'd turn it into a loft. It's not like if there are many hard lofts in Ottawa and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who would love to live in one. This building is perfect for a loft: It's in a great location, it has the right character and the history to go with it. The main floor could be used for a few little boutiques as well.

Ogilvy lofts could look a little like this great New York loft, shown below.

Photos : Toronto Lofts | The Mid-Century Modernist | Google street view

Airport Design - Part 3

2010-01-31T16:09:00.002-05:00

REYKJAVIK AIRPORT

The Reyjavik airport is a small domestic airport, only a five minutes walk from the city center. The design is very simple using an interesting combination of color: yellow and blue, which gives it a youthful feel. Since it's not the main international airport of Iceland, the design is not as elaborate as the Keflavik International Airport (A very nice airport). For example, I couldn't find any pictures showing art pieces in the airport.

OTTAWA MACDONALD-CARTIER INTERNATIONAL

The Ottawa airport has some great natural features. I particularly like the waterfall, the stone sculpture and the canoe. The pub is also interesting. I think these design elements give visitors a good glimpse at Canada's identity.

source : Flicker Members 1,2,3,4,5, 6, 7 | Wikipedia

New M2JL STUDIO Website

2010-01-25T10:23:00.003-05:00

The new and improved M2JL STUDIO website is finally online! Browse the site to discover various residential and commercial projects, read some comments from clients and learn about the new design and decoration services offered.

Airport Design - Part 2

2010-01-24T17:08:00.009-05:00

OSLO AIRPORT GARDERMOEN

The Oslo Airport is the main domestic hub and international airport for Norway. There's quite a bit of wood used in the design of the building, which gives it a very eco-friendly feel. A lot of care and attention was put in the details of the airport and the way the it interacts with the public.

Art can be found in and around the airport. The main art on the land side of the airport, Alexis, consists of six steel sculptures in stainless steel created by Per Inge Bjørlo. Carin Wessel used 30,000 metres (98,000 ft) of thread to make the impression of clouds and webs, named Ad Astra (show above). Anna Karin Rynander and Per-Olof Sandberg cooperated in making the Marathon Dancers, located in the baggage claim area, a set of two electronic boards that show a dancing person, and Sound Refreshment Station (six are located in the departure areas), which are sound "showers" that make refreshing sounds when a person is immediately under them. Sidsel Westbø has etched the glass walls. Vebjørn Sand built a 14-metre (46 ft) statue named the Kepler Star.

CANBERRA AIRPORT

Canberra Airport serves the capital. Since it's not a major airport it was difficult to find pictures. Nevertheless, the exterior is simple and bright and the interior seems rather dark but modern. The airport also includes a large mall, Brand Depot.

2010-01-31 UPDATE : I recently was informed by a representative of the Canbberra Airport that it is currently undergoing major renovations to build a bigger and better terminal. I got a hold of some renderings for the future airport, shown below. It looks like it's going to be brighter and more colorful. It will be interesting to see the final results.

source: wikipedia | Flickr members 1, 2, 3 | Australian Airport Guide | The Canberra Times | Canberra Airport Photo Album

Airport Design - Part 1

2010-01-20T21:19:00.004-05:00

Madrid airport (left), Frankfurt airport (right)

The airport very often gives the first impression of country to tourists. It's interesting to see how the look and organization of an airport speaks volumes for the culture of a country. During our trip last summer, we noticed quite a bit of difference between the airports in Ottawa, Frankfurt, Madrid and Ibiza and found that there was a link between the look of the airport and the way locals behaved. The choice of colors, pieces of furniture and signage all had a flavor of the country and the city (there was a noticeable difference between Madrid and Ibiza). So how do the capitals of the top 10 countries compare when it comes to the design of their airports?

I started by looking at the logos for each of the airports: What they use to represent themselves on paper. It's interesting to see that blue is the most popular color. Most cities chose a symbol that represented a plane or the movement of a plane. My favorite one is the logo for the airport in Paris : the Eiffel tower with wings. It's very creative and not as serious as the others. It has a very clear identity. you can't use it anywhere else.

Logos for Oslo Airport, Canberra Airport, Reykjavík Airport, Ottawa/McDonald Cartier International Airport, Dublin Airport, Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, Paris Charles-de-Gaule Airport, Bern Belp Airport, Haneda Airport

Next, we'll take a look at some design elements in each of the airports.

source : MOOT | Wikipedia

Sparks Street could use a little bit of Mary's help

2010-01-16T14:31:00.001-05:00

Mary Portas (photo:Optomen)

I'm a big fan of Mary Queen of Shops, a British television show where Mary Portas, renown retail adviser and host of the show, helps small struggling independent shop owners become more successful. Whenever I walk on Sparks Street I can't help but think that it could use that kind of help. Currently, it's rather depressing. There's nothing exciting about it. It's just there.

Examples of shops on Sparks Street (photo: MOOT)
Sparks Street is another location in Ottawa that has a lot of potential, a great location and great architecture. It could and should become an international landmark but it needs a theme, a focus, something like quirky little independent shops showcasing talented Canadians designs from various parts of the country, or maybe just more visually attractive shops that make better use of their frontage like Happy Pills in Barcelona.

Happy Pills Candy Shop in Barcelona (photos: Brandon blog | Hiroko Kitchen )

MOOT Flickr Pool : Light House

2010-01-10T20:25:00.005-05:00

I love this house submitted on MOOT's Flickr Pool. It's modern and unique! Located in Rockcliffe, Light House was designed by LineBox Studio.

The interior is also stunning. The house also features a roof top terrace and judging by the floor plans and more pictures here, it looks like a great home to live and entertain in.

I found a modern eco friendly government building in Ottawa!

2010-01-07T19:38:00.009-05:00

Yes, it's true! It is the Rideau Valley Conservation Centre (RVCC). Named Ottawa's most environmentally-friendly building, RVCC is the headquarters of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, a watershed-based environmental organization aiming to protect water resources from contamination and misuse.

This 2,000 m² government office building was designed by Christopher Simmonds of Christopher Simmonds Architect Inc and received the CaGBC LEED Gold Certification. Eco friendly characteristics include low VOC paints and adhesives throughout, grey and black water treatment systems reducing water consumption by 80%, passive heating, plenty of natural daylight in the offices, heat recovery units and high efficiency boilers. The energy consumption was also reduced by 42% compared to the Model National Energy Code for Buildings.

Another great aspect of this building is that it's opened to the public. It's also a visitor centre for the Beryl Gaffney Park. In fact, the public atrium, meeting and boardrooms are available for community meetings and private functions. Can you imagine hosting a cocktail party in this place? It's nice to see that not all government buildings in Ottawa are boring. This one is quite nice and modern. I'll definitely have to go visit at some point.

source : City of Ottawa | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | Canadian Green Building Council | Christopher Simmonds Architect | SabMag | Peter Fritz Photographer

Design in the world's capitals

2010-01-03T20:48:00.009-05:00

There is no question that Canada is one of the best places to live in. In fact, based on a 2009 Report on the Human Development Index, we ranked fourth highest in quality of life. It made me wonder, how do we compare to the top 10 countries in the world? Better yet, how do the capitals from each of these top 10 countries compare in terms of architecture and design? Throughout the course of the year, along with the usual blog posts, I'll show you what I find. But first, let's start with the graphic representation of each of them, i.e. their seals, coat-of-arms and symbols.

It's interesting to see the various design principles that were used in each and what was chosen to represent each city: modern vs traditional, simple vs detailed, monochromatic vs colorful. The designs for Canberra, Ottawa, Dublin, Amsterdam, and Paris have a very traditional and detailed look to them. For Oslo, Stockholm and Bern, their designs are slightly modernized while the design for Reykjavik and Tokyo are very modern and simple. It will be interesting to see what each city has to offer.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T16:56:00.005-05:00

New year's eve party at Lago

I hope you had a great new year's eve and wish you a happy and prosperous new year. Last year was year of discoveries for me. I discovered a new city (still have a lot to discover), new blogs, new ideas, new talents, new places, new groups, etc. I met a lot of great people both online and offline, which really eased our transition from Montreal, and I'd like to take the time to thank some fellow bloggers for their kind words, mentions and support, particularly:

- Maria Cook from Designing Ottawa
- Kelly from Design Ties
- Katharine from Girl About O-town
- David Reevely from Greater Ottawa
- The Ottawa Humane Society from Inside the OHS
- Andrew Reeves from LineBox Studio and Mini House
- Marcia B. from Marcia B.
- Matt Richling from Ottawa Real Estate Blog
- G from Ottawa Start
- Evan Thornton from Spacing Ottawa
- Eric Darwin from West Side Action
- Janis from White Alder [home]

I'd also like to acknowledge all the MOOT followers, readers and commentators which are an essential part of the growth of this blog, as well as the members of MOOT's flickr group. I'm looking forward to the good things the new year will bring. There's a lot of projects in the works for M2JL STUDIO and Modern Ottawa. Here's to more stimulating conversations online, more discoveries and more modern projects in Ottawa.

Fishing for Trees in the Ottawa River

2009-12-29T21:25:00.006-05:00

During one of my visits to Custom Home Interiors, I learned something rather interesting from one of the products they carry: wood floors planks from Logs End. This Ottawa-based company "fishes" logs from the Ottawa river, processes and distributes them in the form of wood floors and wood paneling amongst other things. Ottawa used to be "one of the mightiest logging rivers in the world" and an estimated 14 billion logs floated down the rivers to be distributed in Ottawa, Quebec and even Europe. 2 to 5% of these logs were "lost" in the river at the time. Now these "lost" logs, preserved over the years by the cold water, the lack of natural light and lack of oxygen at the bottom of the river, they are being recovered to be sold.

This is a very eco friendly way to obtain wood from very old trees. They simply fish them out of the river. There are many available wood species based on what was found. It's really like a treasure hunt. Check out the following video for more.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the MOOT readers out there!

2009-12-23T01:53:00.006-05:00

I recently took this picture in the lobby of Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau. The design and the scale of the lobby is very impressive and make a great first impression. I think the glass chandeliers are by ~~Robert Kaindl (not sure)~~ Dale Chihuly (Thanks "Anonymous"!). They definitely make a statement.

Holiday Decoration ideas at the St-Laurent Mall

2009-12-17T01:58:00.006-05:00

The folks at the St-Laurent Mall went beyond the generic holiday decor for a mall and created a neat lounge for shoppers to have their gifts wrapped or just to take a break. There are quite a few vignettes showcasing various arrangements that you might want to try at home. I like the use of ornaments in the vase and the gift boxes behind the loveseat. I think it's a great idea and a great initiative.

If you're looking for more ideas on how to decorate your space for the holidays, check out the latest post on M2JL STUDIO Blog and come back often for more inspiration boards.