THE NEW LANSDOWNE : PROBLEM SOLVING - PART 3

 When it comes to the current plans of the Aberdeen Pavilion in the New Lansdowne, the design documents state that it will be a "major visual and programmatic amenity that will enhance the imageability of the entire redevelopment site" and the plan is also to keep it as a "multi-purpose, all-season, public exhibit hall and meeting space". Based on this, I see two main problems that should to be addressed in order for the designers to achieve their goal :

1. There's not enough visual focus on the Aberdeen Pavillion 
2. The Aberdeen Pavillion has no clearly defined function or identity

Making the Aberdeen Pavilion the focal point

One of the most identifiable buildings in Lansdowne Park is the Aberdeen Pavilion. It's the first image that comes to mind when you think of the area, so much so that it's now part of the New Lansdowne logo. Therefore it's only natural to want to preserve the view of the building from Bank Street. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.  

If you take a closer look at the latest elevations, the new buildings have been positioned in such a way that a good portion of the Aberdeen building will be hidden and lost behind. Why not give the building a little more breathing space by widening the road and keeping the area symmetrical? It shouldn't be too hard to do and would make a big difference. Attention to details like this improves the quality of  the design.

Also, notice how little space there is for cars and much space they are taking at the same time. There's one parking lane and one traffic lane on each side. Considering the number of retail stores that are expected to be there, it would most likely always look like this and take away from the design of the space. A better solution would be to move the Aberdeen Way underground and create an underpass to keep the area in front of the building for pedestrians, terraces and bikes. There would be an opportunity to widen the sidewalk as well and keep them equal on both side of the building.

The Aberdeen Market : Giving the Pavilion a Clear Purpose 

In order for the Aberdeen Pavilion to take centre stage, it needs an identity, a clear purpose for being there. Otherwise it won't be much different that what it already is : a large under-appreciated open space, most likely to be hidden behind old burgundy chairs and flimsy black curtains.

The Arberdeen Pavilion has great architectural features. It'a a large clear span steel frame with pressed metal exterior cladding. The interior space has a great tall ceiling and lots of windows letting in a great amount of natural light. This space would be perfect for a permanent market.

So what we need there is not only a permanent farmer's market, but a culinary destination, much like the San Miguel Market in Madrid, Spain. A place where you can not only buy fresh local food, but you can also eat freshly prepared dishes, try local wine and beers too. It should be a place where locals and tourists can gather and experience food and enjoy life.

Check out the video below of the San Miguel Market to give you a better idea.

The Aberdeen Market could also be a place where chefs from around the world come and compete to create dishes based on local ingredients. Imagine the good this would do for the city. Twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, we bring top chefs from around the world to compete and prepare creative dishes based on local food. we could create two annual festivals around this. I think such a function would be a lot more successful that a simple multi-purpose building. 

Souce : Wikipedia | Niagara Cooks | Ciao Chow (flickr) | Home and Design Show (flickr) | Mercado De San Miguel | Madrid.com | 

Industrial Design Exhibition

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

Ottawa on Slow Home

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.

A cleaning station for dogs

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

Why not an ibus stop in Ottawa?

Although Ottawa is most probably far from being ready to adopt this caliber of design in the city (still I keep hoping for a miracle), it would be neat to have bus stops like the new ones that will be installed in Florence, Italy next year. Called EyeStops and designed by the SENSEable City Lab of MIT, this 21st century concept bus stop interacts with passengers the same way an iphone can.


The solar-powered booths will be outfitted with touchscreen displays that will show necessary information such as bus schedules and the shortest route for a certain destination. People will also be able browse the web, check the air quality, see the exact location of their desired bus, interact with a mobile device and use the booth as a community message board to post announcements and ads using the next generation of epaper.



A bus pole version of the EyeStop with similar mapping, info, and communication tools will also be introduced in 2010. But wait, there’s more! It glows brighter as the next bus nears the stop to signal pedestrians from afar. How cool is that?



About 200 bus shelters and 1,000 bus poles are expected to be installed. What I love about these, besides the fact that they are awesome, is that they are really in tune with the times and how people live today in the 21st century. Of course, those opposed to change will not like this, but it's only a matter of time before items such as these become common practice.

photos: SENSEable City Lab of MIT

Great bench options for Ottawa

I'm not sure what's going on with Ottawa's Integrated Street Furniture Program. That section of their website doesn't seem to have been updated for a while. (Perhaps most of the efforts are being concentrated on Lansdowne?) Technically contracts should be awarded by now and the installation should start in July 2011. In the mean time I found some interesting bench options for Ottawa because they really need an update!

Benches along the Rideau River

Imagine having Tititkaka benched (design by by Naoto Fukasawa for B & B Italia) along the Rideau river with a redesigned landscape.

Or a series of Valencia benches (designed by Jose Gandia and Pablo Girones for Gandia Blasco) all along Sparks street. They're a lot sexier than the ones that are there right now. But of course you can't change the benches without changing the whole street (new stores, new façade, new vibe, etc.). It's looking old and tired right now.

Benches on Spark Street

Some portions of Sparks street are the perfect location for Astral benches designed by Per Borre. I love how they wrap around and give more of an opportunity for people to talk which is very fitting for Ottawa people because from my own experience , people are very much into talking to strangers just cause. So why not have furniture that fits the personality of the population.

source : StylePark

FixMyStreet Canada helping make Ottawa a better place

I recently discovered the OpenOttawa blog from Chris who created a site to help make Ottawa a better city.

The idea behind OpenOttawa.org is that there’s lots of ways for people to help out in [their] community doing things like Spring Cleaning the Capital, or planting trees, but there’s no easy way for the code monkeys to give back. The goal of OpenOttawa.org is to fill this void by providing web applications and online services to the betterment of the citizens of Ottawa. Much like the inspiration for OpenOttawa.org, the UK’s mySociety.org, OpenOttawa.org has two missions. The first is to be a volunteer project which builds websites that gives people simple, tangible benefits in the civic and community aspects of their lives. The second is to teach the public and voluntary sectors, through demonstration, how to most efficiently use the internet to improve lives.

Ottawa is now part of FixMyStreet where anyone can report problems that need fixing around the city and check out what's been fixed. There's a pretty neat map that shows where something needs to be fixed. Right now graffiti are the most popular problem. I'm definitely going to add to it and probably post my findings on MOOT as well. There's also another interesting site listing data-sets people would like to see the City provide. You can sign up and vote for certain data to be available to the public such as "Politician: Voting records","Road/Street closings/conditions","Realtime pollution data" or adding some of your own. I think this is a really great initiative. The best way to make positive changes is to actually doing something. Make sure you contribute to making your city a better place.

Diamond in the rough: Mercury Lounge

I love to study the design of various public spaces, checking out the dos and don'ts of design. I like to evaluate how spaces are designed, decorated and arranged, study the type material used and I think a lot about what works, what doesn't work and how things could be improved. I can't help it, I'm a problem solver at heart.

It's even more interesting in Ottawa, because buildings are constructed differently and look different, so there's a lot to take in. One things that I noticed in public spaces is that most of the time, public washrooms are in the basement. It's not quite like that in Montreal. Another things is that it seems sometimes that things are done half way, as if it was too much of an effort to completely improve the space so people just gave up. I might be wrong, but it's the impression that I get.

Take the entrance of Mercury Lounge for example. I went there a little while ago and I noticed the chandelier on our way out. I thought it was a rather interesting light fixture. It doesn't really match the rest of the space, but kudos for trying something different... then I noticed how it was all put together....

Aside from the fact that the wires are loosely attached to the ceiling...

The light fixture is not wired properly! Instead of rewiring the fixture, an adapter was screwed in the socket and a Christmas light wire has been plugged onto the socket adapter and it looks like the Christmas lights are holding the chandelier in some sort of knot. Is that even legal? Obviously it's not a very well done job.

It's too bad, because the place has a lot of potential. It's kind of like a diamond in the rough. First thing I would do would be to fix the wiring and take away the ladder (why is there a ladder at the entrance?). I'd probably cover up the brick wall. The space has a Victorian feel to it and the brick wall takes away from it. I would continue along those line and use a more substantial light fixture that would really make an impression as people enter the place. Something along the lines of the chandeliers used in the following picture. Wouldn't that be better?