DOWNGRADING THE OTTAWA INFO CENTRE

Last year, instead of figuring out a way to fund some much needed renovations for the only info centre in Ottawa, the NCC decided to close its doors and relocate it inside the World Exchange Plaza. So now instead of crossing the street from the Parliament (Ottawa's main international landmark) to find out more about what the city has to offer, tourists will have to find an old 1970's style booth, tucked away in a low traffic business mall. 

 

This is now the first impression Ottawa is giving its tourists: 

Welcome-to-our-old-uninspiring-city-there's-not-much-to-see-or-do-and-our-idea-of-cutting-edge-technology-is-a-desktop. 

Instead of an fun and engaging 3-D circular map, you get pamphlets and one computer. 

Yes, the previous info centre needed some serious renovations, but still it was a lot better. The 3-D map, was a great concept and the location could not have been more perfect. According to the NCC the renovations in Ottawa would have cost $5,000,000 and that was too much for them. (I'm curious : How much did the Horizon 2067 Campaign cost so far?). What exactly were they planning to do with  $5 million? Why didn't they reduce their renovation budget? Why couldn't they renovate it in phases? 

NYC did it for about 1/3 of the NCC's budget!

Meanwhile in New York city, the leaders city didn't back away from a renovation and had the common sense to hire professionals to redesign and renovate their information centre. This info centre in NYC only cost $1,800,000. I doubt the NCC was planning something as avant-garde as this for $5,000,000. How come a similar renovation would cost almost 3 times more in Ottawa?  

 

This is the first impression New York is giving its tourists: 

Welcome-to-a-fun-and-attractive-vibrant-city-with-lots-to-do-and-discover-at-the-cutting-edge-of-technology. 

The design firm, WXY Studio, did an excellent job. You can find out more about their concept here.

 

I really don't understand why it's so difficult for the NCC to fulfill its main goal, which is "to ensure that Canada’s Capital Region is a source of national pride and significance." Is that what the NCC is really doing? It seems like they're working in the opposite direction of their own goals. I don't understand why this is accepted. I really wish there were more people that cared a little more about this city to actively contribute to its growth and evolution and let it live up to its potential. And there's so much untapped potential in this city.  

Photos : MOOT | alavinge.net |  Gothamist | WXY studio | Detail.de | 

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP SAVE THIS BUILDING FROM THE NCC

I recently learned from an article on Open File Ottawa, that there's this beautiful modern building, formally known as the Canada and the World Pavilion, that the NCC has been neglecting for the past couple years. At approximately $4 million dollars over budget, this glass building overlooking the Ottawa Rideau Falls was constructed in 2001. According to an article on the the NCC Watch, the intent for the building was for it to be a forum where visitors can see and appreciate the global achievements of Canadians in diplomacy, peacekeeping, aid, science, technology, art and sport. Also, the then chairman said that the pavilion would fill a gap in tourists' experience of Ottawa. 

While I like the idea, I would say from the picture below of the "better days" of the pavilion, they clearly didn't know what they were doing, starting with the presentation of the building. Who would cover a piece of art with stretched fabric like this? 

 

But that's nothing compared to the "business plan". Apparently the operating budget was $500,000 per year, admission was free and the objective was to attract 120,000 visitors per year. Mind you, the pavilion was only opened during the summer. As a entrepreneur, I cringed when I read this. What did they expect would come out of such a plan?

So essentially, they opened their doors in 2001, and just when the number of visitors reached their target, they closed their doors. The building was left mostly vacant since. Makes sense?

Seven years later, the NCC is putting the building for rent. They are now looking for a special tenant.  According to an article in the Ottawa Citizen, the lease would cost upwards of $254,000 per year, not including operating costs and taxes. To make things even more difficult, the tenant, which I'm assuming would like to make a profit as all businesses do,  is expected to support a national purpose and be accessible to the public. Now, what kind of business would fit this restrictive criteria and at the same time preserve the architecture ? 

I thought long and hard about it, and I think I came up with a good solution. It seems like most people like the idea of a museum. In fact I think the original idea of celebrating Canada's contribution is a good one, just poorly executed. What I would suggest is to open our very own branch of Madame Tussauds museum, featuring Canadian celebrities? The first one in Canada! 

 I'm assuming such a museum is successful by the simple fact that this model has been repeated in several cities around the world. There are currently 4 in the US, 5 in Europe, 3 in Asia and 1 in Australia.  There are a lot of successful canadians who already have their wax figures in the United States, such as Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, Jim Carrey and William Shatner. Why not have the first Canadian version one in Ottawa?

How can we make it fit NCC's criteria? We focus only on Canadians and add more wax figures from our large pool of Canadian celebrities. Seriously, there's a lot to choose from.  Off the top of my head I can think of Keanu Reeves, Pamela Anderson, Keifer Sutherland, Drake, Deadmau5, Mike Myers, Rachel McAdams, Kardinal Offishall, Sandra Oh, Michael J Fox, Donald Sutherland, Seth Rogan, Russel Peters, etc. It's not that hard! We could also add our own Prime ministers to the list. What a fun and effective way to fill a gap in tourists' experience of Ottawa both for locals and tourists from around the world!

Now I'm considering looking for someone or a group of people to make this happen. So if you, or anyone you know fits the bill, have them contact me. If there's a way to take the NCC out of this deal completely, it's even better. We can't let the NCC ruin yet another gem in the city. In fact, you can find a long list of failures on the NCC Watch website.


The building has three levels and is built into a cliff facing the Ottawa River. It features two floors of open spaces with windows on three sides overlooking the river and a lower level built into the cliff. I cringe when I see so much potential wasted. Hard earned taxpayers money going to waste. This is unacceptable.

I even put together an initial conservative proposal. This is based on the data I was able to find so far. The MoOt plan is this : 

1. Keep it open year round: There's no reason I can think of that would justify closing a museum in the winter. Since NCC was able to bring it 125,000 visitors while opened only in the summer. We could conservatively expect to double the number of visitors if we keep the place open year-round 
2. Make it profitable: First, there should be an admission fee, say on average $30,00 per person. This should bring in minimum $7.2 million dollars a year. Second, there should be things visitors could purchase as a souvenir such as a wax molding of your hand (like it Las Vegas) and  merchandises. This should significantly increase revenues. 
3. Stay current and interesting : Use a clever marketing campaign to attract visitors, make the museum interactive and stay up to date with technologies. Add value to the visits with events such as appearances from celebrities, maybe even presentation sessions. Add new wax figures on a regular basis as well. It takes from six months to a year to complete a figure at a cost of $150,000 - $250,000. It looks feasible to me. 

From what I've seen in the four years I've been living in this city, is that if you want to make things happen in Ottawa, you have to do it yourself. I'm on board, but I can't do this alone. So if I can find the proper serious partners to make this happen, I will. So please spread the word. The deadline for proposals is April 30, 2012. 

Source : KatLevPhoto | Michael Afar | Shane Zurbrigg | NCC Watch | Wikipedia | Open File Ottawa | NCC Watch | Ottawa Citizen

New Exhibition Centre in Ottawa

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

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 |

Do you think Lansdowne Park is moving too slow?

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

A major step back for Ottawa

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

EcoCite is still marching on

Some of you may already know that Eco Cité on the Canal, a "new" green building condo project in the city, has been having some financial and time management issues (1,2). I remember viewing their site for the first time when I was still in Montreal, a couple years ago, and being very impressed at what they were offering... I wanted a unit.



Located right in front of Lansdowne Park, this green building project is designed to meet LEED standards with elements such as a geothermal heat pump system, a heat recovery unit, radiant floors, bamboo floors, water saving fixtures, and many other very appealing features.



This is certainly not the first green condo project in Canada, nor the first green building by Écocité Developments. Habitat 1, was successfully built in Montreal in 2003. I couldn't find any details on why this project hasn't gone smoothly, but I bet that the painfully slow construction has something to do with the money issues.

Nevertheless, they are still marching on to get the project done. And by the look of their construction update on their website (last updated in October) it should be ready soon. At least I hope so for the buyers. They must be very anxious to get in. The facade looks pretty much done. There are also pictures from inside. Who knows, maybe they'll be in before Christmas. I should go take a look at some point.





Hopefully it's worth the wait. From the pictures on their site, it looks like they've been paying attention to the details. Perhaps the wait will be compensated by the quality of the construction and the fact that they seem to still be working on making sure that the green features are actually implemented, like balcony gardens which will provide some greenery for the occupants but help retain storm water.



photos: Écocité Developments | Google map

Bixi bikes are alive and well in Montreal. Ottawa? Not so much... not yet

On a recent short trip to Montreal, I got to see that the Bixi bike system seems to be working just fine. In fact I saw many people on St-Laurent street well into the night (past midnight), riding the city bikes downtown. Later that evening, I even saw a city truck loaded with bikes, bringing them back to empty stations.

Maria Cook from Designing Ottawa wrote that Ottawa had a trial run for a short while for a feasibility study and then took them away. I'm not much of a cyclist, but I think a program like this has Ottawa citizens written all over it. This little city is perfect for Bixies. In any case, Montrealers and tourists are enjoying bicycle rides in the city. There are even maps to let people know where the Bixi stations are and they also have a well organized website with all the information you need.

So while Ottawa is studying the matter, the city of Montreal already has contracts to export their bikes to London (England) and Boston.

Oh and that great building in the background? That's the UQAM, one of Montreal's university. I just love the design of that building.