Airport Design - Part 3

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

1. Oslo (Norway) | 2. Canberra (Australia) | 3. Reykjavík (Iceland) | 4. Ottawa (Canada) | 5. Dublin (Ireland) | 6. Amsterdam (Netherlands) | 7. Stockholm (Sweden) | 8. Paris (France) | 9. Bern (Switzeland) | 10.Tokyo (Japan)


source : MOOT | Wikipedia | Civic Heraldy |

Happy New Year!

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.