Great party at ARC The Hotel

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

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

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

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