Happy Holidays from MOOT

Ottawa welcomes the biggest IKEA in Canada

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

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

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

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

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)

[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

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