WANNA BUILD A GREAT NEIGHBORHOOD? IKEA WILL SHOW YOU HOW

Here's an inspiring example of how non-governmental organizations can get things done in a city. Instead of waiting years for the city to update a derelict neighborhood, IKEA recently purchased over 1.1 million square feet of land (26 acres) in East London, with the intention to not only develop the area, but also to create a new and improved neighborhood. The project is Strand East.

The plan for Strand East is to completely transform the neglected area into a vibrant community made to live, work and play. It's an ambitious project created with the users in mind.  This goes way beyond building and selling real estate. 

This is what the area looked like before they got their hands on it.

This is what they are planning to do with the land. 

This is an example of how quickly things can get done. The project is already underway with the tower and the first restaurant currently under construction. The restaurant is set to open in July of this year. There are a lot of interesting features they plan to add to this new neighborhood that many other cities can learn from, including Ottawa. Things like water taxis. Imagine water taxis on the ottawa river during the summer.

What I like the most about their vision (aside from the fact that things are getting done) is that they are making their concept centered around the community, the people that will actually use the space. Check out the little presentation video below about what makes a place a great place. This is what we should keep in mind when developing the city.

If I could, I would emulate what IKEA is doing here, in certain areas of the city, starting with the Sparks Street!  

Source : Strand East on Facebook | Strand East |  Fastcoexist | Globe and Mail | Strand East | 

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 | 

THE NEW LANSDOWNE : PROBLEM SOLVING - PART 2

Let's take a look at the Aberdeen Square, which is located right beside the Aberdeen Pavilion. The design brief describes it as "a formal, paved plaza graced by the full north facade of the Aberdeen Pavilion. Its larger, contiguous space accommodates opportunities throughout the year, including the Farmers’ Market". 

What do you think of this location for the Farmers Market? I don't like it at all. There's nothing innovative or original about it at all. In fact, next to a newly built area, this will look cheap.  It's just a bunch of tents on a parking lot.

There's also an issue with the placement of the fountain. Unfortunately vendors typically tend to throw dirty water on the street in the Byward Market. I doubt it will be different in Lansdowne. What will most likely end up happening is that the fountain will get dirty or clogged. Then it won't be functional anymore and it will end up as a pit with random garbage in it. In the summer, you'll get a sea of random tents taking over the lot and in the winter it will be empty. 

There is a better solution. Why not build a permanent open air structure like the Convington Farmers Market in Virginia. It was designed and built by students and two teachers from the Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design. Their budget was only $150,000.00 and they made it happen. The project was awarded a 2011 Design Excellence Award from the Virginia Society AIA. How awesome is this!

References : Dezeen | City of Ottawa | Flickr | Local Tourist Ottawa 

THE NEW LANSDOWNE : PROBLEM SOLVING - PART 1

Although the 3D flyby animation of the future Lansdowne was interesting, I didn't find it particularly informative. By the end of the video, I still had many unanswered questions: "How is this going to work?", "Is this the best use of space?", "What about traffic?", etc. So I did a bit of research and found a couple preliminary plans and documents with a bit more information.

Let's just say there's room for improvement. The design for the New Lansdowne may not be the most innovative or inspiring design I've seen, but  that doesn't mean it will be a total flop. It just needs some serious tweaking to become a gem in the city. So let's take a closer look at the proposed layout for the new Lansdowne.

Lansdowne Park is currently an eyesore. It hasn't been properly maintained over the years and it shows (even its website!). One major issue with the current site is that it's essentially a huge grey asphalt desert, sprinkled with a couple tired buildings, devoid of any sorts of greenery or beauty. In other words, it's depressing and ugly. 

To solve this problem, the designers created 17 areas, identified in the picture above. When we compared it to the current layout , we can see that some of the asphalt areas will be replaced with greenery and the rest with buildings. Keep in mind that the light green areas shown above are still going to be roads.

So if you highlight them in red, you get a better idea of what the place will look like below.



It looks like the designers are proposing stone covered streets for a large portion of the site : a really really bad idea in Ottawa. It might work in other cities but not in Ottawa because this type of road needs a lot of proper maintenance and from what I've seen from the city's history of road maintenance, this is just asking for trouble. It's not something that the city is currently capable of handling properly. Just look at Sparks Street. Remember my post from 2009? It still has not be repaired, almost three years later. And this is only a pedestrian Street. Imagine how much worst it would be for a road after a year of multiple cars, trucks and buses. It wouldn't take too long before it's patched up with ugly asphalt above the stone covered road just like on Sparks street. It's a waste of money.




So why not opt for something better? Something that requires little to no maintenance, that can handle heavy traffic, snow removal trucks and salt, and that can relatively easily and inexpensively be repaired or replaced? What can be done instead without resorting to the typical grey asphalt road? Colored asphalt? It's simple and it works! It's most likely less expensive than stone covered roads, easier to maintain and easier to repair. It could even be green to go with the theme. Can someone pass this one to the design team?

Photos : City of Ottawa | Go Green | Ocean Power

IMAGINE THIS ON SPARKS STREET

There is no question that Sparks Street needs a major makeover and new life injected back into it. What better way to jump start its makeover with a spectacular annual outdoor light exhibit during the holidays and Winterlude? Who would not want to go see something like this? It would be an awesome tourist attraction and it would help the businesses on that street as well. 

This beautiful light artwork was created by a local business called Luminaire de Cagna, one of the participants to the second edition of the Festival of Lights Ghent in Belgium. It's a free four-day show where various groups create an outdoor light exhibit for people to enjoy in the city. This particular project was made out of wood structures covered with 55,000 LED lights. And because it was made using LED lights, it only consumed 20 kWh of energy. So the electrical bill for something like this would not be exorbitant. In fact, it would probably pay for itself with the business such an event would bring in. 

Wouldn't you love to see something like this every year in Ottawa? This is the type of project that we (citizens and local businesses) could do on our own. We don't need to wait for the city to organize this. All we need is a couple of creative and driven individuals. Wouldn't you love to be part of something like this?  I certainly would.

Big thanks to Charles for bringing this to my attention on facebook and his great idea on how this project would be very fitting on Spark Street. Check out photos of others exhibits on the Festival of Lights Ghent's website . 

Lichtfestival Gent 2012 from Lieven Vanoverbeke on Vimeo.

Photos : The Cool Hunter | Festival of Lights Ghent

THE NEW LANSDOWNE

In case you missed it, yesterday Open File posted a 3D flyover animation about the new design for  Lansdowne. First of all, it's MUCH better than what we have right now. There are some great design elements. I particularly like the terraces near the restaurants. Some parts remind me of the Byward Market, which is too bad because it would have been nice to see something different, more original. And it looks like the bicycles will have to share the road with cars near the stores. It would have been nice to have a dedicated bike lane instead. Who knows, maybe that could change last minute. Nevertheless, I think this it's what Lansdowne needs, despite what some naysayers may say. 

I see this as a lifestyle upgrade (as long as it's done right). The stadium would be awesome for open air concerts in the summer. Imagine Deadmau5, on a summer night with the stadium full of people and a cool light show. This would also be a great place for more events during Canada Day. Think of all the new possibilities. Now imagine if there was a metro that would bring you right in the middle of all this so you wouldn't have to use your car to get there ;) 

Let's hope this starts soon. This project is way overdue. 

Video : Untitled from OpenFile on Vimeo

A PLAYFUL TRAFFIC LIGHT

Designer Li Ming Hsing came up with a really interesting concept to keep pedestrians occupied while waiting for their light to turn green. Instead of a boring red hand and a countdown, you see an animated figure instructing pedestrian to do various stretches and watching on both sides before crossing.

Wouldn't that be neat to have something like this somewhere in the city? Imagine the smile on people's faces when they see a group of people on the corner of the street performing yoga poses, tai chi poses or dance moves. There's so much that could be done do with this! Check out the whole sequence in the video below. 

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

Horizon 2067 : A sign for change?

About a month ago, I mentioned that the NCC was also interested in knowing what citizens would like in Ottawa and that they were starting a new project, Horizon 2067, to that effect. Today the group held their first event about the future of the Nation's Capital at the Ottawa Convention Centre. I attended the presentation entitled "Creating a more representative and vibrant capital" to see what was it was all about,  and thought I'd share my findings with you.

Upon my arrival, I was surprised to see what looked like a big media production. Literally: Lights, Camera , Action! Lots of spotlights in the front for the speakers and other guests, cameras in front and in the back, tables reserved for the medias, and posters in the back with NCC staff describing the seven challenges NCC would like to take on over the next years. In fact, Rogers TV was also there and they will be showcasing this event on TV this Sunday. There were quite a few people present, but I can't say how many were members of the public and how many were NCC staff.





For the opening speeches, Marie Lemay, CEO of the NCC, talked about what they have done in the past and the former minister of foreign affairs, Lawrence Cannon, talked about some of his observations while traveling in Asia and made some comparisons with Ottawa.  The moderator for this event was Rebecca Makonnen, current TV and Radio host for Radio-Canada.


The panel consisted of  George Hazel (chairman of MRC McLean Hazel Ltd), Florence K (artist, signer-songwriter), Stephen Lewis (professor at Ryerson University) and Richard Florida (senior editor of The Atlantic and professor at the University of Toronto). The panelists had interesting views and ideas for Ottawa. They each did a short presentation and then they had a discussion between them moderated by Makonnen.  The discussion almost turned into a left wing vs right wing political debate between Lewis and Florida. Good thing there was a moderator.


Here are some of the great ideas I noted from the panelists during their presentation:

From George Hazel's presentation :

• NCC getting the opinion of the public was a great initiative to help Ottawa grow. In fact a similar exercise was conducted in Australia in the 80s and had a great turn out from it. What stuck in my mind was the fact that Australia did this 30 years ago! That's how behind we are. Never mind the fact that the plans are for 2067. But at least it's a start. 
• "Cities are about people and that it's people that make a city work." So what people want and need should be taken under consideration when aiming to build a better city. 
• It is important to maximize the number of parks, community centers and businesses and minimize number of large roads and parking spaces. This promotes more interaction between people, makes for a better community and a more attractive city. 
• The canal and the river are underutilized assets. Most cities around the world would love to have such great features. 
• There should be more use of technology in the city like and like an app for smartphones to find out about the next bus schedule, dynamic parking like in San Francisco, etc.
• The bus system should be the same in Ottawa and Gatineau to the people riding them. In London, the buses are run by various companies but they all look the same to the public. 
• Don't underestimate the power of public chairs. Chairs invite people who are tired to take a break, take in the scenery and stay in the city. If they are tired and they are no places to sit and rest, they'll just go home. 

From Florence K's presentation :

• Attractions such as concert halls and museums are too far apart from one another, which makes it difficult for tourists and citizens to enjoy them. They should be more centrally located.
• Canada Day should be upgraded to Canada Week. With all the tourists coming from many places we're missing an opportunity to make it a bigger and better event. A lot of effort is put into it every year and it's kind of sad to have it jam packed only one day. 

From Stephen Lewis' presentation :

• It's important to build from the community up and not the opposite. In order words, building a better city starts with the people not the government. 
• Ottawa should build upon its current identity and become an internationally recognized conference centre where people from around the world could gather to talk about various topics that matters to the world. Ottawa could be the city of international dialog.   

From Richard Florida's presentation :

• Ottawa should be a capital that others can learn from.
• Openness to diversity is very important. Diversity is one of the key factors in increasing the level of happiness of a community and you need diversity to fuel creativity.  
• Having a community care about its beauty is also very important to the success of a city. I guess it builds up self-esteem on a city level. 

From the discussion session: 

• Arrival points such as the airport, the bus station and the train station are the "shop windows" of a city. (Did they read my blog? ). Our airport is better than some but could be better. There's nothing interesting around it or on the way to the city. Think about places like Grand Central Station in New York. We have a long way to go. 
• To promote more movement between Ottawa and Gatineau, the areas around the bridges should be more pedestrian friendly. This would build stronger relations between the two areas of the nation's capital and in turn make the city better. There should be things that entice people to want to cross the bridge and explore as opposed to see the river as a divide between two provinces. 
• The Embassies should be have more presence. We have so many of them, they should be part of Ottawa's identity. Perhaps with a Canada Week they would be able to participate as well. Also, it would be interesting to have embassies invite artists or chefs from their countries to some sort of international festival in Ottawa. 
• We need to build more communities. New York is a city of community that seamlessly fits together. 
• We should not look to the government for solutions or to take action. This is a major problem in Ottawa. People and businesses should take the lead instead. 

All in all it was an interesting presentation. There was a good turnout. It's unfortunate that the public could not participate in the discussion. It sort of goes against NCC's statement saying that they "want to hear about [our] values, aspirations and stories, and about how [we] think [we] should be represented in Canada's Capital." Consequently, I have to admit, I'm a bit skeptical of the outcome. It's nice to hear people talk about the possibilities and hear new ideas, but what actions will be taken from that? Will it take 56 years to implement? Will this end up as a dusty shelved report? Right besides the Sparks Street Mall Vocation Study?  

I keep going back to the mess that is Sparks Street, which to me is a benchmark. How many years have they been studying Sparks Street? There's a new NCC website, photo opts on flickr, and a TV show coming this Sunday on Rogers TV, but I think what we need are less talk more action. I really side with Richard Florida on this one: If we want change, we can't wait on the government, we have to do it ourselves. Now who wants to makeover Spark Street?

Photos : MOOT | roonsari |

Successful Park(ing) Day in Ottawa

Ever heard of Park(ing) Day? It's an annual worldwide event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to transform metered parking spaces into temporary public places known as PARK(ing) spaces. This clever project is the brainchild of an interdisciplinary studio called Rebar in San Franscico. They produced the first one back in 2005 and this quickly turned into a worldwide event. As such, each year on the third Friday of September, Park(ing) Spaces are created in hundreds of cities around the world.


This year Ottawa had one too, thanks to yowLAB. They created a nice Park(ing) space in front of a restaurant in the Byward Market, with a bright yellow fence, benches, astroturf and potted plants. Well done!

Wouldn't it be a great if Ottawa participated every year? It would be fun to have several Park(ing) spaces likes this in the city. We could even turn it into an annual competition between different wards. And perhaps get citizens to help fund these projects by installing a special parking meter placed next to future location of a Park(ing) space to help with the cost of materials to create the spaces. This doesn't need to be promoted by the city. I think it would be better and faster if individual businesses with parking in front of their store would team up with some people to make it happen.

If you're thinking about participating next year, check out what other cities have done over the years below for some inspiration.



Photos : yowLAB | the green dots | laughing squid | object | goodlifer | parking day nyc | designing hong kong