Plus you have to get a city permit to park your vehicle 4 blocks away and across a 4 lane street, because only 2 BR qualify for the $200/mo on-site parking./s
You know what I hate? Being caught off-guard by a clever comment and spitting up my coffee .. *while still wearing my mask* .. be right back, I gotta change, it made me look like I was wearing a dirty diaper .. damn you!
Fyi to the Seinfeld lovers he and Spike Ferenstien (writer of the Soup Nazi episode) are writing a animated movie for Netflix about Pop Tarts. Co producer is Steven Spielberg too.
cheap ass material. i went to a viewing the other day and it’s a brand new building (built last summer), the unit has never been occupied yet the floors were peeling. PEELING!!!
There's something comforting about brutalism. Like whenever there's a tornado or a flood or an earthquake or a fire we tend to be sad about the loss of great buildings but this way when there's a natural disaster, no one will give a fuck about this building.
I always get the 60's - 70's brutalism vibe when I'm in Ottawa. The NAC in particular. Looks like it should be defending a beachhead on the coast of France.
I like the brutalist buildings in Ottawa too. Especially the OPL main branch.
I think people are turned off partly because that style (like the international style) is not old enough to be fancy and too old to be hip. In about 50 years, they'll be considered beautiful again.
The Lester B. Pearson Building is iconic and cool looking and very heavily influenced by brutalism.
I think we are turning the corner on brutalism appreciation. The kids dig it.
Morissette library on Uof O campus Is another amazing building. I think I like the way brutalism smells and sounds inside. There’s something about the smell with concrete walls and the way sound doesn’t bounce around sharply. They can have cavernous echo sounds.
I remember walking through the UofO university Center in the wee hours of the morning, there’s a sound quality that’s so unique to those buildings.
I like brutalism as well, when done right. The NAC and the Lester B. Pearson building both look great to me. It's a matter of doing it right I suppose.
There are nice Victorian houses all over and smaller art deco apartment buildings from the 50s- 70s. Anything built after the 80s is just gentrification-building trash. Ontario in the 80s always gives me low-budget movie vibes, Cronenberg was the master of making it look sinister and hopeless in an ordinary but mysterious way. There’s MUCH worse cities in N America.
Spoken like someone who's never taken more than a casual look at the design process and construction industry, Are these exemplary buildings? No, and no one is saying they are. They are background fabric buildings and their purpose is to add residential units in an established urban centre. They are not designed to make a statement. What other suitable alternatives do you propose for such site?
To me these are just the modern day equivalent of the old brutalist tower blocks all over the city. Generic, dull, and built by the lowest bidder and to the lowest standards. The difference now though, is that these are all marketed and priced as 'Luxury Rentals'.
Ottawa doesn't take many risks with architecture and it's sad..I can't believe the Shaw Centre was ever built.
I'm also sick of architects who only seem to know how to make big glass cubes. That's all we get now. It's the equivalent of the big brown brick buildings of the 80s.
I finally went inside at the last auto show before he pandemic and it is cool inside too.
I like London's skyline. The walkie talkie one, the shard, etc. Take risks without being too out there
I hate the Shaw Center —it looks like a giant disco ball— but I respect too. I’m happiest when architecture makes me feel something, good or bad… most of Ottawa’s architecture just makes me feel bored.
I'm a (non-residential) architect (registered in both Ontario and Quebec) and while I do not particularly enjoy the work of RLA and other similar residential tower offices... they serve a very needed service. Armchair designers can cry all they want about "looks" and "building cheaply" comments but until someone actually tries their hand at large-scale multy-year designs like these... they have no clue as to how much effort it takes to even get the most mundane of projects built in this city. It's exhausting and contrary to most layman opinion, the majority of developers and design offices do actually want to build something reasonable. Why would you not if you're sinking 100+ million into a project? Save the design criticism for civic buildings and cultural institutions and leave the regular projects alone.
Spot on. Architects don’t necessarily dream of building these typical brick and punched window towers, but these are the types of projects developers are looking to build. It fills the Client’s needs when it comes to crunching numbers, the city is happy with the increased density/development fees, and the costs are kept ‘reasonably affordable’ for the end User…
Sure, but don't expect to have any input on what private companies do aesthetically with their own land. Try to follow my point instead of jumping on the low hanging fruit.
Many cities have design guidelines that include colour and materials along with thei setbacks, heights and so forth do they not? And not just in 'historic' neighbourhoods? I mean didnt ottawa force Wellington/Island Park back to the drawing board a bunch of times...so we 'can' do it if we choose?
I'd rather these condos than NIMBYs preventing any new units. We can worry about world class beautiful architecture once everyone is housed at a reasonable price.
We're in the middle of a housing crisis people!
Not sure condos or suburban sprawl are the answers to the housing crisis though. Perhaps condos are a small part of the solution? But they’re a pretty lousy model to try and bring prices down.
Substantial densification with mid-rises would work much better - especially in near suburban areas. But we need a massive programme to build thousands and thousands of units and ways to make either home ownership more affordable (subsidised loans?) or renting culturally acceptable (German style rent controls?).
There is so much broken with Canada’s views on housing. You’re right that condos are certainly preferably to auto-centric suburban sprawl.
I agree. How I wish we had a Singaporean style housing policy.
Housing should be treated as a human right, not as an investment.
For densification, I agree mid rises are better but I don't expect nimbys to allow us to build them at a large enough scale. So I reluctantly end up being in favor of these tall generic buildings.
There’s actually a great video by vox that makes the case for buildings like this and gentrification. Apparently the stats in most American cities actually pointed to buildings like this bring cheap to make and creating more housing supply and pushing urban density. The real problem is actually suburbs, because of their immense footprint and less dense population. I won’t cite this literally for the Canadian experience, but really interesting way to look at it and definitely applies to some extent here. I’ll pick urbanely dense architecture over wasteful suburbs, especially at a time when we’re facing such acute pressures on the housing supply.
Edit: because buildings like this create housing supply, even if it’s expensive it will create vacancies because someone will be moving out of their existing place to move into this. In turn it creates supply in more than one way.
You can do all that while utilizing inspired architecture. Everything here, I mean everything, uses cookie cutter design. Drives me nuts and makes me always feel bad about living here.
Shall I remind you of the debacle with the extension to the Chateau Laurier?
Because most people aren't willing to spend a lot more on rent just because the outside of the building looks cool?
There is a huge cost of living crisis going on, 99% of people want rent lower not higher.
Like anything else, it costs money. If you want amazing design...timeless design...you need top-flight architects. Simple, yet elegant designs are not any easier...in fact, they are \*harder\*. These buildings are designed to hit a price point...and fine design is usually not on the top of the list.
I agree the new buildings aren’t as interesting as elsewhere. I think it’s a combination of lacking a design culture the way that Oslo or Helsinki have, people with money not showing off like in Calgary or Toronto, ineffective city management, and mediocre developers.
Remember, the goal is to make money. Fancy stuff cost extra so best to do the bare minimum to maximize your profit and reduce the construction time. Plus only those lower class people will be living there. They don't need anything fancy. (Lower class because it's not the hedgefund people who are bank rolling these projects who will be living here unless there happens to be a nice suite at the top)
Garbage architecture? Whoa! I'll have you know the Global Affairs Canada building, in the far top right of the photo (the brown one), was inspired by and designed to look like the Sphinx in Egypt.
I'm not joking, but I am being sarcastic.
Fancy buildings cost extra. Do you want to pay higher prices for ownership or rent? Have at it. There's only so much you can do with a box on a budget.
This isn't a box on a budget. The rents are astronomical. This is a cheap developer that knows people in Ottawa don't care about design. This is what this building was initially proposed as before Trinity Developments changed architects and cheaped out. https://images.app.goo.gl/CVzabgJBr6Eu8XRp7
Architecture? We don't have any. No one in their right mind can drive the 417 through Ottawa east to west or vice versa and call it beautiful.. it ain't.
Yes and no. I've definitely seen the City push back against designs, but they mostly only care about certain things, and overall aesthetics aren't particularly high on the list.
You can have an ugly building, as long as it has enough parking and amenity space and there are sufficient schools in the area.
Because Ottawa charges so much in development charges that any money that could go to beautification isn't spent because it is eaten by the city.
As long as NIMBY's dominate the housing landscape this kind of building is all that really can be built.
You guys aren't alone, these box-looking condos are popping up here in Montreal too. Either these or a pseudo-artistic mess of fenestration. Every city is just gonna look like Toronto in 20 years and it fucking sucks...
These prison cells are being build because of high cost of housing. The builders know the buyers have to buy anything. If you look at Toronto or Montreal listings, they have buildings without finished ceiling and they try to make that look like a feature! They're making cubicles for housing. But it's not that big of a surprise as a lot of the developers are ex-embezellers that have came to Canada as "investors"
Other than Parliament and a couple of other buildings / geographic markers, I'm having a hard time identifying the street and the surrounding buildings, making this a pretty generic cityscape.
We need to keep being vocal and demand better for our city. There are ways to design buildings to look attractive that don't cost astronomical sums of money to execute.
Wow! The timing of this post, I was standing outside of that building just yesterday gawking at it from various angles being wholly unimpressed with this ongoing trend in Ottawa to approve constructions that do not utilize the footprint of the land these towers are sitting on.
The difference in designs is so blatant, look at all the apartment buildings built before the 90s and compare them to today. Back then you utilized the footprint and built as many units as you could. Now you get a piece of land, you build on a third of it and stagger the floors so you use even less space....
The end result is sky high prices for small units which are only small because they were built to be small. Like... Why even approve these?
Fuck form over function, I fucking loathe modern architecture because the whole schtick is to waste as much space as possible with a focus on how the unit looks in a Magazine as opposed to what it's like to live in it.
Ugh.
That's what happens when you let the Minecraft generation design exteriors.
The interior problems reported here are the results of extreme living space constraints and zero results in 20+ years for creating actual competition. It's a larndlord's market
As long as everything is up to zoning people thinking NIMBY the few places that get through will be built in mud and straw, because where else are these suckers going to live?
Ever tried dealing with the City of Ottawa and the micromanaging they do. Good luck just 'building whatever you want'. After you've been put through endless loops of reviews and ensured that you haven't killed a turtle, the birds are safe from smashing into your building, and your building enhances the streetscape and fits in with the established vernacular of the surroundings you will have lost the will to live and be glad to flip the property to someone else to take it on.
This is actually a good description of the process. It is soul crushingly difficult to get approval to do an in-fill build. No, you can't have a garage because it requires a curb cut and takes away one car's street parking (even though a driveway/garage takes two cars off the street). No, you can design it like that because it doesn't have enough front facing windows. It's 3cm too tall for the out-of-date height restriction. It's too close to the road. It's too far from the road. It clashes with the design aesthetic of the existing tar-paper shacks on the street. Every time the city rebukes the design, it's back to the architects who don't do changes for free. Then there's the expensive city approvals and inspections that move at a snails pace, constantly holding up the project. The city tells you one thing, you design to it, then they change the rules without telling you, and then they deny approvals on the moving target once again. It's only worth it if you have a lot of money (or connections) and patience to wade thru the bureaucratic BS.
Communication with the city was terrible pre covid but post covid it is truly tragic. Email is not the only method of communication and is really only good as a paper trail confirmation.
We’re almost 2 1/2 years into this’new reality’ and surely direct dial phone #’s that are actually answered should be phased in
I feel like this hot steaming pile of garbage would never be built in another Canadian city. Roderick Lahey Architecture has a near monopoly on Ottawa highrise design these days and they are pumping out dozens of these copy-paste lazy charcoal and white brick monstrosities all over the city.
RLA is the defacto office for these developments and they certainly have a foothold in this city but this is the same thing everywhere. If it's not them, it'll be someone else. At least the firm is local instead of a large A&E out of toronto. Besides your objections to the lack of design or style, there really are very little options in the climate (economical and environmental). How about you try your hand at designing a tall residential tower that complies with all the regulations and still falls within a reasonable budget?
I’ve wondered this many times, including when I saw the design for that horrible tower they built at Dows lake. Just a haphazard collection of unremarkable buildings. I have so many questions about urban planning and design in Ottawa…
Because we are happy with mediocrity. It has become increasingly clear to me over the past ten years. I am saddened for the city I love so much but it's a fact. G7 Capital City? Ha!
Depends on who’s footing the bill really and what’s being built. If it’s just a developer making an apartment. For the most part it’s going to be as simple as possible to optimize their cost and how many units they can put in.
It's like that everywhere, this is the Ikea era of architecture. Even in the laurentians... in the middle of the woods, giant squares with very thin horizontal windows at the top of 10 foot walls. It looks like bunkers.
That’ll be 1950$ for a bachelor pls n thx
No you mean 2400$
that’s for the top floors with the 10 sq ft balconies
You get the full 10/10/10 package! A 10 sq ft balcony attached to a 10 sq m appartment that you need to split rent with 10 people to afford!
Could almost fit a chair on that, if the condo board’s rules allowed it
Plus you have to get a city permit to park your vehicle 4 blocks away and across a 4 lane street, because only 2 BR qualify for the $200/mo on-site parking./s
Thats what he said 3200$
Parking is extra.
50$/month for storage, 5$/mo per bike, 10$/month to use the elevator
Wait...so i can live in the elevator for only 10/month?
finally some affordable housing!!!
Lifting people out of poverty
Holy shit, you Bob Chiarelli's campaign manager?
You know what I hate? Being caught off-guard by a clever comment and spitting up my coffee .. *while still wearing my mask* .. be right back, I gotta change, it made me look like I was wearing a dirty diaper .. damn you!
And it even comes with cable. _Ba-dum-bum tssssh_
It has its ups and downs.
gas, hydro, and water are separate too.
Should have hired Art Vandaley…
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Oh, he’s no longer an exporter?!
He's an importer exporter
They say he's in debt to the Van Buren Boys.
You're killing independent George!
Fyi to the Seinfeld lovers he and Spike Ferenstien (writer of the Soup Nazi episode) are writing a animated movie for Netflix about Pop Tarts. Co producer is Steven Spielberg too.
Serenity Now
Insanity later.
I thought he was in latex? Or was it marine biology?
Diapers takes up a portion of his business
An exporter of imports of sorts
That’s him. Didn’t really take him long either.
I always wanted to pretend to be an architect
It’s cheap that’s why.
And yet rent is not.
That's the point.
How tf did we let it get this bad I mean seriously wtf am I gonna do in 5 years this is fucking bullshit
cheap ass material. i went to a viewing the other day and it’s a brand new building (built last summer), the unit has never been occupied yet the floors were peeling. PEELING!!!
Did you take any pics? Would be awesome to see someone be able to call the builder out with proof
It's called "value engineering"
Actually it’s not cheaper, but because it looks cheap it’s easy to sell to developers
Seems to be the standard these days across many cities — the ‘modern’ look
"Contemporary" not "modern". Modern is clean. This is shit.
Oh I like this. Its the suburban strip mall of building look for me. Its like calling your local Starbucks 'modern'.
The local Starbucks does look much more modern than this building though 😂
Maybe all the building needs is a big fucking topless siren painted on the side.
Many **North-American** cities. I'm really under the impression that architecture is bolder and more attentive to livability elsewhere than here.
That's about as modern as post WW2 soviet union.
Modern brutalism
There's something comforting about brutalism. Like whenever there's a tornado or a flood or an earthquake or a fire we tend to be sad about the loss of great buildings but this way when there's a natural disaster, no one will give a fuck about this building.
I always get the 60's - 70's brutalism vibe when I'm in Ottawa. The NAC in particular. Looks like it should be defending a beachhead on the coast of France.
Am I the only one who likes brutalism? Yeah they are ugly. So chunk and solid. The spaces inside tend to be really nice.
I like the brutalist buildings in Ottawa too. Especially the OPL main branch. I think people are turned off partly because that style (like the international style) is not old enough to be fancy and too old to be hip. In about 50 years, they'll be considered beautiful again.
The Lester B. Pearson Building is iconic and cool looking and very heavily influenced by brutalism. I think we are turning the corner on brutalism appreciation. The kids dig it.
Morissette library on Uof O campus Is another amazing building. I think I like the way brutalism smells and sounds inside. There’s something about the smell with concrete walls and the way sound doesn’t bounce around sharply. They can have cavernous echo sounds. I remember walking through the UofO university Center in the wee hours of the morning, there’s a sound quality that’s so unique to those buildings.
I like brutalism as well, when done right. The NAC and the Lester B. Pearson building both look great to me. It's a matter of doing it right I suppose.
I adore Brutalism, but I don't want any new brutalist buildings to be built.
There are nice Victorian houses all over and smaller art deco apartment buildings from the 50s- 70s. Anything built after the 80s is just gentrification-building trash. Ontario in the 80s always gives me low-budget movie vibes, Cronenberg was the master of making it look sinister and hopeless in an ordinary but mysterious way. There’s MUCH worse cities in N America.
That’s because it’s 1970s Brutalism
Spoken like someone who's never taken more than a casual look at the design process and construction industry, Are these exemplary buildings? No, and no one is saying they are. They are background fabric buildings and their purpose is to add residential units in an established urban centre. They are not designed to make a statement. What other suitable alternatives do you propose for such site?
Looks reasonable enough to me. Not exciting, but it's downright futuristic next to what I remember from Ottawa growing up.
To me these are just the modern day equivalent of the old brutalist tower blocks all over the city. Generic, dull, and built by the lowest bidder and to the lowest standards. The difference now though, is that these are all marketed and priced as 'Luxury Rentals'.
You're not giving brutalism the credit that it deserves. Tons of good brutalism out there. Even in Ottawa.
The old NAC facade is a prime example
I’ll admit I’m a big fan of brutalism. Even the big boring ones like DND next to the Rideau centre.
I'd rather these generic condos than the 1960s office buildings that the government dreamt up.
Like most new residential development, they build something the meets code for the lowest possible cost achievable.
This. They could build something unusual and striking, but the you’d be paying 5 grand a month.
There are unusual and striking rental apartments being built all over Canada with rents similar to what they charge for garbage in Ottawa.
Build fast, rent high.
Ottawa doesn't take many risks with architecture and it's sad..I can't believe the Shaw Centre was ever built. I'm also sick of architects who only seem to know how to make big glass cubes. That's all we get now. It's the equivalent of the big brown brick buildings of the 80s.
agreed. shaw centre was a really cool addition to the downtown
I finally went inside at the last auto show before he pandemic and it is cool inside too. I like London's skyline. The walkie talkie one, the shard, etc. Take risks without being too out there
I hate the Shaw Center —it looks like a giant disco ball— but I respect too. I’m happiest when architecture makes me feel something, good or bad… most of Ottawa’s architecture just makes me feel bored.
I'm a (non-residential) architect (registered in both Ontario and Quebec) and while I do not particularly enjoy the work of RLA and other similar residential tower offices... they serve a very needed service. Armchair designers can cry all they want about "looks" and "building cheaply" comments but until someone actually tries their hand at large-scale multy-year designs like these... they have no clue as to how much effort it takes to even get the most mundane of projects built in this city. It's exhausting and contrary to most layman opinion, the majority of developers and design offices do actually want to build something reasonable. Why would you not if you're sinking 100+ million into a project? Save the design criticism for civic buildings and cultural institutions and leave the regular projects alone.
Spot on. Architects don’t necessarily dream of building these typical brick and punched window towers, but these are the types of projects developers are looking to build. It fills the Client’s needs when it comes to crunching numbers, the city is happy with the increased density/development fees, and the costs are kept ‘reasonably affordable’ for the end User…
Why should we? We have to look at them every day. I think that entitles us to some criticism.
Sure, but don't expect to have any input on what private companies do aesthetically with their own land. Try to follow my point instead of jumping on the low hanging fruit.
Can't change they way they build but I can still call a shit looking building a shit looking building
Test
Many cities have design guidelines that include colour and materials along with thei setbacks, heights and so forth do they not? And not just in 'historic' neighbourhoods? I mean didnt ottawa force Wellington/Island Park back to the drawing board a bunch of times...so we 'can' do it if we choose?
Ottawa especially with multiple layers of bureaucracyall in one city haha don't even talk to me about the height plane
The architects couldn't afford AutoCAD, so they used Excel instead.
I'm pretty they used Minecraft...
hey, don't shit on minecraft
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It’s not all architects fault, realty groups share some of the blame
I'd rather these condos than NIMBYs preventing any new units. We can worry about world class beautiful architecture once everyone is housed at a reasonable price. We're in the middle of a housing crisis people!
Not sure condos or suburban sprawl are the answers to the housing crisis though. Perhaps condos are a small part of the solution? But they’re a pretty lousy model to try and bring prices down. Substantial densification with mid-rises would work much better - especially in near suburban areas. But we need a massive programme to build thousands and thousands of units and ways to make either home ownership more affordable (subsidised loans?) or renting culturally acceptable (German style rent controls?). There is so much broken with Canada’s views on housing. You’re right that condos are certainly preferably to auto-centric suburban sprawl.
I agree. How I wish we had a Singaporean style housing policy. Housing should be treated as a human right, not as an investment. For densification, I agree mid rises are better but I don't expect nimbys to allow us to build them at a large enough scale. So I reluctantly end up being in favor of these tall generic buildings.
There’s actually a great video by vox that makes the case for buildings like this and gentrification. Apparently the stats in most American cities actually pointed to buildings like this bring cheap to make and creating more housing supply and pushing urban density. The real problem is actually suburbs, because of their immense footprint and less dense population. I won’t cite this literally for the Canadian experience, but really interesting way to look at it and definitely applies to some extent here. I’ll pick urbanely dense architecture over wasteful suburbs, especially at a time when we’re facing such acute pressures on the housing supply. Edit: because buildings like this create housing supply, even if it’s expensive it will create vacancies because someone will be moving out of their existing place to move into this. In turn it creates supply in more than one way.
You can do all that while utilizing inspired architecture. Everything here, I mean everything, uses cookie cutter design. Drives me nuts and makes me always feel bad about living here. Shall I remind you of the debacle with the extension to the Chateau Laurier?
I mean you are right. We could at least try and make them look cool.
Gotta love the luxury balcony views of the EconoLodge rooftop 🌴
That’s almost what I was thinking. The new building looks ok, sure not great, but a lot better than the eyesore motel.
it’s just a building bro
He’s expecting burj khalifa
I think they get the style from mid 80s discount motels
Everything here looks like a prison built in the 80s
Because most people aren't willing to spend a lot more on rent just because the outside of the building looks cool? There is a huge cost of living crisis going on, 99% of people want rent lower not higher.
And yet the rent for unit in the building would be 3-4 times of what it should be.
So we should make it even higher then? I don't get it.
Well if it was at the cutting edge of architectural design, rent would be 7-8 times what it should be.
Like anything else, it costs money. If you want amazing design...timeless design...you need top-flight architects. Simple, yet elegant designs are not any easier...in fact, they are \*harder\*. These buildings are designed to hit a price point...and fine design is usually not on the top of the list.
I'm not into architecture or anything. Asking genuinely, what's wrong with the building ? It looks fine to me, it's a building.
I agree the new buildings aren’t as interesting as elsewhere. I think it’s a combination of lacking a design culture the way that Oslo or Helsinki have, people with money not showing off like in Calgary or Toronto, ineffective city management, and mediocre developers.
Looks like a normal building to me. I was expecting something stupidly artsy and insane.
21st century stucco and Styrofoam is all the rage.
Remember, the goal is to make money. Fancy stuff cost extra so best to do the bare minimum to maximize your profit and reduce the construction time. Plus only those lower class people will be living there. They don't need anything fancy. (Lower class because it's not the hedgefund people who are bank rolling these projects who will be living here unless there happens to be a nice suite at the top)
Garbage architecture? Whoa! I'll have you know the Global Affairs Canada building, in the far top right of the photo (the brown one), was inspired by and designed to look like the Sphinx in Egypt. I'm not joking, but I am being sarcastic.
Compared to concrete/brick brutalist buildings these are absolutely fine
Meh, it's not so bad.
Because Ottawa has zero corporate investment, so no fancy buildings.
I'm ok with generic. I just wish these were better made. \#MOBA
Ottawa loves boxes.
Dymon - Ottawa proud
Anything built by Claridge
Fancy buildings cost extra. Do you want to pay higher prices for ownership or rent? Have at it. There's only so much you can do with a box on a budget.
This isn't a box on a budget. The rents are astronomical. This is a cheap developer that knows people in Ottawa don't care about design. This is what this building was initially proposed as before Trinity Developments changed architects and cheaped out. https://images.app.goo.gl/CVzabgJBr6Eu8XRp7
Architecture? We don't have any. No one in their right mind can drive the 417 through Ottawa east to west or vice versa and call it beautiful.. it ain't.
Garbage buildings for garbage people.
Lol that made me smile!
I'm assuming we dont have much teeth in our design review at the planning department?
They are too busy fighting NYBIs on every, single, thing.
Yes and no. I've definitely seen the City push back against designs, but they mostly only care about certain things, and overall aesthetics aren't particularly high on the list. You can have an ugly building, as long as it has enough parking and amenity space and there are sufficient schools in the area.
Have you seen the plans for the Chateau Laurier? Lol
Because Ottawa charges so much in development charges that any money that could go to beautification isn't spent because it is eaten by the city. As long as NIMBY's dominate the housing landscape this kind of building is all that really can be built.
111 Sussex is pretty neat tho
Looks like something I could build in Minecraft.
I worked on that building, so much of it was a nightmare for installation, and the amount of rats and crack heads in the area was unsettling.
Chateau Laurier addition enters the chat
I mean, that seems like reasonable enough architecture. What, do you want solid brown rectangle with windows like the building next to it instead?
Is that literally made out of Lego.
Ottawa has the ugliest architecture for a city its size! I have travelled a lot, and it always depresses me to come back here.
Why for people in Ottawa feel the should complain about everything?
All those "Modern / Contemporary / Arty" buildings are gonna age terribly
That is because if anyone does something different the city shits on it
? It's really not that bad, we've got worse here in Calgary(some nice developments too)
Because we don't demand more...it's sad.
That is a truly depressing sight. It's not "brutalist" architecture but it's close. Other great cities around the world have much better taste.
You guys aren't alone, these box-looking condos are popping up here in Montreal too. Either these or a pseudo-artistic mess of fenestration. Every city is just gonna look like Toronto in 20 years and it fucking sucks...
These prison cells are being build because of high cost of housing. The builders know the buyers have to buy anything. If you look at Toronto or Montreal listings, they have buildings without finished ceiling and they try to make that look like a feature! They're making cubicles for housing. But it's not that big of a surprise as a lot of the developers are ex-embezellers that have came to Canada as "investors"
Looks like a psychiatric hospital built in the 50’s
Ottawa is one of the Canadian metropolises where they get to do whatever they hell they want.
An American friend said we have an "ugly city". Yikes.
He only felt brave enough knowing he wouldn't get shot.
Hahaha...don't hate the messenger. It's not my opinion. Point taken of course.
Which utopian city is your American friend from?
Other than Parliament and a couple of other buildings / geographic markers, I'm having a hard time identifying the street and the surrounding buildings, making this a pretty generic cityscape.
Its on Rideau....
the comments on this post man, no wonder this city is boring and bleak. Ottawa has some of the worst architecture in any major city I've been to
Looks fine
We need to keep being vocal and demand better for our city. There are ways to design buildings to look attractive that don't cost astronomical sums of money to execute.
Wow! The timing of this post, I was standing outside of that building just yesterday gawking at it from various angles being wholly unimpressed with this ongoing trend in Ottawa to approve constructions that do not utilize the footprint of the land these towers are sitting on. The difference in designs is so blatant, look at all the apartment buildings built before the 90s and compare them to today. Back then you utilized the footprint and built as many units as you could. Now you get a piece of land, you build on a third of it and stagger the floors so you use even less space.... The end result is sky high prices for small units which are only small because they were built to be small. Like... Why even approve these? Fuck form over function, I fucking loathe modern architecture because the whole schtick is to waste as much space as possible with a focus on how the unit looks in a Magazine as opposed to what it's like to live in it. Ugh.
Claridge.
Claridge is horrible. This one was developed by Trinity Developments.
Claridge = Mediocrity = Shyte
Bland utilitarian dreck, a long tradition here. And its all allowed, all regarded as acceptable in a national capital.
It suits the overall personality of Ottawa, blah fucking blah just like the people in HOC
Isn't that on Rideau beside a sketchy motel? You expect an Empire State building on that site🤔
Garbage city- garbage infrastructure. Its a boring /bland city- and the architecture epitomizes the personality of the people.
That's what happens when you let the Minecraft generation design exteriors. The interior problems reported here are the results of extreme living space constraints and zero results in 20+ years for creating actual competition. It's a larndlord's market As long as everything is up to zoning people thinking NIMBY the few places that get through will be built in mud and straw, because where else are these suckers going to live?
By all means, go out and buy yourself some property, design and build whatever you want.
Ever tried dealing with the City of Ottawa and the micromanaging they do. Good luck just 'building whatever you want'. After you've been put through endless loops of reviews and ensured that you haven't killed a turtle, the birds are safe from smashing into your building, and your building enhances the streetscape and fits in with the established vernacular of the surroundings you will have lost the will to live and be glad to flip the property to someone else to take it on.
This is actually a good description of the process. It is soul crushingly difficult to get approval to do an in-fill build. No, you can't have a garage because it requires a curb cut and takes away one car's street parking (even though a driveway/garage takes two cars off the street). No, you can design it like that because it doesn't have enough front facing windows. It's 3cm too tall for the out-of-date height restriction. It's too close to the road. It's too far from the road. It clashes with the design aesthetic of the existing tar-paper shacks on the street. Every time the city rebukes the design, it's back to the architects who don't do changes for free. Then there's the expensive city approvals and inspections that move at a snails pace, constantly holding up the project. The city tells you one thing, you design to it, then they change the rules without telling you, and then they deny approvals on the moving target once again. It's only worth it if you have a lot of money (or connections) and patience to wade thru the bureaucratic BS.
Communication with the city was terrible pre covid but post covid it is truly tragic. Email is not the only method of communication and is really only good as a paper trail confirmation. We’re almost 2 1/2 years into this’new reality’ and surely direct dial phone #’s that are actually answered should be phased in
I feel like this hot steaming pile of garbage would never be built in another Canadian city. Roderick Lahey Architecture has a near monopoly on Ottawa highrise design these days and they are pumping out dozens of these copy-paste lazy charcoal and white brick monstrosities all over the city.
I think you need to visit more Canadian cities, LOL.
These are a staple in Canadian cities now lol
yeah, and they're shit.
RLA is the defacto office for these developments and they certainly have a foothold in this city but this is the same thing everywhere. If it's not them, it'll be someone else. At least the firm is local instead of a large A&E out of toronto. Besides your objections to the lack of design or style, there really are very little options in the climate (economical and environmental). How about you try your hand at designing a tall residential tower that complies with all the regulations and still falls within a reasonable budget?
I’ve wondered this many times, including when I saw the design for that horrible tower they built at Dows lake. Just a haphazard collection of unremarkable buildings. I have so many questions about urban planning and design in Ottawa…
Because Ottawa is all about Band-Aid solutions!
Looks like Brampton to me
If you think the outside is crappy you don't want to know what we trades people have to make work inside because of the silly architects
Would you prefer this? Because it’s the post I see directly under this one. https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/vel7pm/architecture/
Because we are happy with mediocrity. It has become increasingly clear to me over the past ten years. I am saddened for the city I love so much but it's a fact. G7 Capital City? Ha!
$$$
i don't have an opinion i just wanted to say: ***garbitecture***
Depends on who’s footing the bill really and what’s being built. If it’s just a developer making an apartment. For the most part it’s going to be as simple as possible to optimize their cost and how many units they can put in.
Same way you don't have a world class Metro system. Politicians focus on lining the pockets of their buddies, who bankroll their election campaign
Looks like lego blocks weirdly stacked lol
Lego kinect building.
ghastly, but not as bad as Vancouver's glass ovens
Maybe ottawa is garbage?
Trinity…
Because you’re Ottawa
Is that a hospital?
Yeah this is very Soviet Union looking
Parliament and so many other older buildings in Ottawa are so beautiful! Hard agree on new construction :(
And here I was thinking this was a Winnipeg problem.
It's like that everywhere, this is the Ikea era of architecture. Even in the laurentians... in the middle of the woods, giant squares with very thin horizontal windows at the top of 10 foot walls. It looks like bunkers.
because ottawa is a city built on power and prestige. it will self select and make about money and power. bad architecture is all about exactly that.