Stage 1
A DIALOGUE WITH NATURE
The natural landscape of Ottawa is defined by the Ottawa River and the hills and foliage that flank it, whereas the iconic, imposing built form of the Parliament Buildings stand separate from that landscape, formally exerting their own identity in contrast to the surroundings. Beyond Block 2, the pedestrian activity of Sparks Street and the urban fabric provide yet another significant point of context for the buildings of Block 2 to react. As such, our proposal for the Parliamentary Precinct Redevelopment Block 2 is not meant to be monumental, but modest in its venture to unite the opposing forces of these natural and urban landscapes. A building for transparent decision-making should be equally democratic in its organization. It offers diverse, egalitarian spaces - formal and informal, built and natural, large and small - for congregation, representation and discourse.
CONCEPT DIAGRAM I INTERWOVEN GARDENS
The historic fabric will be conserved in accordance with internationally accepted conservation techniques, retaining as much historic material as possible. Opportunities to repair rather than replace building elements will be explored. Where possible and appropriate, missing elements will be reproduced. All work will be in compliance with the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada.
The intervention has a stately presence on Wellington to fulfill its role as the fourth wall of the Parliamentary forecourt. Materiality and quality are comparable to the flanking OPMPC, Sir John A. MacDonald, and Wellington Buildings. In contrast, the street level character of Sparks Street is defined by a lively mix of prestige storefronts, typically featuring extensive glazing and refined detail in keeping with the historic role of Sparks Street as Ottawa's most prestigious high street.
Based on the varying structural existing conditions, lack of a robust seismic resisting system, and inconsistent floor levels, the design has been developed based on the demolition of the existing structures, except the Victoria and Valour buildings, while retaining the existing facades. Modifications to the Victoria building will include a new concrete core, which will address seismic capacity requirements.
Stage 2
DESIGN APPROACH
Block 2, with its existing buildings of diverse quality, borders two important public streetscapes: The Parliament Buildings and the Lawn to the north along Wellington Street, and the lively and more urban Sparks Street to the south.
The future parliamentary administration buildings together with the future Indigenous Peoples' Space, not only form a new political and democratic entity for all Canadians; they also offer an important urban element for the citizens of Ottawa.
At the streetscape, our approach proposes a largely transparent and human-scaled horizontal datum, which preserves the facades of the Marshall and Canada Four Corners buildings while complementing these with new transparent facades designed to foster a sense of openness and activity. These new facades contrast the more somber faces of the remaining buildings on Block 2, preserving and respecting the grain of the urban environment. Above this street- level datum is the statelier facade of the building proper, modestly glazed to ensure optimal daylighting conditions for office and meeting spaces, horizontally articulated and characterized by sun-shading elements of varying depths corresponding to the structure's orientation and sun angle.
CONSERVATION APPROACH
Block 2 consists of a heterogeneous mixture of buildings of varying heritage value. The approach taken to the block as a whole is Rehabilitation; that is, in accordance with Standard 11 of the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada, the heritage value and character-defining elements will be conserved, and the new work physically and visually compatible with, subordinate to, and distinguishable from the historic place.
The fundamental functional requirement of the proposed program is that the formerly autonomous individual buildings be integrated into a new whole, an obviously significant and irreversible intervention. To preserve the genius loci of the site, which is defined by the complex assemblage of buildings with diverse expressions, the new structure is equally complex in its character, woven into the existing buildings to avoid the presentation of an overbearing, monolithic structure.
(From competitor's text)
Stage 1
The conceptual idea of this project is to design a complex that embodies the idea of transparent decision making which is not monumental and offers diverse egalitarian spaces. This gentle and quiet design scheme celebrates the vision with a layout that has a relatively high level of planning resolution. It is particularly successful in the design and planning of the core elements of the program including:
The plans as developed demonstrate a reasonable handling of the Parliamentary Office Units (POU) with lots of natural light and planning flexibility.
The Library of Parliament is well integrated into the plan without any major interruptions.
The overall circulation is dynamic, clear, and clean, with a pleasant variety of collaboration spaces for interaction on POU floors.
The quality of space winter gardens and the vertically and horizontally connecting atria is high.
The central atrium is appropriately sized and interconnected with winter gardens and interwoven with collaborative gardens.
Generally short corridors with views through winter garden spaces is found to create a sense of wellness to the building users.
The resultant urban form is respectful of the IPS and frames this important institution, fostering a dialogue between public use and celebrations to take place on the axis with the Peace Tower.
Also, the integration of the Victoria and Valour buildings with an atrium/wintergarden has much promise. The complimentary east building's wintergardens and exterior open space in the center of the project could assist in integrating IPS as a central piece.
The elevational treatments were felt to be significantly underwhelming and very preliminary in nature. They were not considered at this stage live up to the promise of the project planning.
While the design scheme contributes to the concept of a "fourth façade" to the Parliamentary Lawn, the disposition and combination of materials on the exterior shell does not provide a sense of civic contribution or represent the dignity of Parliament, or the importance of an innovative and forward thinking response to the challenge of a new fourth wall to the Parliamentary lawn.
Whilst embracing the project's vision of democracy and urban form fragmentation, a sense of place and unity is required given its location in the capital city
The appropriate use of green roofs, PV cells and atria gardens in glass for sunlight harvesting, supports the sustainable approach.
The design scheme requires an explicit description of its conservation approach based on the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. This description should include a clear statement on the primary treatment chosen for the project, with reflections on how it applies to each heritage building and the overall design approach.
Stage 2
The jury is pleased with the effort of bringing forth a user-centered approach focused of the well-being and happiness of occupants, and on communication between those who work and visit the building. In addition, the design represents an outstanding contribution to innovative technical solutions, in terms of both sustainability and quality of workspaces.
The conceptual idea of this project is to design a complex that embodies the idea of transparent decision making which is not monumental and offers diverse egalitarian spaces. Considering the interior spaces, the proposal has a high level of comfort and functionality. However, it still fails to address the civic responsibilities of this new building on the site.
The façades do not create a sense of civic architecture that would constitute the fourth side of Parliament Square. The project argues for being a gentle modern intervention, but three buildings are proposed to be demolished and the integration with existing buildings was not completely successful. The jury welcomed the further development of the project since the 1st phase but saw an overemphasis on the strong horizontality of the façade. The project argues for a counternarrative to Central Block and creates a duality between the verticality of surrounding architecture by imposing a massing with pronounced horizontal lines. Horizontal lines are incompatible with the architecture of the site and the tripartite composition of most façades. In addition, the use of light shelves triples the number of horizontal lines on two of the four fronts. The resulting project expression was considered heavy and not subordinate to the historical context. The Winter gardens, which are a central and successful element in the internal organisation of the buildings, seem to create arbitrary openings on the façades, creating a sense of disorder, instead of a desired coherence. The proposal also compromised the appearance of Sparks Street elevation.
The approach of creating a public space between the new buildings and the IPS is very welcome in principle, but the proposal overhangs this public space with floor space above. Strategies to mitigate the northern climatic condition of the plaza were appreciated but remain an unsatisfactory condition to an important public space. The slim columns in this location could need to be revisited for safety and structure, and that would reduce the elegance and lightness of the space.
The great quality of the design is the contemporary and sustainable organisation of office work environments, which is a significant contribution in the competition. The premise of offering lengthwise offices on the perimeter of the plan brings an undeniable potential for the interior quality of the spaces that are filled with natural light. This scheme celebrates the vision with a layout that has a high level of planning resolution. Interior of buildings are well organised providing views to all occupants.
However, the emphasis on stair circulation is not welcoming for persons with disabilities and affects appreciation of the winter gardens by those and other users. With respect to these internal gardens, the jury was worried that these may become rather hostile places, if not maintained properly. However, the generally short corridors with views through winter garden spaces was found to create a sense of wellness to the building users. The integration of the Victoria and Valour buildings with an atrium/wintergarden also has much promise. The complimentary east building's wintergardens and exterior open space in the center of the project could assist in integrating IPS as a central piece. The jury was also concerned that the principles of the user-centered planning have created additional circulation and floor area, resulting in a massing of volumes that is much bigger than other competitor's projects.
The design is particularly successful in the planning of the core elements of the program including Committee rooms. Circulation to and from the Committee Rooms are adjusted with appropriate security. The overall circulation is dynamic, clear, and clean, with a pleasant variety of collaboration spaces for interaction on Parliamentary Office Unit (POU) floors; the quality of space of the winter gardens and the vertically and horizontally connecting atria is high and the central atrium is appropriately sized and interconnected with winter gardens.
The proposal brings forth important aspects to architecture through its user-centered approach. In terms of typological configuration, this proposal is the most innovative with regard to the provision of daylight and natural ventilation. The design also proposes attractive circulation spaces with spacious daylit corridors and communicative spaces which can be used as meeting and workspaces. The gardens are integrated into the building's natural ventilation concepts, providing enhanced natural ventilation in combination with operable windows in the façade. The energy performance of the façade is optimized by the use of horizontal external elements, including optimally orientated PV modules and light shelves in combination with vertical fins. Low-e triple glazing is used, and the façade includes a horizontal parapet at floor level which helps to optimize the energy performance in terms of the relationship between daylighting and thermal loads. The proposed HVAC concept, comprising a dedicated outdoor air system and clay radiant ceilings for heating and cooling is the most innovative and energy efficient solution of the six proposed designs. Whether adequate thermal comfort in the very cold Ottawa winters can be achieved by the radiant ceiling heating system alone would have to be investigated in detail. A geothermal system is proposed to be integrated into the project alongside the district heating and cooling system proposed in the competition brief and it is shown that this will increase the efficiency of the whole system. The project also includes a large rooftop PV array, green roof areas and a hybrid wood structure.
Overall, the jury values the design as a courageous, consistent contribution whose conceptual and structural approach delivers the implementation of all functional requirements and sensitivity towards traditional context.
(From jury report)
