Ādisōke [Ottawa's New Central Library] | U/C

[Ottawan]

The Concert Hall (Elgin) site would be a prime contender in my mind. Arts Court is also one, now that the City revealed that they would be willing to redevelop that property (which has some interesting opportunities in wasted surrounding space) if the Ottawa Art Gallery moved to Lansdowne.

But I agree that the west side of downtown could use a lift. I've long thought that escarpment area north of Albert, immediately west of Bronson, and south of Lebreton flats (ie, where cars currently park for Bluesfest/downtown office jobs) would be an ideal location.

[harls]

OBJ Article

City councillors subsequently set aside $26 million for acquiring the 0.74 acres of land. Media reports say the money will remain earmarked for the central library project.

In a report prepared last year, city staff said the municipality could expropriate the properties if negotiations failed. However, Ms. Clubb said that option was never seriously considered.

She said the city will now start looking for a new prospective location. Previous contenders included the old Ottawa Technical High School and the Shamrock surface parking lot at Metcalfe and Nepean streets.

Ms. Clubb said the city would also look at any new opportunities that may have emerged over the past year.

[rakerman]

Plans for a new central library in downtown Ottawa have fallen through.

Fuck. That was a great location.

[AuxTown]

Why not involve Claridge and see if we can incorporate the library into their condo tower proposal on the Glue Pot Pub site. It's basically the same location and has potential for a LRT connection. I would prefer the building to be free-standing and not part of a condo tower's podium though.

[JCL]

Seeing how negotiations with property owners of the preferred site has failed, perhaps they could consider the property of the old Ottawa Tech High Schoo (across from Albert/Slater and Bay)?

[Ice Hockey 87]

Imagine a new library in old Union Station

The Ottawa Citizen July 22, 2010

Re: No deal for new library, July 15.

On a recent visit to the Maritimes, I noticed once more how they are catching up to and in some ways even surpassing Ontario. One of the most notable is in the preservation of their heritage.

When the old Prince Edward Island railway was abandoned, the stations became libraries, museums and municipal offices. Ottawa's Union Station, now the Government Conference Centre, sits idle much of the time, while six blocks away the Ottawa Public Library's Main branch bulges at the seams. And the Ottawa Public Library officials report that plans to buy downtown land for a new central library have apparently failed.

Union Station is in a perfect location for the city's main library. It is near major bus lines, adjacent to ample parking in Rideau Centre, and on the proposed light-rail route. The rotunda would make a wonderful reading room. The building is huge and there is room for expansion of its southern extension.

A café could be created along the Rideau Canal, helping address the strange fact that Ottawa has hardly any restaurants with views of its wonderful waterways. A café on the second storey could be a library reading room.

The concept combines two of the ways civilizations preserve their heritage, namely with books and heritage architecture. Canadians and tourists would be impressed with a city that shows pride in its heritage. The federal government could use the new Congress Centre a block away for conferences that might have been held in the old Union Station.

I hope that our civic politicians have the imagination to pursue this idea.

Ed Whitcomb,

Ottawa
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion...#ixzz0uRCjFp8p

[Aylmer]

Heeey, thems good ideas... I could definitely see a library and a transit station using Union. It's an architectural gem and should be put to public use.

[McC]

a worthy idea. Kitchissippi posted a sketch a while back of the canal level of Union Station lined with awning-covered café térrasses, and it nearly made me drool!

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by McC

a worthy idea. Kitchissippi posted a sketch a while back of the canal level of Union Station lined with awning-covered café térrasses, and it nearly made me drool!

I remember that. If that became the Central Library and transit station with cafes and the NCC park idea, that could be one fantastic and truly stunning area.

[Ice Hockey 87]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

Heeey, thems good ideas... I could definitely see a library and a transit station using Union. It's an architectural gem and should be put to public use.

Absolutely! It just does not make sense not using Union Station since it is located near the main tourist attractions and a possible future lrt station. By using their existing resources wisely, the city can save a ton of time and money relocating the city's main library branch. It makes a lot of sense today since the city is anyways facing financial limitations. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

While this seems like a really great idea and makes a lot of sense to us, we need to remember that we still have to deal with our incompetent City Council.

[TransitZilla]

I have always thought Union Station would be a great place for the Central libaray. It seems that the argument against has been cost- the building needs a lot of work, not to mention the cost of an addition.

But in the end, I think it would totally be worth it.

[Acajack]

I apologize if it has already been raised here, but has any thought been given to partnering with Library and Archives Canada, whose current digs on Wellington (west of the Supreme Court) are apparently woefully inadequate?

In Montreal the city and provincial government teamed up and came up with this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Biblioth%C3%A8que

[Richard Eade]

Perhaps a new (iconic, to suit the NCC) tower addition between the existing Government Conference Centre (A.K.A. Union Station) and Colonel By (over the current angled extension of Mackenzie Ave., which would be removed) and the older (heritage) portion of the Union Station could be used as the main entrance/conference facility/subway station access.

I think the treatment of the Bank of Canada was very good when it's addition was designed; I hope the same level of sensitivity could be used for the Union Station.

[McC]

The Marion County Public Library did a great job of integrating a new postmodern addition to the back to their old neoclassical (Carnegie?) central library. When I vistited a couple of years ago I wondered at how easily something similar might be done at the back of Union Station (a very similar building in scale, size and style). Not many pictures here: http://www.imcpl.org/central/index.html but I'm sure anyone who is interested could find more with a little googling.

[Dado]

Would the old Union Station actually be big enough and/or sufficiently well laid-out to act as a new central library? It just doesn't strike me as being quite the right size or shape of building, much as I'd like to see it used for something in a public capacity. Of course, with the depth of the nearby Rideau LRT station, we could just put the library mainly underground... people could stop on their way up to rest up and read, or something

As for other sites, JCL mentioned the old Ottawa Technical High School site, which kind of appeals to me since it's about the same size as the Lyon-Albert-Bay-Slater block.

[McC]

Originally Posted by Dado

As for other sites, JCL mentioned the old Ottawa Technical High School site, which kind of appeals to me since it's about the same size as the Lyon-Albert-Bay-Slater block.

It also already has a big auditorium, in the "heritage"* part of the building. According to the Escarpment Plan, the city is considering keeping the Aud if/when the site is developed, and at the same time they (another branch) also wanted to put a new auditorium accross the street in the new Central Library plan. This seemed kinda redundant to me, not to forget that there are also 2 other auditoriums within a few blocks at Library and Archives and the Bronson Centre! Anyway, it would make sense from an efficiency standpoint to integrate the new library with the old Ottawa Tech auditorium, and there might be other facilities in the old high school that could be re-purposed as well. The only drawback I see to this idea is that the auditorium is accross the street from the sports fields (som of which are to be preserved as greenspace in the Escarpment Plan), so it couldn't open onto a plaza on those fields, and they'd have to keep/renew/replace the skywalk accross Slater that connects the two ugly mod additions of the old school.

* I don't know if it has actual heritage designation but it is the oldest and most interesting part of the building architecturally.

[umbria27]

Union Station is an interesting idea as the library site. You only need one visit to the Musee D'Orsay to see how a train station can be re-imagined as something completely different. We need to be more creative about our heritage buildings. There's no use preserving them as empty shells. We need to use them. Why can't the Horticultural Building become the city art gallery? Why can't the Les Soeurs de la Visitation become a boutique hotel? I know there's an argument about preserving historical uses, but sometimes any use is better than no use.

Since the library is homeless and we're rethinking gallery space, I can't also help thinking that they should share a site.

[ajldub]

The library should get a brand new building for all those books. Union is also too central for a place where people can go read in quiet. I say turn it into a great Otrain transit hub with spurs to the train station and the airport, so you can get to any city in Canada and the world from downtown without getting in a car. I've never been inside either so I don't know if it would be big enough for a central library.

[bikegypsy]

I've been in Union Station a few times. I think it's too small for what the city is planing although with a suitable addition it would suffice. But Ottawa really needs a stand alone iconic structure for this one. Library or not, the Station needs to go back to the city.