Claridge Icon [505 Preston St] | 143m | 45 fl | U/C

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by grooveduster

Hey everyone! I'm brand new to this forum (but have been reading it for a few years...). I just wanted to chime in with my vote of support for this fantastic design. This location is perfect for some height.

So...a question:

I'd like to attend some city council meetings where this and other buildings are being discussed / voted on / etc. Just wondering how one determines what are the correct meetings to attend in regards to a specific application.

Great forum, learning so much...thanks to all...

You'd be best to go to Planning Committee. You can find the agendas for all meetings here: http://ottawa.ca/cgi-bin/docs.pl?lang=en

[m0nkyman]

Originally Posted by McC

okay, yes, views to the southeast would be pretty blocked

If a building is good looking enough it doesn't block the view, it becomes part of the view...

[grooveduster]

very cool, thanks for the link gjhall...should be interesting.....

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by harls

I like it, a lot!



128 m? That would be the same height as Terrasses, no?

Emporis says 117 meters. Wikipedia says 124 meters. I would put my money on wikipedia in this case.

As much as I would love to see a building this height downtown, it probably won't happen; with the whole parliamentary vistas (which I'm not totally opposed to protecting) the NCC will stick its useless nose in any 300 + feet proposal in the CBD.

I think that these restrictions are a bit overkill; case in pint would be the new EDC built at its maximum allowed height of 78.2 meters when it's between the 96 meter WEP 2 blocks north and the 93 meter former EDC to the south. That would be easily another 4 floors of prime real estate in a CBD where we are quickly running out of room. I also think that between Bank/Gloucester/Lyon and Queen, we could allow up to 450-500 feet (135-150 meters or roughly 33 to37 office floors) without taking too much away from the Peace Tower.

[eternallyme]

I think soon we will see a proposal for a 50+ storey building (as far as I know, none have ever been proposed in Ottawa). I wonder where that will be?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

I think soon we will see a proposal for a 50+ storey building (as far as I know, none have ever been proposed in Ottawa). I wonder where that will be?

Tallest building ever proposed for Ottawa that I ever heard of was Place de Ville phase II's original proposal by Robert Campeau in 1969; 45 and 39 storey office towers (based on what we got, 493 and 569 feet). The city approved for slightly lower tower. Then the NCC stuck there noses in and battled at the OMB and ended up with the 29 (367 feet) PdV C office tower and the 28ish storey (316ish feet) Marriott (opened as Holiday Inn) hotel.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...de+ville&hl=en

http://urbsite.blogspot.ca/2011/09/d...g-skyline.html

[Ted]

The balcony side of this building in the renderings looks like a really tall version of those soviet style apartments blocks on prince of wales, across from carleton and hogs back.

[KHOOLE]

Originally Posted by S-Man

Good luck with the O-Train wish, though a doubling of service and a proper connection at Bayview to downtown-LRT will help the situation.

Your comment brings up food for thought. Maybe the planned LRT is wrong? Maybe be it should go along Carling: Nortel,Carlingwood, Royal Hosp, Civic Hosp., Litte Italy, Chinatown, SoBa/Bus station, Bank St., Uptown, Rideau Centre? Who wants to go down the Western Parkway? Hardly anyone lives/works there.
No argument. Just thinking out loud.

[KHOOLE]

Originally Posted by Ted

The balcony side of this building in the renderings looks like a really tall version of those soviet style apartments blocks on prince of wales, across from carleton and hogs back.

I agree. It's tall but it's pretty ordinary and bleh!

A tall building like that should stand out as an outstanding landmark and make people WANT to look at it as something special. Otherwise, it's just one more of the same except taller.
Which means, it's going to be the first of just one more of the same new tall buildings.
On the positive side, people going home driving north on the QE Driveway won't need to pull down their sun visors in the winter.

[S-Man]

Your comment brings up food for thought. Maybe the planned LRT is wrong? Maybe be it should go along Carling: Nortel,Carlingwood, Royal Hosp, Civic Hosp., Litte Italy, Chinatown, SoBa/Bus station, Bank St., Uptown, Rideau Centre? Who wants to go down the Western Parkway? Hardly anyone lives/works there.

One of the proposals shows,if I recall correctly, a minor type streeetcar service heading along Carling towards Bronson while the main LRT travells along a western roue to Baseline and beyond. Apparently Carling isn't physically ready to handly LRT, as the makeup of the street would require elevated (ie-expensive) sections.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by McKellarDweller

When I look at a map, it looks like the Dows Lake views would mostly be blocked though, no? Not that I care, just saying - the south/southeast facing Soho Italia units are way less appealing if the Icon goes up, IMO.

Well the view of a nice looking building (big assumption with Claridge) can be nicer than a far off view of a lake anyway. I

[eternallyme]

How else can we make Diane Holmes mad? Maybe it is time for them to starting planning buildings over 50 storeys...

The top 5 places IMO for a supertall in the Ottawa area would be:

* Hull Island

* Tunney's Pasture area

* Little Italy/Chinatown/O-Train corridor

* Hurdman area

* Billings Bridge/Confederation Heights

Basically those would create an arc of tall building corridors surrounding downtown Ottawa. I know time cannot be turned back, but if I was planning in the 1960s and 1970s, I would never have approved any tall towers in the core. The area from the Rideau River west to Bronson and south to the Queensway would have remained historic or low-rises (i.e. no higher, elevation-adjusted, than the roof of the Parliament buildings). However, it would have not applied city-wide, and the remainder of the area would have had no restrictions at all.

[amanfromnowhere]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

I know time cannot be turned back, but if I was planning in the 1960s and 1970s, I would never have approved any tall towers in the core. The area from the Rideau River west to Bronson and south to the Queensway would have remained historic or low-rises (i.e. no higher, elevation-adjusted, than the roof of the Parliament buildings).

But we would have ended up with ~90% of ugly brutalist/modernist buildings in downtown due to the construction booms in 1960s and 1970s... they just occupied all downtown with no place for future infill

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by KHOOLE

Your comment brings up food for thought. Maybe the planned LRT is wrong? Maybe be it should go along Carling: Nortel,Carlingwood, Royal Hosp, Civic Hosp., Litte Italy, Chinatown, SoBa/Bus station, Bank St., Uptown, Rideau Centre? Who wants to go down the Western Parkway? Hardly anyone lives/works there.
No argument. Just thinking out loud.

I propose a Carling-Bank-Rideau-Montreal subway for 2167, just in time for Canada’s 300th birthday! Here's a visionary timeline even the NCC could agree with!

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I propose a Carling-Bank-Rideau-Montreal subway for 2167, just in time for Canada’s 300th birthday! Here's a visionary timeline even the NCC could agree with!

Hmm...2167 that is kind of tight in terms of NCC timelines...they still need time to run open houses in Whitehorse to have a visioning exercise/charette to see what the people in the Yukon think about a subway in the nations capital.

[Aylmer]

Am... Am I the only one who thinks this building might be a little out of context? I mean, there's nothing approaching that height around it. I would definitely agree with more density downtown, but my humble opinion is that height at any cost leads to things like Montparnasse and Metropole.

As happy as I am that something above 30 storeys is being proposed in Ottawa, I just think that we should think of what it'll look like in its surrounding. On the up side, that place will have a view to kill (bad movie) for!

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

Am... Am I the only one who thinks this building might be a little out of context? I mean, there's nothing approaching that height around it. I would definitely agree with more density downtown, but my humble opinion is that height at any cost leads to things like Montparnasse and Metropole.

As happy as I am that something above 30 storeys is being proposed in Ottawa, I just think that we should think of what it'll look like in its surrounding. On the up side, that place will have a view to kill (bad movie) for!

Of course the first tall building will be out of context; it's the first. There's enough room fo more so it won't be out of context for too long.

[citizen j]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

Am... Am I the only one who thinks this building might be a little out of context? I mean, there's nothing approaching that height around it. I would definitely agree with more density downtown, but my humble opinion is that height at any cost leads to things like Montparnasse and Metropole.

As happy as I am that something above 30 storeys is being proposed in Ottawa, I just think that we should think of what it'll look like in its surrounding. On the up side, that place will have a view to kill (bad movie) for!

That spot on Carling is in a valley of sorts -- the ground rises up from there both to the east and to the west, mitigating the effect of the building's height. And with all the proposed construction in that neighbourhood, I would say that no, it's not out of context. There's also that incredibly bulky government building immediately east of there on Rochester St. that's been there for decades, not to mention the other mid-rise and semi-high-rise buildings on Carling, Booth, and Preston (Xerox, etc.) already in the area. The "character" of the neighbourhood isn't going to be changed quite as radically as Councillor Holmes would have you think.

[J.OT13]

Seemed out of context at the time;

-TD centre in Toronto

http://chuckmanothercollectionvolume...m-lake_21.html

http://artdecotoronto.blogspot.ca/20...looked-in.html

-Place Ville Marie and CIBC tower Montreal

http://djgagnon.tumblr.com/post/6352...ce-ville-marie

-Empire State Building NYC

http://www.surusa.com/empire.htm

-Parliment buildings Ottawa

http://www.ottawa.ca/en/rec_culture/...ure/index.html

It is somewhat out of context today, but with a few more within 200 meters from Carling station (not all along Preston), it will look awesome.

[citizen j]

^Well said.