A series of posts discussing the recent news about a proposed addition to the Chateau Laurier hotel in downtown Ottawa. Friday, July 5, 2019Barry Padolsky’s Letter to Justin TrudeauMany of you will have read about Barry Padolsky's open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the Château Laurier. Here is the letter in full, with illustrations, reproduced with Mr. Padolsky's permission. WHY THE... MoreThursday, July 4, 2019What Could the Château Laurier Addition Look Like?In a piece in today’s National Post, Larco representative Dennis Jacobs used what I call the “Disneyland Cliché”: What they want to see is a replica Disneyland version of the hotel.... MoreTuesday, June 25, 2019Taking ResponsibilityThe vote on the Château Laurier that City Council will have tomorrow is profoundly important. Not because of its potential impact on what gets built (I remain pessimistic about that), but because it is City Council’s last chance to... MoreTuesday, December 18, 2018The Last Word (of 2018)Heritage Ottawa’s exhibition of student designs for an addition to the Château Laurier was a memorable event. People came, saw, asked questions, gave their views… this is what public consultation looks like. You can read some of... MoreMonday, December 3, 2018Re-Framing the QuestionI’ve believed for a long time that the proposed addition to the Château Laurier was based on faulty premises that need to be re-thought. So, just what are the ‘premises’ that inform what a building might look like? First,... MoreTuesday, November 20, 2018Time to Think Outside the Boxhttps://vimeo.com/301929976 Remember the first proposal for an addition to the romantic, picturesque Château Laurier? It was two boxes. Remember the second version? It was one long, low box. Remember the third? It was a long, low box... MoreFriday, June 29, 2018Watson’s FollyAnyone who wrote to the mayor recently expressing concerns about the proposed addition to the Château Laurier received exactly the same boilerplate reply, regardless of the specific nature of their concerns. It began with a stern... MoreWednesday, June 27, 2018What’s in the Crystal Ball for Château Laurier?The proposed extension of the Château Laurier lurched one more step towards a bad conclusion on June 26, when Planning Committee approved a motion by the Built Heritage Sub-Committee to... MoreTuesday, June 26, 2018Planning CommitteeToday (June 26) the City’s Planning Committee met to vote on the Built Heritage Sub-Committee’s motion on the Château Laurier. I had a scheduling conflict and was unable to attend, but below are the remarks I submitted. My thanks... MoreFriday, June 22, 2018CompatibilitySeveral objections were raised at last Monday’s meeting of the Built Heritage Sub-Committee to the proposed extension of the Château Laurier. The thread that ran through them all was the issue of compatibility. Or more precisely,... MoreWednesday, June 20, 2018A Step, but in What Direction?I said in my last blog that Monday’s meeting of the Built Heritage Sub-Committee (BHSC) at City Hall had an unusual outcome. They met to discuss the recommendation by City staff that the current iteration of the proposed expansion... MoreTuesday, June 19, 2018Back at City HallI found myself back at City Hall on Monday. The Built Heritage Sub-Committee met to consider City staff’s recommendation that the latest design proposal for the extension of the Château Laurier be accepted. I was one of several... MoreWednesday, June 13, 2018RadicalI think that ideally if most people had their wish it would be, just extend the Château Laurier exactly as it is. It would be easy, but I don’t think it would be the right way to go. (Jan Harder, City Councillor and Chair of the... MoreMonday, June 11, 2018Synthesis “Its rather harsh reaction to the latest version of the redevelopment plan leaves one with the feeling that unless Heritage Ottawa gets the developer to construct an exact copy of the century-old hotel, it will never approve... MoreMonday, June 4, 2018SubtractionWe have now seen yet another version of the proposed subtraction from the Château Laurier. I know I’m supposed to call it the “addition to” the Château, but I just can’t live with that lie any more. This is not an addition... MoreFriday, June 1, 2018Château Laurier Addition – the Latest Design!It’s still in... MoreFriday, June 1, 2018Le Château I wrote this fragmentary parable a few weeks back for a CU in the City event called “Built Ottawa: Our Places, Our Stories.” As you will see, it is inspired (and illustrated) by the various proposed additions to the Château... MoreFriday, June 1, 2018The View from AbroadOne of the more surreal moments during February’s open house on the proposed Château Laurier expansion was hearing Michael McClelland mansplain that Sophisticated Europeans love this kind of design, and Ottawans really need to get... MoreThursday, March 1, 2018What’s Wrong with this Process?Wednesday night was the City of Ottawa’s Open House on the latest proposal for an addition to the Château Laurier. It was a strange event. I could write about the applicant’s failure to demonstrate that the design is deferential... MoreFriday, February 9, 2018What’s Wrong with this Picture(sque)?Okay, I made it pretty clear in my last blog that I don’t like the new proposal for an addition to the Château Laurier. But my saying I don’t like it is pretty meaningless unless I can explain what I think is wrong with it.... MoreThursday, February 8, 2018Strike ThreeI really thought it would be harder this time around. I thought that after a public consultation and several long months to think it over, Larco Investments’ third proposal for an addition to the Château Laurier would be a bit... MoreWednesday, February 15, 2017Speak Now, or Forever Hold your NoseLarco Investment Ltd. has submitted a Site Plan Control application for the Château Laurier property. The City of Ottawa is looking for your input on the proposal. (City of Ottawa Feedback Form on the proposed Château Laurier... MoreMonday, December 12, 2016Castle on the LandscapeHaving written an op-ed piece in the Ottawa Citizen this week, you might think that I had said everything I could about the proposed addition to the Château Laurier. But the issue is both complicated and important, and I want to... MoreThursday, November 24, 2016Déjà VuAs promised, the revised design for the Château Laurier expansion was unveiled last week. It didn’t create anything like the media (and social media) storm that the first version did, partly because the message was much more... MoreThursday, November 17, 2016Old Buildings/New Forms: A Panel DiscussionToday (Thursday) is the day that the revised proposal for the addition to the Château Laurier is to be unveiled. We really need to get this right, so, it’s time to have a serious public conversation about what we should... MoreThursday, September 29, 2016Something Old, Something NewMaking an addition to a historic building is a fraught affair. As I discussed in my last blog, in Ontario we have a patchwork of rather loose guidelines that are mostly in agreement about the key points. But they are very lax by... MoreMonday, September 26, 2016What the Rules Say“We’re not permitted to mimic the heritage.” Art Phillips, director of development for Larco Investments Ltd. “The architects say that there is a by-law that prevents them from building an expansion that mimics the original... MoreThursday, September 22, 2016Imitation“Buildings must evolve to meet the needs of modern times, with modern designs.” Joanne Chianello “We need to create buildings of our time.” Peter Clewes Anyone who works in the fields of architecture or heritage has heard... MoreTuesday, September 20, 2016From Dialogue to DogmaIf architects had written a Declaration of Independence in the 20th century, it might have begun with the words: “We hold this truth to be self-evident, that all imitation of historical styles is repugnant and odious in the eyes of... MoreMonday, September 19, 2016Modern Ottawa: a Contradiction?The controversy over the proposed addition to the Château Laurier continues to sizzle. It’s great to have architecture at the centre of so much public discussion, but a few of the points being made really require more than the... MoreThursday, September 15, 2016Chateau in DistressWhen I worked in retail many years ago, the store owner used to encourage me to be aggressive when negotiating with suppliers. “Ask for the moon”, he would tell me, “and settle for half of it.” This is a strategy that has been... More Share: Twitter, Facebook Short URL: https://carleton.ca/aah/?p=4826
