It’s Design B. Jury selects less flashy urban park proposal
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Design+Jury+selects+less+flashy+urban+park+proposal/3124530/story.html
BY RANDALL DENLEY, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN JUNE 7, 2010 11:28 PM BE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT
The winning proposal for a new urban space at Lansdowne Park comes with an estimated cost of $68 million. However, a design-competition jury is expected to suggest that millions could be saved by eliminating the proposal’s canal bridge and artificial island.
Photograph by: Handout, Lansdowne design team
OTTAWA — The jury recommending the design for Lansdowne Park’s public space will announce this morning that its choice is a proposal from the Vancouver designers Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg, the Citizen has learned.
Referred to as Design B in the public presentations, the winning proposal is one of the simplest of the five plans the jury reviewed. Despite that, it is far from the cheapest at an estimated cost of $68 million. The jury is expected to recommend substantial changes to the winning plan that will reduce the cost by more than $20 million.
The changes will eliminate or delay two of the most striking features of the winning plan. Design B featured an elaborate bridge linking Ottawa East with Lansdowne. The modern, curving bridge was intended to act as a “passage and gathering place,” according to the team’s proposal. It would have extended up into a screen creating a backdrop of water images for the large lawn that is part of the plan. At $16 million, it was a pricey feature. The city might still construct a bridge linking Lansdowne to the east side of the canal, but it is likely to be something less grandiose.
One of the more intriguing aspects of the proposal was an artificial island anchored in the Rideau Canal. It would have allowed people to get to the water’s edge easily and to tie up boats. It was also to be the home to two pavilions connected to the area’s Algonquin heritage. The seven-member jury is recommending delaying or eliminating the island, which was budgeted at $8 million.
The cost will be further pared by lowering the $5 million allotted for stormwater management.
Most of the proponents included the stormwater costs for the entire site in their plans, although much of that cost will ultimately be attributed to the commercial part of the site.
The preferred design, which must be approved by city council, still entails some major features. It will have a large lawn for public events, similar to the lawn on Parliament Hill. There is a “water plaza” that will feature an upscale fountain called “the Beacon” and act as a skating rink in winter. The Vancouver proposal makes much less use of water than some of its competitors, but avoids a fight with Parks Canada over changing the Rideau Canal.
All the design teams struggled to find an appropriate modern use for the Aberdeen Pavilion. In this plan, it will continue to act as an exhibit hall, although if trade shows do move to a new building near the airport, it’s not entirely clear what business will be left for the Aberdeen.
The fate of the Horticulture Building is one of the controversies at Lansdowne. Heritage groups oppose moving it and the winning design team agrees that it should not be moved, describing such a move as “an embarrassment” because of the canal’s world heritage status. The jury will recommend that the building be moved anyway, arguing that the key goal is the creation of a farmers’ plaza linking the Horticulture and Aberdeen buildings. That also fits with the city’s private-sector partners’ desire to move the building to allow more commercial space.
The winning design incorporates the Glebe’s Sylvia Holden Park into its plan, but retains and enhances its neighbourhood uses. Also included in the plan are heirloom orchards, community gardens and substantial plantings of trees.
The jury of design experts, representatives of the city, Parks Canada and the National Capital Commission has chosen a proposal that has very little to dislike. It offers lots of greenery, open spaces and some features for a price that will be affordable, spread over a few years. All that should increase its chances of acceptance by the public and council.
It’s certainly not the flashiest design on offer. That would have been the one with the retractable front on the Aberdeen Pavilion and more water on the site. It would have been spectacular, but higher-risk because of the cost and Parks Canada’s reluctance to allow a canal inlet at Lansdowne.
The plan the jury will recommend is a solid one, but councillors shouldn’t be too quick to give up on the idea of diverting the canal onto the site. Work on the park wouldn’t start until 2013, so there is plenty of time to explore whether there is federal political support for restoring the historic inlet at Lansdowne, even if today’s bureaucrats aren’t on-side.
While the recommended plan falls short of the ideal, it will be an immense improvement over the Lansdowne of today.
Contact Randall Denley at 613-596-3756 or by e-mail,
[email protected]
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