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

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by roger1818

The big problem with using circles is it doesn't take geography into account. Physical briers such as water ways, highways, rail lines and escarpments will block access in locations where there is no safe crossing.

The map is also a little misleading as the main branch will be gone, so its circle will disappear, yet it is the same colour as all the other branches.

Here is my attempt at analyzing the catchments of branches. I used Google My Maps and you can find the link here. This allows you to zoom in and out as much as you want and add/remove different layers to see the effects.

It has all of the branches labelled and my estimate of their catchment areas. It is rather unscientific and there may be flaws (I particularly don't like the catchment for the Gloucester Branch, but don't know how to fix it). Here are some of the considerations I used for the catchments:

• I tried to take into account physical barriers and the ability to get through them,
• I tended to make the catchments for the suburban branches larger than the urban ones but I didn't use any particular rule for distance (just gut feeling).
• I tended to not include industrial areas and green space in the catchments where convenient, but wasn't hard and fast about that.
• I didn't add catchments for rural branches as they serve far more than the small community they are in, and thus the actual catchment is difficult to define.

I divided it up into layers (that you can turn on and off) as follows and each one is in a different colour:

• Main (Current)
• Main (Planned)
• Urban/Inner Suburban
• Outer Suberban/Rural
• My Proposed
• Boundaries

The "My Proposed" layer has branches that I believe should be added after looking at the catchment areas. It is not an exhaustive list but it would fill some of the biggest holes. I wouldn't expect all of them to be built immediately, but it would be a good basis for a plan (have any truly new branches been build since amalgamation?). For most of them I placed the marker in the approximate location without much real thought, though some were put near community centres. I added to the marker description, my rational behind the location. The branches include (in no particular order and some may be more important than others):

• Jack Purcell
• Navan
• Kirkwood
• Bayshore
• Barrhaven
• Hogs Back
• Bridalwood
• Manor Park

The Borders layer has a rough outline of the city border (hand drawn by me). I also wanted to add the Green Belt to this layer, but couldn't find a way to add it easily (if anyone can help with this, it would be appreciated).

I am very curious what other people think?

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Originally Posted by acottawa

1. The Rideau Branch is a branch in name only, it offers hardly any of the services of other branches so sandy hill and lower town users have the main branch as their de facto local library.

2. 1100m is an eleven minute walk at a brisk pace, longer for people who can't walk at a brisk pace. Blackburn hamlet is less than 11 minutes from Orleans or Gloucester but I am pretty sure residents would be pissed if their branch closed. Same for bells corner, manotick, Vanier, etc.

3. Centretown, byward market and sandy hill have 60,000 residents. So yes, they deserve their own local branch.

I live in Blackburn Hamlet. The local library is quite small with a small collection. You can order books from other branches to be picked up at Blackburn. The OPL has threatened to close it a couple of times , but has backed off when residents complained.

Sandy Hill residents (and others) with an OPL card can borrow books from the uOttawa main library. That library has a heck of a lot more books than our local branch libraries. The public, at least in Sandy Hill , should make more use of it. Anyone living on the LRT line who uses it as their main city transport method should consider using the uOttawa library as well come 2018

[rocketphish]

Now the hard part – ensuring the new library looks great

Rhys Phillips
Published on: March 1, 2017 | Last Updated: March 1, 2017 1:51 PM EST

On Feb. 8, Statistics Canada reported that Calgary had knocked Ottawa off its long-held perch as Canada’s fourth-largest city. The same day, Ottawa city council approved a proposal for a new central library. Both signalled how this city has slipped down the status ladder of Canadian metropoles.

It was not the passionately debated decision to situate the new library west of Bronson that was problematic. Instead, the long-delayed decision to design and build an appropriate main library comes at a time when Calgary is already in the final stages of building a stunning new library designed by the internationally renowned Norwegian firm Snøhetta (with Canadian associated firm DIALOG).

At $254 million, Calgary’s library is larger than our more modest $99-million library (not including the $69-million National Archives component.) Ottawa, however, is at least playing catch-up with the new fourth-largest city.

This said, the crucial question now is how we will secure city-defining architecture enclosing the dynamic functional space now de rigueur for libraries. The Canadian bar is high given Calgary’s excellent building or Halifax’s smaller, $55-million library designed by Denmark’s Schmidt Hammer Lassen, (with Canadian associated firm Fowler Bauld & Mitchell). The latter has already been declared a “must see” by CNN and a finalist for the World Building of the Year award.

Buried in the Ottawa Public Library Board’s approved report are decisions on how to obtain design excellence. Based on a recommendation from Deloitte, use of a public private partnership (P3) was rejected. Instead, Council accepted a “traditional” design-bid-build process over a Design Build model (that could have included a P3).

In the latter, a developer/builder is selected who is the architect’s client, not the city. Conversely, in the former the city selects the architect, approves the design and then obtains fixed-price bids for the build.

The issue now is how the city and its federal government partner will proceed to select an architect and design. There are three basic approaches – but not all are of equal merit.

The best approach is a two-stage open international design competition. For Helsinki’s $114-million Central Library, now under construction, a whopping 544 design submissions from around the world led to a shortlist of six for further elaboration. Finland’s own ALA Architects subsequently got the nod. A similar process was used for the award-winning Canadian Human Rights Museum (2010) in Winnipeg, with 100 initial design submissions.

Less dynamic, the second approach involves first a call for “expressions of interest.” Responding architecture firms undergo a vetting of qualifications and past work. Shortlisted firms then prepare actual designs. This process was used for the Calgary Library, although unfortunately designs were not publicly released until after the final selection was made. Two significant drawbacks are a tendency to exclude creative younger firms and limited visual options so important to broad public engagement.

The final and weakest option mimics the first phase of option 2 but also forgoes actual designs in stage two. Instead, shortlisted firms simply undergo a more rigorous vetting. A design surfaces only after the winner is selected. This could be called the “pig-in-a-poke” process for achieving a desired cultural icon. It depends heavily on the ability of the selection committee to ferret out an architect able to produce a striking design that responds to a city’s and a site’s unique sense of place.

Given the outcome in Halifax, where a Danish firm with a demonstrable record for designing top-notch libraries was selected (despite a higher fee), excellence may be achieved. But the risks are high, including the loss of public engagement and interest in architecture that inevitably emerges in a full competitive design process.

Ottawa may never again recapture its placing as the nation’s fourth-largest city; but, with an exhilarating, open international competition for its central library, it can reignite its status as one of the country’s leading creative cities.

Rhys Philips is an Ottawa architecture critic and associate editor of Building and Canadian Interiors.

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columni...art-ensuring-the-new-library-looks-great

[rocketphish]

Architects wanted: City sets preliminary timelines for Ottawa's new central library
Request for proposals for $168M 'super library' could be issued later this year

By Trevor Pritchard, CBC News
Posted: Mar 24, 2017 3:43 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 24, 2017 8:49 PM ET

Architects interested in building Ottawa's long-anticipated new central library, get those resumés ready.

A notice of planned procurement posted Friday on online tender site MERX sets out the timelines for a "two-stage competitive process" to build the $168-million flagship branch on the eastern edge of LeBreton Flats.

According to the notice, the city is looking for a design team that's completed a project of "similar size, scope and complexity" to what's been proposed for the so-called "super library": a 216,000 square-foot facility that the Ottawa Public Library would share with Library and Archives Canada.

City council gave the go-ahead last month to build the library on the municipally owned land at 557 Wellington St. after three years of studies, reports and consultations.

More than half of the library's space would go to the city branch.

While the city is looking for a firm with serious credentials, the notice isn't requiring experience building either a library or an archive.

"Other relevant project experience could include buildings of national, provincial, institutional or civic importance such as cultural institutions, performing arts centres or museums," the notice says.

The city's preliminary schedule would see a request for qualifications issued in the second quarter of 2017, which would lead to a short list of acceptable firms.

A request for proposals would follow in the third quarter of 2017. The "ideal team" would also be able to manage and conduct public consultations, the notice says.

Although the federal government hasn't approved the partnership yet, the plan has been for the library's groundbreaking to be held in mid-2018, construction to begin in 2020, and an opening date in 2022.

There have been arguments against the Wellington Street site, however, which is bounded by Albert and Commissioner streets and the Confederation Line, and is about 250 metres away from the future Pimisi LRT station.

One of the major criticisms has been that the site is not close enough to where downtown residents currently live.

As well, some have argued that its impending location below the Nanny Goat Hill escarpment could make it less accessible for people with mobility issues.

Ottawa Public Library CEO Danielle McDonald told CBC News Friday afternoon that the ability to consult with the public on the library's design would be a major factor in choosing the winning bid — and urged people unhappy with the Wellington Street site not to give up hope.

"We want everybody to come to the space," McDonald said. "This is the location that has been selected, [but] I think there's still a lot of room in terms of how the site's going to evolve."

McDonald said she hoped the award-winning Halifax Central Library, which opened 2014, could provide inspiration for design teams in their submissions.

But she added that elements of a successful 21st century library already exist in Ottawa on a smaller scale at Kanata's Beaverbrook branch, which also underwent a major redesign between 2013 and 2014.

"That's won awards, not only for design but for sustainability," said McDonald. "It really is kind of our signature library, and where we want to go."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-central-library-architect-posting-1.4039410

[kwoldtimer]

What's the track record re federal contributions to other large municipal library projects in recent years (eg Kitchener, Halifax, Calgary)?

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

But she added that elements of a successful 21st century library already exist in Ottawa on a smaller scale at Kanata's Beaverbrook branch, which also underwent a major redesign between 2013 and 2014.

"That's won awards, not only for design but for sustainability," said McDonald. "It really is kind of our signature library, and where we want to go."

Setting the bar really high I see.

[eltodesukane]

The libraries at Merivale, Elmvale Acres, Alta Vista need a major redesign and expansion.
This is more important to many than the central library.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

The libraries at Merivale, Elmvale Acres, Alta Vista need a major redesign and expansion.
This is more important to many than the central library.

Could Elmvale Acres be done, at least in part, as part of a "community benefits" package for a future, denser, Elmvale Acres redevelopment?

[rocketphish]

Parking requirements for super library delayed until summer

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: May 9, 2017 | Last Updated: May 9, 2017 2:29 PM EDT

The city hasn’t finished figuring out what to do about parking at the recommended location for a new super library on LeBreton Flats.

At the council meeting on Feb. 8, council directed staff to complete a “detailed study into the parking requirements” related to the Ottawa Public Library main branch, which is proposed to be a joint project with Library and Archives Canada.

A recommendation on parking was supposed to come back to council by March, but it will be delayed by about four months.

“The assessment with respect to the parking requirements for the new central library is in the process of being finalized,” wrote Scott Caldwell, area manager of Transitway and parking, in an email last week.

“The analysis and staff recommendations will be brought forward to the library board and council in June and July respectively as part of the report on the implementation of the project as a whole.”

Parking isn’t included in the preliminary $168-million estimate for the new facility to be built on LeBreton Flats, just west of Bronson Avenue. The city needs to determine how much parking it needs at the building, how much it will cost to build, where it will go and who will operate it.

As part of the due diligence on site location, the OPL’s site evaluators looked at properties’ capabilities of having a parking garage holding 200 vehicles.

There’s no word on whether the complete development timeline has changed, too.

But if council in July votes on the package — the funding strategy for the city’s $99-million contribution, the parking requirements and the agreement with Library and Archives Canada — the project will be pretty close to the timelines approved by council in February. Construction would happen over the course of the next council term.

[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news...s-for-super-library-delayed-until-summer

[FutureWickedCity]

Does the current Main Branch even have any parking at all? It should be even less of a concern at the new site, since it will practically adjoin a transit station.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by FutureWickedCity

Does the current Main Branch even have any parking at all? It should be even less of a concern at the new site, since it will practically adjoin a transit station.

The current library is very centrally located especially for office workers and frankly is not much more than a regional branch. A true central library with programming will attract people from further afield many of whom will want to drive.

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by FutureWickedCity

Does the current Main Branch even have any parking at all? It should be even less of a concern at the new site, since it will practically adjoin a transit station.

I take the bus past the library site and Pimisi Station everyday now. I wouldn't say they "practically adjoin". The more I ride past there is the more I think they need to be even closer, if not directly connected.

[rocketphish]

Here's the best way to design a new central library

Stig Harvor & Tony Griffiths
Published on: May 29, 2017 | Last Updated: May 29, 2017 2:06 PM EDT

After decades of delay in committing to a worthy new central library, followed by an extended sharp debate over location, the city and its federal government partner have been surprisingly quick off the mark to impose their design selection process.

But instead of producing the “iconic” architecture so often promoted, will the result of this rather opaque process be instead an “ironic” new central library and archives?

Why ironic? First, the new central library will be away from the city’s central district. But second, the council’s follow-up decision to secure a city-defining design may ironically end up being the very process that torpedoes the council’s noble objective.

The vision of a “brilliant modern design” was originally expressed in 2010 by the library board and city dignitaries at the well-attended Great Cities/Great Libraries Conference. The library would demonstrate Ottawa as a city where not good but excellent design defines the public realm.

But council’s long-awaited Feb. 8 decision was followed quickly by a pre-emptive announcement of a request for qualifications selection process. This bureaucrat-centric process sacrifices transparency and lively public engagement on proposed designs by requiring no competing designs.

Instead of the open, often international, architecture design competitions almost always employed for public buildings in Europe and in spite of Canadian examples, such as many of Quebec’s libraries, Toronto city hall, Winnipeg’s Museum of Human Rights and the Edmonton’s Alberta Art Gallery, Ottawa will settle for a design-less paper review.

Phase one this spring will be the request for qualifications. After officials conduct their paper assessment of qualifications, a request for proposals will be issued to a shortlist of firms will go out, but again foregoing any actual designs. Once selected in late 2017, just one “winning” firm will consult with the public and propose a design sometime in 2018.

You might well ask: “Is this not a sensible process? It is familiar, prudent and frequently used, indicating an appropriately cautious administration intent on getting on with the job.” This is superficially true, it unfortunately closes the door to everyone except large, well-established, often familiar firms with long track records of similar-sized functional projects.

New or smaller, design-oriented firms founder very quickly on the question: “Forget about all the ideas you may have, just how many jobs of this size have you completed?” If the answer is none, the assessors mark their score sheets zero. For nervous politicians and cautious taxpayers this may seem reasonable. Significant disadvantages, however, include: who decides which firm is worthy? Based on attention to what criteria? And what if the final design is a bust?”

Most significantly, public engagement and interest in rebooting attention to city-defining architecture is mostly lost.

There is, however, a time-tested alternative for the city, using clearly defined requirements, including budget. This is a two-stage open international architecture design competition where design submissions are sought worldwide from interested, qualified architects. These are assessed by a jury of respected design professionals with the assistance of functional experts. Four or five winning submissions are then paid a modest stipend to prepare more detailed drawings and models.

At both stages, submissions are publicly exhibited, usually generating great public engagement.

As history has shown, such an approach often generates worldwide interest, the discovery of exceptional new talent and refreshing architectural contributions. This is not a financially risky approach. In addition to a long history of cost-effective competitions, there are the well established regulations of the International Union of Architects endorsed by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Costing professionals are part of the process ensuring that the selected design is no more risky than the current, less creative approach. And what if that small, exciting firm wins? There is a long history of requiring partnerships between such winners and experienced firms.

Instead of fading away in this digital age, libraries have become even more vital as public places; often, wonderful architecture has been their handmaiden.

Ottawa, it is not too late to take the right road.

Tony Griffiths and Stig Harvor are retired architects.

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columni...best-way-to-design-a-new-central-library

[kwoldtimer]

I assume that the selection method is based on the cost of the process?

[eltodesukane]

All are concerned about the new central library, which will be iconic and monumental and who knows what else.
Meanwhile, many neighborhood libraries are very inadequate, in need of renovation and expansion.
-
At my local library, there are 4 computers on 4 tiny tables facing each other, with no room to put down a sheet of paper or a book.
Impossible to look at the monitor without also looking into the eyes of the person facing you.
Of course those 4 computers are always taken, so one must reserve a place ahead of time, possibly at an inconvenient time.
Need to drop there before going to school? Well, it never opens earlier than 10am, or 1pm on friday.
Friday evening a good time for you? Well, it closes at 6pm.
Sunday's a good time for you? Well it's closed on Sunday.
Of course it's also closed on any holiday whatsoever.
-
The central library may be central, but quite very far for those living on Heron, Walkley, Alta Vista, St Laurent, Hunt Club, Woodroffe, Baseline, Merivale, Nepean, Orleans, Kanata, Barrhaven.
Which is why neighborhood libraries are important.

[Arcologist]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

All are concerned about the new central library, which will be iconic and monumental and who knows what else.
Meanwhile, many neighborhood libraries are very inadequate, in need of renovation and expansion.
-
At my local library, there are 4 computers on 4 tiny tables facing each other, with no room to put down a sheet of paper or a book.
Impossible to look at the monitor without also looking into the eyes of the person facing you.
Of course those 4 computers are always taken, so one must reserve a place ahead of time, possibly at an inconvenient time.
Need to drop there before going to school? Well, it never opens earlier than 10am, or 1pm on friday.
Friday evening a good time for you? Well, it closes at 6pm.
Sunday's a good time for you? Well it's closed on Sunday.
Of course it's also closed on any holiday whatsoever.
-
The central library may be central, but quite very far for those living on Heron, Walkley, Alta Vista, St Laurent, Hunt Club, Woodroffe, Baseline, Merivale, Nepean, Orleans, Kanata, Barrhaven.
Which is why neighborhood libraries are important.

No one ever argued that neighbourhood libraries aren't important. But no one can deny that the downtown location is just not cutting it anymore, which is why we're building a new central branch. I don't think that means we're ignoring other branches because of it - in fact, Kanata just got a newly-renovated Beaverbrook library in the past couple of years, and I assume other branches across town will also get facelifts as money becomes available...

[kevinbottawa]

Federal decision on super-library may not come until end of year: library board chair

Tierney admits library staff and board may have been 'very optimistic' on timeline

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Posted: Jun 21, 2017 6:32 AM ET Last Updated: Jun 21, 2017 6:32 AM ET

The city may not know until late this year whether the federal government will enter into a partnership for a super-library in downtown Ottawa, according to the chair of the Ottawa Public Library board.

"At this point we're going to see what happens, we've got to wait until the feds come back if we're partnering or not," Coun. Tim Tierney, who chairs the library board, said after Tuesday evening's meeting.

"I'm feeling very positive about it still, and we'll find out later on towards the end of the year … it is truly up to the federal government at this point."

Council funding of project delayed indefinitely

In February, council approved a plan for a $168-million super library that would combine a city central branch and federal archives in a single 216,000-square-foot complex at city-owned land at 557 Wellington St., on the eastern edge of LeBreton Flats. The city is to pay $99 million for 133,000 square feet of space, while the federal government would contribute $69 million.

The city finance and economic development committee was supposed to consider a funding strategy for the library at its meeting this month, with full council signing off on the money for the project at its last meeting before summer break in mid-July.

The schedule for the financing decision is now up in the air. As well, councillors were supposed to hear about a parking plan — which is not included in the $168-million budget — for the new central library in March. That plan has also not materialized.

Neither Tierney nor library CEO Danielle McDonald could say whether the delay in the federal decision-making would change the overall timeline for the project. The ground-breaking for the combined library-archives is supposed to be next spring.

However, the chair did admit that the timeline the library board and staff adopted was too sunny.

"Maybe we were very optimistic in our thinking about the timelines," Tierney said. "That being said, we've got to give allowances to the government, we've got to give them a bit of rope, and see if the opportunity exists. I feel very positive about it, but we're simply not there at this point."

City won't move ahead on its own — yet

McDonald pointed out that some aspects of the project are still moving ahead, the most important of which is a request for qualifications, which closes at the end of this month. But that RFQ is based on the presumption that the city is partnering with the federal archives.

Although the council approved a back-up plan to build a central library on its own, the city is waiting for a federal decision.

"We wll not move ahead until we can find out whether there is an opportunity for a relationship or not," Tierney said.

According to an emailed statement from Library and Archives spokesman Richard Provencher, the delay is due to the complexities on governance, ownership and operations for this "unprecedented" collaboration between the municipal and federal governments.

"It is just taking us a bit longer than we had originally anticipated," wrote Provencher.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/federal-decision-ottawa-library-delayed-1.4170343

[kevinbottawa]

The more I take the bus past the library site everyday is the more I don't like the location. I think it would be better at Albert and Booth right next to Pimisi Station (as the Sens and Devcore envisioned it I believe).

[acottawa]

The city is going to regret ever getting involved with LAC

[rocketphish]

Is the city wavering on its commitment to an 'iconic' new library?

Mohammed Adam, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: June 15, 2017 | Last Updated: June 15, 2017 5:06 PM EDT

The City of Ottawa promised us an iconic new library, a building “that will be talked about for decades to come,” according to Mayor Jim Watson. Watson even said he was open to the idea of an international competition to bring out the best designs.

But the process city adopted for the project and the terms of the call for prospective builders are raising questions about the commitment to architectural excellence.

First, the city ditched the idea of an international design competition in favour of bids from individual firms who would design and build the library. Anyone who follows major building projects in the city knows that whether it is the National Capital Commission or the municipal government, Ottawa has a particular aversion to design competitions. So it wasn’t particularly surprising that the city chose a so-called design-build concept.

More worrisome is that under the process outlined by the city in its initial call for bidders, an architectural team could be chosen without anyone seeing a preliminary design or having any idea of how the library might look. “A final architectural design firm could be selected without ever having to propose a single illustration of what it could do in Ottawa,” Jevone Nicholas, chair of advocacy group Bookmark the Core, complained in the Citizen. “The city is on a path that will lower our chances of having a new architectural landmark.”

Coun. Catherine McKenney, who sits on the library board, agrees, noting she voted against the process approved by council. “Everybody wants to see an iconic building but without a design competition we are not guaranteed that,” she said. “The process we have doesn’t mean we won’t get a great design, but it doesn’t guarantee it. When you are looking at the kind of money we are looking to put on the library, we should be sure it’s an iconic building.”

The problem has to do with the Request for Qualification the city issued last month, seeking firms interested in designing the library. The document describes a two-stage process that begins with the RFQ and then the Request for Proposals, the stage at which five shortlisted architectural teams would compete for the winning design. “In their proposals,” the city document says, “the design service providers will not submit actual designs for the building.”

The design work, to be done in three phases, would begin once a winner is picked. It is probably fair to exclude design work at the preliminary RFQ stage given the idea here is to gauge the level of interest and expertise before drawing up a shortlist of serious contenders. But it doesn’t make much sense to have a shortlist of five finalists and not require them to deliver some actual design in order to judge their capabilities.

On what basis, one may ask, would the city be picking the winning design team? And what if, after the fact, the successful bidder comes up with a bad design? Is the city then going to settle for just a functional building?

Marco Manconi, the city’s infrastructure manager and head of the library project, explained that the city is at a very preliminary stage in the building process and things would change as plans are firmed up. He said the city has not reached the stage at which shortlisted firms would be asked to submit proposals so there’s still time to build in some design requirements. “We are still flushing the RFP so there may be an opportunity to see some design,” he said.

Coun. Tim Tierney, chair of the library board, defended the city’s process, saying Halifax did the same thing for its internationally acclaimed library. Tierney said any suggestion the city is wavering or abandoning its commitment to “iconic architecture” is wrong. “We are the national capital and we should have something that people can come to Ottawa and make a tourist destination,” he said.

Fine words. Still there’s a long way to go, so let’s stay engaged and maintain the pressure to make sure the city delivers.

Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa writer.

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columni...-its-commitment-to-an-iconic-new-library