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  #481  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2022, 2:52 PM
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Originally Posted by GeoNerd View Post
Well, the unthinkable has happened. Moon is a finalist in the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association Annual Housing Design Awards!!
LOL... this is what happens when you lower your standards.

Ottawa deserves better.
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  #482  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2022, 2:54 PM
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Originally Posted by GeoNerd View Post
Well, the unthinkable has happened. Moon is a finalist in the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association Annual Housing Design Awards!!
Two things:

1) Something has to be nominated, right?
2) I think Moon is actually really well done. It blends in with its environment, its scale is appropriate for the location, it's integrated with the LRT station at street level, and it really looms over Lyon, particularly when viewed from the south.

I know we love to pile on Claridge here but this is actually a fine build, IMO.
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  #483  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2022, 3:15 PM
bartlebooth bartlebooth is offline
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Originally Posted by 905er View Post
LOL... this is what happens when you lower your standards.

Ottawa deserves better.
These awards have always been a joke. The GOHBA exists to promote and advocate for their membership. That's it. So yeah, we're going to see "awards" given to crap buildings/developers because they aren't in the business of challenging their membership and their membership is comprised of crap developers/builders. I'd love to see meaningful architectural criticism in this city. Local media did that a million years ago (to a very small degree but still). Too bad that went away. I totally agree though that Ottawa deserves better
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  #484  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2022, 4:11 PM
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Originally Posted by JHikka View Post
I think Moon is actually really well done. It blends in with its environment, its scale is appropriate for the location, it's integrated with the LRT station at street level, and it really looms over Lyon, particularly when viewed from the south.

I know we love to pile on Claridge here but this is actually a fine build, IMO.
I can’t tell if you’re serious or trolling me. Lol

This seems to be a bargain basement design from street level. The aesthetic appeal is worth 20% of the award criteria. I can’t see Moon getting anything above 0% in aesthetic appeal. Charcoal brick slab tower with almost no architectural value. They didn’t even add a single tree, plant, or landscaping at all at street level.

I don’t know if looming over a street is a positive. There is no distinct podium or setbacks on this project. The transit station integration is minimal. I believe they more or less just built above it. They basically broke every tall building guideline the city has, yet it was ”somehow” approved quite easily
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  #485  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2022, 4:34 PM
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Moon is a hot steaming pile of garbage IMHO. It's barely better than the concrete monstrosities built in the area in the 60s and 70s.
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  #486  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2022, 5:13 PM
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Originally Posted by GeoNerd View Post
I can’t tell if you’re serious or trolling me. Lol

This seems to be a bargain basement design from street level. The aesthetic appeal is worth 20% of the award criteria. I can’t see Moon getting anything above 0% in aesthetic appeal. Charcoal brick slab tower with almost no architectural value. They didn’t even add a single tree, plant, or landscaping at all at street level.

I don’t know if looming over a street is a positive. There is no distinct podium or setbacks on this project. The transit station integration is minimal. I believe they more or less just built above it. They basically broke every tall building guideline the city has, yet it was ”somehow” approved quite easily
I'm reluctant to play the devil's advocate here, but the building isn't complete yet. The ground level is still surrounded by scaffolding. We'll see about landscaping once everything's done and cleaned-up.

That said, only buildings that are actually complete and occupied should qualify for these "awards".

If they can actually get a grocery store in there, than maybe that will somewhat forgive the patchy design and lack of set-backs.
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  #487  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2022, 5:24 PM
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Originally Posted by GeoNerd View Post
I can’t tell if you’re serious or trolling me. Lol
Why would I troll?

Like I get that people here hate Claridge but at some point that hate seems to reach an excessive level. This project is fine and easily better than most other projects they've spit out.
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  #488  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2022, 5:42 PM
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Originally Posted by JHikka View Post
Why would I troll?

Like I get that people here hate Claridge but at some point that hate seems to reach an excessive level. This project is fine and easily better than most other projects they've spit out.
It's better than the Claridge Plazas and Onyx. Maybe better than phase I and II of LeBreton (though NCC gets a lot of blame for that one). Better quality than Icon, but obviously a much more basic design.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being Claridge's best project (700 Sussex? TriBeCa?), I'd give this one a 6. Solidly in the middle of the pack.
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  #489  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2022, 6:33 PM
originalmuffins originalmuffins is offline
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Originally Posted by JHikka View Post
Why would I troll?

Like I get that people here hate Claridge but at some point that hate seems to reach an excessive level. This project is fine and easily better than most other projects they've spit out.
I agree with you. This isn't like the other builds on Rideau, this is vastly better. In fact, it creates great scaling and intensification of the western portion of the downtown core once the 400 Albert street towers go up. It's bringing a lot to the table for the area..
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  #490  
Old Posted Aug 17, 2022, 2:30 AM
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Originally Posted by JHikka View Post
Why would I troll?

Like I get that people here hate Claridge but at some point that hate seems to reach an excessive level. This project is fine and easily better than most other projects they've spit out.
I have nothing against Claridge. Despite the bait and switch, I actually quite like Icon. But when you built some absolute bargain basement architectural duds like Moon and Royale you're bound to take some heat. It's pretty much cookie cutter vertical sprawl. We as a city should not be accepting projects that are just "fine" or inoffensive. That goes for all the major developers.
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  #491  
Old Posted Aug 17, 2022, 2:37 AM
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Originally Posted by J.OT13 View Post
I'm reluctant to play the devil's advocate here, but the building isn't complete yet. The ground level is still surrounded by scaffolding. We'll see about landscaping once everything's done and cleaned-up.
No, I mean there is zero street level landscaping. It's not coming down the road when the scaffolding is removed. The pavers and cycle track are a nice addition, but there simply isn't one street level tree or plant. Approved landscape plan:

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  #492  
Old Posted Aug 17, 2022, 12:14 PM
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Well that's disappointing.
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  #493  
Old Posted Aug 17, 2022, 5:28 PM
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Missed opportunity then. The Delta and Constitution Square have some nice tree cover on the sidewalks immediately east.
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  #494  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2022, 6:24 AM
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I went and took a very close look at Moon today. I did a full lap and a half around the building and spent more time looking at it than I ever have previously now that it is shaping up.

I first exited Lyon station to the north and sat down across the street. I probably spent 5 minutes looking at this and pondered.



My first thought was how similar the glazing and dummy panels were to Royale. Not a bad thing. I like the ratio of glazing to brick. I like how the balconies are recessed as opposed to Loop. I'm wondering if what we see now as blue skin will get turned into beige brick, not sure how I feel about that. It is one heck of a monolithic slab though and it could have used an element aside from swapping brick color.




I like this. But at the same time I don't get the massive vertical beige brick column. It should say the name of the building in letters like Hillside did. Or perhaps some low key vertical LED strip. Some type of relief or feature of any sort. It's peculiar. I dig the ratio of glazing though.



And here you go.. the most prominent angle of the building from a distance is pretty crappy. Like.. are those Titanic ocean liner portals for windows? WTF







The balcony glass is .. strange. It looks like a stiff breeze would blow it over.

I don't get why they don't have 1 piece of support on the outside corners. For the 90 degrees spot that have a pair of supports spaced as such I found it visually distracting. I dunno.



And here is the answer to one of the biggest questions I've had for a while now. What on earth were they going to fill in those blueskin sections with? It's the same material as the dummy panels in between the windows as they rise each floor. I'm ok with that. I wonder if some of the other blueskinned sections you see in the other photos will get the same treatment. The crosses are stupid though. No more crosses.


So in conclusion.. bit of a mixed bag of feelings.

I wish the terrace thing over the shorter section was more chunky like they show in the renders. Right now it looks so tiny and spindly given the scale of the rest of the building. They should have fattened that up. Some white LED accent lighting would be cherry.

Materials quality looks to be on point for the most part.

The northwest corner is a real let down. It's bad, really bad.

The two taller towers could have really used a roof feature to help break up how plainly vertical they are.

No direct LRT connection unless the Kool-Aid guy shows up.

It's pretty average overall and only needed a bit of creative details that aren't swapping brick color to give it a little nudge in the right direction.
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  #495  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2022, 10:23 AM
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@ponyboycurtis, I loved your review with supporting images, and totally agree, do more of these in the future with other buildings.

What did you think of the monolithic nature of the building, I like how they tried to break it up, but find that it ends up looking like a mishmash of styles with little cohesion. I do like that it brings a ton of people to the area and a grocery store(?), which will be nice too.
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  #496  
Old Posted Aug 20, 2022, 7:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Glenlivet Ave View Post
@ponyboycurtis, I loved your review with supporting images, and totally agree, do more of these in the future with other buildings.

What did you think of the monolithic nature of the building, I like how they tried to break it up, but find that it ends up looking like a mishmash of styles with little cohesion. I do like that it brings a ton of people to the area and a grocery store(?), which will be nice too.
Thanks, I appreciate that.

Monolithic nature would have been fine if they didn't leave the ugliest and least interesting face the most visible one when viewed from the War Museum area. The Park Square buildings next door to the west aren't going anywhere. Just about all the other vantage points that don't look like ass are kinda of hemmed in by other buildings(or will be after 400 Albert)

As I stated before.. a roofline detail and perhaps some LED accent lighting would go a long way.
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  #497  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2022, 12:46 PM
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Thanks for the analysis Ponyboy!

I find the north and east sides relatively well done. Clean, modern simple and not too much patchiness. Towers are also decently set-back on those façades.

The south façde could benefit for a more pronounced set-back. That's also where we see the now common Claridge randomness of materials and placement.

Then we have the mostly blank west façades, which of course are the most visible. I would have preferred that they would have switched the black and beige brick. No doubt there's some sort of fire code that dictates the blank faces at the lot line, but they could have done murals to make the buildings more instresting.


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/charleson-finger-paint-yaletown-vancouver-public-art-mural

A roof feature could also have been great considering the prominence of these towers. Nothing taller will ever be built across the street on Queen. As far as I can recall, Claridge only once added a really (by Ottawa standards) pinnacle feature, TriBeCa.


https://capitalcondos.ca/property/179-metcalfe/
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  #498  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2022, 7:11 PM
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A mural or feature would certainly go a long way.

It never occurred to be about the blank faces at the lot line being fire code. That's a shame either way.

If they had wrapped the same windows around and perhaps added stepped terrace units at the top we would definitely be talking about a different building.



Forgive my crude drawing but you get the idea. You would be sacrificing a couple units but could extract much better value at the same time. Imagine the views and having a private rooftop patio.
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  #499  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2022, 12:27 PM
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Originally Posted by ponyboycurtis View Post
A mural or feature would certainly go a long way.

It never occurred to be about the blank faces at the lot line being fire code. That's a shame either way.

If they had wrapped the same windows around and perhaps added stepped terrace units at the top we would definitely be talking about a different building.

Forgive my crude drawing but you get the idea. You would be sacrificing a couple units but could extract much better value at the same time. Imagine the views and having a private rooftop patio.
That would have been cool. Doesn't need to be an expensive roof feature, a few steps down for terraces (maybe a few trees up there) would have made a huge difference. Fewer units, but more expensive units.

With something like that, they could have tried to propose a few extra floors. I think it's just outside the view plane.
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  #500  
Old Posted Aug 22, 2022, 12:46 PM
OTownandDown OTownandDown is offline
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Thanks, Ponyboy for the photos and analysis.

Now, all I really, really need is a 360 photo or video of the canyon here, and at the Claridge Plaza 3.
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