Lofty Westboro [2050 Scott St] | 92m | 30f | Proposed

[waterloowarrior]

https://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans...appId=__B2WKO7

Surface Developments

[rocketphish]

Surface Developments' proposed development is seeking to introduce a 30-storey mixed-use high-rise apartment building to the site known as 2050-2046 Scott Street and 301, 299, 295 Ashton Avenue (the ‘subject lands’). The building will contain a ground floor commercial component with a yet to be determined tenant. The commercial unit will be accessible directly from Scott Street and is proposed at approximately 233 square metres. A total of 353 dwelling units are proposed for the building as a mix of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units. Parking is proposed to be accommodated through underground parking located beneath the building and accessible via a ramp on the east side of the building. A total of 204 vehicle parking spaces and 292 bicycle parking spaces are proposed for the underground parking garage.


Architect: rla/architecture


Location:






Siteplan:




Renderings:






















Streetscape:

[BlueJay]

I give up.

[OTownandDown]

This is Ottawa. Wouldn't want to rock the boat.

Although, this is starting to look a bit like Ambleside/Lincoln Fields...

[SkeggsEggs]

As usual I like the height - but man I wish these developers would use a different architect every once in a while!

[OTSkyline]

How uninspiring... This literally looks like any other development copy-pasted in Ottawa

[Harley613]

I saw the thread title and crossed my fingers and thought as I clicked 'PLEASE DON'T BE RODERICK LAHEY COPY PASTE GARBAGE, PLEASE DON'T BE RODERICK LAHEY COPY PASTE GARBAGE, PLEASE DON'T BE RODERICK LAHEY COPY PASTE GARBAGE,'

Sigh....

[11a2b3]

Does RLA have a special "arrangement" with city?

Page and Steele designed Metropole. Why not more of them?

[Multi-modal]

I know RLA is a particularly bad offender, but surely some blame must be placed on City planners and the Urban Design Review Panel, no?

So many times comments from the Urban Design Review Panel encourage mediocrity in the name of "blending in with the surrounding community". For example, "The panel encourages additional use of red brick façade to echo they typical palette of the surrounding homes" or something. Sometimes they even encourage towers to look more like other mediocre towers nearby.

In so many ways the architects are designing mediocre building because they know that is what is going to pass by City planners with as little scrutiny as possible. The City needs to do the opposite - allow exceptional and unique ideas to pass, and demand more from RLA, Neuf, and others.

[Multi-modal]

I should add though that I would be fine with less scrutiny of mediocre designs if that led to more affordable units, but that doesn't seem to be happening here.

Who knows, maybe with the glut of new rentals/condos around Westboro Station the units will actually be reasonably priced .

[JHikka]

I agree that the design is boring and copy-pasted from other projects but 350 additional dwelling units in this neighbourhood this close to Westboro Station is still a big get.

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by Multi-modal

I know RLA is a particularly bad offender, but surely some blame must be placed on City planners and the Urban Design Review Panel, no?

So many times comments from the Urban Design Review Panel encourage mediocrity in the name of "blending in with the surrounding community". For example, "The panel encourages additional use of red brick façade to echo they typical palette of the surrounding homes" or something. Sometimes they even encourage towers to look more like other mediocre towers nearby.

In so many ways the architects are designing mediocre building because they know that is what is going to pass by City planners with as little scrutiny as possible. The City needs to do the opposite - allow exceptional and unique ideas to pass, and demand more from RLA, Neuf, and others.

I mean, I'd be fine with red brick if only because it'd be some colour compared to all the grey and black RLA seem to only come up with. But yeah, this is disheartening and the City should step in or come with a design guidelines to call on architectural, material, and colour variation in proposals lest we have streets that look depressing. I'm actually starting to become opposed to highrise buildings if all we get is this.

How many major projects are proposed in Ottawa where RLA have their signature depressing colour scheme?

Surface Developments are the developer for this, the same that did that apartment building by Parkdale where they changed it from a 5-storey, reddish brick building to 6 storeys with grey concrete cladding...

[rocketphish]

I agree that this building looks like every other mundane RLA project in town. But I have to wonder if part of the blame lies with the end-user... the purchaser or renter. There isn't as much disposable income floating around Ottawa as there is in Toronto or Vancouver, for example. If a builder was willing to pay to construct a fancier more elaborate design, they would have to pass on the costs to the buyer\renter. Perhaps the buyers and renters in Ottawa are driving all this mediocrity because they aren't willing to pay for better? They only want (or are able) to pay for "good enough".

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

I agree that this building looks like every other mundane RLA project in town. But I have to wonder if part of the blame lies with the end-user... the purchaser or renter. There isn't as much disposable income floating around Ottawa as there is in Toronto or Vancouver, for example. If a builder was willing to pay to construct a fancier more elaborate design, they would have to pass on the costs to the buyer\renter. Perhaps the buyers and renters in Ottawa are driving all this mediocrity because they aren't willing to pay for better? They only want (or are able) to pay for "good enough".

I agree somewhat, but the average person looking for a place to live doesn't have too much of a choice over the price of the place they wish to live in. Most of these apartment buildings charge crazy rents that most of us wouldn't be willing to pay, but considering we don't have much of a say 'cause we need a place to live, we put up with the $2000 apartments. Truthfully, it's on the architects and developers for these designs because they can make attractive buildings that aren't expensive, but the developers want to be able to charge as much as they can and spend as little at the same time. The consumer just puts up with what's available. That's why I'm a proponent of pushing for good/ interesting design because the developers and architects they hire won't do it otherwise.

I wonder how the costs of new condos and apartments and Montreal is compared to Ottawa. They manage to make new buildings that are really neat architecturally. Are those more expensive than ours?

[citizen j]

I’d like to see some vibrant colour — bright red, chrome yellow, cobalt, chartreuse. Anything. But barring that, I’ll take black over beige/greige and brown.

[OTownandDown]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

I agree that this building looks like every other mundane RLA project in town. But I have to wonder if part of the blame lies with the end-user... the purchaser or renter. There isn't as much disposable income floating around Ottawa as there is in Toronto or Vancouver, for example. If a builder was willing to pay to construct a fancier more elaborate design, they would have to pass on the costs to the buyer\renter. Perhaps the buyers and renters in Ottawa are driving all this mediocrity because they aren't willing to pay for better? They only want (or are able) to pay for "good enough".

What 'fancier'?? What 'disposable income'?? We live in a city where 100,000 people make a huge salary with a full gold-plated pension.

Debate about Ottawa's fortunes and the conservative mindset of the public service aside, these cladding panels and brick masonry veneers come in ANY COLOUR OF THE RAINBOW. It seems lately the only creativity one can get is assinine arrangement of varietgated balconies/windows. One mustn't have any vertical alignments, oh no! Barcode cladding/leakage failures all the way!

Part of being an architect is being creative. Buildings can be constructed that inspire joy and have no greater $$/sq.ft. impact as these white and black boxes.

I guess the safe option will have to do for now. The difference in Toronto is that demand is waning, and designers are going all-in to attract buyers. The opposite happens here. The safe bets sell out and the builder takes off with the money regardless of how the building looks. And there's nobody to critique design that has any weight on the decision making.

[Harley613]

I've said this before but I'll say it a again: I'm pretty damned sure that 'Roderick Lahey Architecture' is actually an uninspired ten year old kid who builds proposals in Minecraft.

[passwordisnt123]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

What 'fancier'?? What 'disposable income'?? We live in a city where 100,000 people make a huge salary with a full gold-plated pension.

Debate about Ottawa's fortunes and the conservative mindset of the public service aside, these cladding panels and brick masonry veneers come in ANY COLOUR OF THE RAINBOW. It seems lately the only creativity one can get is assinine arrangement of varietgated balconies/windows. One mustn't have any vertical alignments, oh no! Barcode cladding/leakage failures all the way!

Part of being an architect is being creative. Buildings can be constructed that inspire joy and have no greater $$/sq.ft. impact as these white and black boxes.

I guess the safe option will have to do for now. The difference in Toronto is that demand is waning, and designers are going all-in to attract buyers. The opposite happens here. The safe bets sell out and the builder takes off with the money regardless of how the building looks. And there's nobody to critique design that has any weight on the decision making.

Well said.

[J.OT13]

We at least, so far, have two good designs proposed for this strip.

I am starting to get concerned with the single wall of towers. I hope we start seeing more proposal stepping down from the line of towers along Scott to the traditional main streets of Wellington West and Richmond, at least of the blocks aligned with the Transiway/Line 1 trench along with important streets.

Westboro Connections attempted this in part, but with way too much surface parking (which should be capped at ZERO).

[rocketphish]

Builder proposes 30-storey mixed-use tower near Westboro transit station

By: OBJ staff
Published: Jun 11, 2020 3:27pm EDT

An Ottawa developer has filed plans to build a 30-storey mixed-use tower in Westboro that would be home to more than 350 apartment units.

In an application recently submitted at City Hall, Surface Developments says the highrise at the corner of Scott Street and Winona Avenue would include roughly 2,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The proposal also calls for a total of 353 one apartment suites in a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units.

The building, located just west of the Granite Curling Club, would be served by an underground garage featuring 204 parking spots and 292 spaces for bicycles.

Five buildings that currently occupy the site ​– a pair of one-storey commercial buildings at 2046 and 2050 Scott St., a three-storey apartment building at 295 Ashton Ave., a duplex at 299 Ashton Ave. and a detached home at 301 Ashton Ave. ​– would be demolished to make way for the new highrise.

The site is currently zoned for a maximum height of 18 metres, while the proposed tower has a height of 92 metres.

In the application, the developer argues the proposed building, which would be located less than 200 metres from the Westboro transit station, fits the character of the neighbourhood and would add more transit-oriented development to the area in keeping with the city’s stated goals.

The area is already home to several existing and under-construction high-rises, including the 31-storey Metropole condo building, the 24-storey second phase of Colonnade Bridgeport’s mixed-use development at Scott Street and McRae avenue as well as a proposed 26-storey project across the street at 320 McRae Ave.

The proposal “reflects the evolution of Scott Street from an auto-oriented, low-rise area to that of a mixed-use, transit supportive corridor with high density uses located closest to the transit station,” documents prepared by consultants Fotenn Planning + Design say.

https://www.obj.ca/article/builder-p...ransit-station