Astrolabe Theatre on Nepean Point

Despite growing up in Ottawa, I realized I'd never been to Nepean Point when the Citizen reported that the NCC would be taking down the theatre there. In fact, I didn't even know there was an amphitheatre at Nepean Point. So on a half-decent Saturday last month I went up there to check it out (if you follow me on Twitter or just the photos), you'd have seen some of the photos I took with my phone at the time.

Nepean Point is characterized by the statue of Samuel de Champlain, who is portrayed holding up an astrolabe (when instead it should be suspended). The statue of the Anishinabe scout used to be on a plinth at the base of Champlain's statue, until it was removed for good taste. You can see the plinth in the photo below right under Place du Portage in the background.

Doors Open: Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat

(Oops, I meant to schedule this to go up yesterday. Sorry!)

It's that time - Doors Open Ottawa is back for its tenth anniversary in Ottawa. In what has become a bit of a tradition (more links are at the bottom of this post), I'm posting photos from one of the buildings I saw last year, the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, the Agha Khan foundation's fancy building at 199 Sussex.

The building was lauded when it opened for the quality of construction and the design of the spaces. Chief among them was the "crystal", a glass enclosure at the centre of the buliding.

On the same August 2009 weekend that I toured 111 Sussex, I took some exterior photos of the building. I was rather disappointed that, other than the "crystal", the building is mostly a white box in a field. A well-built white box, but a white box nonetheless.

111 Sussex Drive, Part three

This is the third and final part of the series on the former Ottawa City Hall at 111 Sussex drive, in anticipation of Doors Open Ottawa this weekend.

The NCC's headquarters, the Chambers, is one of the buildings on the tour, as advertised prominently:

In part one and part two, we looked at the old part of the building, and the hallway along the south-west side of the 1993 addition designed by Moshe Safdie (who also designed the National Gallery of Canada). These are represented on the left and right sides of the photo below:

Today we'll look at the north-east part of the 1993 addition, which is built right up to the Rideau River. From the photo above, turn left.

You'll see the ramp heading down to the parking garage, and a well-hidden path going along the river. In contrast to the West side of the addition, this side has turret-like bulbouts into the water.

In the background, we see Unity Tower, and a span of the Minto Bridges along Union street.

Looking back up at one of the turrets, we see the pathway coming down from Sussex. The pathway actually stretches within the outside wall of the 'turrets', but is open to the elements.

Inside the pathway, it's very serene. Between the smooth yet firm structures, I felt like I was in the computer game Myst while walking through the path. You can see here that the inside of the columns were left as bare concrete:

To add to the surrealism of, there are gaps between the bulbouts with stairs leading down into the water, which is only a couple of feet deep off the building.

At the back of the north-east side is Unity Tower, which is an architectural feature criticized for having no function. On a nice day, though, the clouds and reflection in the glass make for a good photo.

When I came back later that evening, the water on the Rideau was crystal clear. Here we can see the full reflection of the tower, as well as a couple of the bulbouts and another part of the bridge.

And that's 111 Sussex! Go check it out for yourself during Doors Open Ottawa this weekend (of course, you can check out the exterior features at any time).

I'll leave you with a photo of Sussex drive reflected in the Rideau River, with the French embassy on the right.

111 Sussex Drive, part two

Here's part two of the series on the former Ottawa City Hall at 111 Sussex drive, in anticipation of Doors Open Ottawa next weekend.

In part one, we looked at the old building designed by Rother, Bland, Trudeau, and we left off at the courtyard behind the old building.

Today we'll look at the south-west part of the 1993 addition designed by Moshe Safdie and Associates (who also designed the National Gallery of Canada).

Below, we see the West block of offices, the East block reflected in it, and the walkway between them. The courtyard steps down in the foreground, with a water feature (the darker stone) not operational on that day in late April 2009.

The water feature comes out into a pond at the back (again, not filled in this photo). In the middle of the fountain are some sculptures, one of a polar bear balancing on a pyramid. In the foreground, we see a second walkway between the East and West sections of the building.

As we continue along the West side (to the left in the above photo), we come around to the glass hallway leading to the "new" council chambers, which replaced Whitton Hall (shown in part one) as City Council's official meeting room.

In the background, we see Unity Tower, controversial at the time of construction due to the perception of public funds going to what is effectively a functionless feature. (Two plaques at the base of the tower indicate, however, that it was paid for with donations) Originally, it was planned to also be covered in the beige precast panels and an observation deck at the top, but these plans were scuttled due to lack of funds, and consternation from neighbours worried about their privacy.

Here's an interior shot of door to the former "new" council chambers, called Victoria Hall (after the Queen), with the peaked roof of the vestibule visible through the glass roof of the hallway. The chambers have been remodeled to flatten the floor, which used to dip down. The feds also removed the fine custom crafted furniture--the Mayor's chair and podium are still on display in the Heritage building of the current City Hall on Laurier. The chamber is currently being used for the Oliphant commission, a.k.a the "Airbus Inquiry." Back when it was used as City Hall, councillors had their offices on the left, each with a balcony out to the hallway.

What look like balconies without railings on the exterior photo of the hallway are actually awnings to keep the hallway from becoming a greenhouse, as visible in this photo. You can also see the DFAIT headquarters, whose employees have spilled over into this building next door.

Looking back toward that section from the base of the pyramid, we see that the hallway has a slight curve to it.

Ending the hallway (or starting it, if you're just arriving), is the pyramid entrance. Through the windows, we can see that the columns surrounding are stuffed with boxes of files.

In the foreground is a sculpture that looks like a circle of metal birds reaching up; there's a second one on the other side of the front of the building. These were designed to sit in fountains, with jets of water shooting up through their centres. You can still see the water line at the feet. Unfortunately, the nozzles could never get aligned quite right, and the jets would end up spraying into the then-openable windows along the front of the building. So they ditched the fountain idea and left them as static installations.

At dusk, the hallway lights up and contrasts nicely with the dark blue sky. This view, not counting the old building in the background, reminds me a lot of Safdie's Art Gallery.

Tune in June 4 for the last installment (part 3) in the series on 111 Sussex. Also make sure to check out some of the 140 buildings (including this one) open for Doors Open Ottawa this weekend!

111 Sussex, Part one

[Edit: On September 19, 2011, the former Ottawa City Hall at 111 Sussex was renamed the John G. Diefenbaker building in honour of Canada's 18th Prime Minister.]

In honour of Doors Open Ottawa, which this year is being held on the weekend of June 6-7, I'm posting some photos of one of the buildings open for tours during Doors Open 2009, the City of Ottawa Archives, Main Branch, located at the former City Hall at 111 Sussex Drive. (Also open for Doors Open is the City's Traffic and Parking Operations building, which I've blogged: part one, part two, part three.)

I took these photos on a sunny Friday afternoon in late April, on a visit to the City's archives, which are housed in the building.

I've broken up this series into three posts: the old building, the southwest side of the addition, and the northeast side of the addition.

So without further ado, here is the old City Hall at 111 Sussex:

The building was constructed in 1958, a time when a City Hall was expected to be a large stone-type building with Romanesque columns and whatnot. Ottawa took a gamble to build its new City Hall in the Modern style that it did.

The Ottawa City Hall was designed by Rother, Bland, Trudeau - the leading architect being John Bland, an influential modernist who taught at McGill, and the Trudeau being Charles, brother of the Prime Minister. The addition is by Moshe Safdie and Associates.

At the front of the building, a two-storey walnut-lined hall protrudes from the, front supported by square columns. Whitton Hall, as it was named, was used as the council chambers until the addition was built on the back of the building. At the front is a large aluminium crest of the City of Ottawa, and an official viewing platform (i.e. where powerful people stand to watch parades go by). Now that the building is being used by DFAIT (the federal Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade), the former chamber has mostly been converted to cubicles, leaving no public building or facility named for Ottawa's first female mayor.

Inside, the original Modern first floor was restored when the Safdie addition was added. Previously, it had been cannibalized by the City for extra offices.

In the centre of the first floor is a marble-walled core containing the elevators and some offices. An inscription lists the mayors of Bytown and the (pre-amalgamation) City of Ottawa. The hanging orb lights are reflected in the polished marble.

The centrepiece of the foyer is the lovely spiral staircase leading up to the second floor. You can also see that the hallway extends around the full length of the back of the building:

At the back is a courtyard surrounded by the old building, at right, and the new buildings. While the old building was one of the first to use aluminium on exterior trim, the windows have been replaced. The stone rectangles used to house the heating and air conditioning units, and the short row of middle windows can no longer be opened.

That's it for now. Tune in at noon on June 1 for part two. In the meantime, don't forget to plan your visit to Doors Open Ottawa!