Rendering Courtesy of architectsAlliance
Ever since initial renderings of a proposed addition to Ottawa’s Chateau Laurier were released in 2016, there has been public outcry against the modernist box, designed by architectsAlliance with ERA Architects. This reached a fevered pitch earlier this week, when a motion was raised (and defeated) in City Council to rescind a heritage permit granted to the development, which had by this point reached its fifth design iteration.
It was an eleventh hour attempt to stop a project that has faced intense scrutiny from the outset. This has come from two camps. A number of architects and historians have argued that the design doesn?t sufficiently embody the picturesque sensibility of the 1912 hotel, and that its massing should be further explored. Heritage Ottawa has taken the position that while a modern addition shouldn?t replicate the look of the original, the design aesthetic of the proposal is inappropriate. Photo Courtesy of architectsAlliance
The vast majority of the opposition, however, seems to be coming from those who oppose a modern addition?any modern addition?outright. A petition to ?block changes to the Château?s classic look? garnered over 8,000 signatures, and a sketch by an Ottawa artist showing an extension that continues the architectural language of the original building has been widely circulated.
What both groups of critics share is a deep-seated concern for the future of a privately-owned site with an importan...