Upcoming projects, recent awards, and new openings in the city’s dynamic design and build sector
Artists on Rochester
While Hollywood may make millionaires of some, for the most part a lifetime spent in the arts does not bring great wealth. By the time they come to the end of their careers, many arts workers are left with very little. That’s where PAL Place comes in. The 86-unit housing project is coming to Ottawa for arts sector workers aged 55 and over. The unit is being built on Rochester Street, in partnership with Ottawa Community Housing. It is modelled on similar projects in Vancouver, Toronto, and Stratford. Residents will include actors, musicians, singers, dancers, designers, directors, writers, visual artists, technicians, and administrators. There have been over 140 applications to date.
PAL Place will include a 2,500 square-foot space on the ground floor, called Creative Spaces, that will allow residents to exhibit their art. With Barry Hobin as the architect, PAL Place will be built to Passive House Standards and will be a leading edge example of global sustainable building practices. A quiet fundraising campaign has already raised more than $1.4 million and a public campaign will launch later this year.
The great and the good of the arts community are throwing their weight behind this project. Musician Lynn Miles is just one of them: “Affordable housing for arts workers has always been an issue and it keeps getting more dire with each passing year, as rents increase and salaries in a precarious industry stay stagnant. With the living and performance space PAL will provide, we can make the arts, and arts workers, a vital part of the community.”
Fed funds
Federal money is bringing more affordable housing units for those outside the arts sector, too. Ottawa is getting $18.5 million under the Rapid Housing Initiative to help create 48 new affordable housing units. “The need for affordable housing in Ottawa continues to grow,” said Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe.
Fire station 3.0
If you dreamed of becoming a firefighter, you could be one step closer to working in a fire station thanks to the Better Business Bureau’s sympathetic, 11-month restoration of the building at 424 Parkdale Ave. The station is one of only three remaining pre-1930s stations in Ottawa. Previously home to three commercial tenant units
(one of which was the Urban Element cooking school), it recently re-opened as a multi-purpose community working space operated by the Better
Business Bureau.
“We wanted to bring new life to the interior, while paying homage to the building’s history,” designer Candice Wei says. “Using a reductive design process, we stripped the interiors of unnecessary elements added over time, to allow the building’s original architectural features to come back into focus.”
In pursuit of that goal, Wei and her team at Wei Sanchez Design Studio opened the ground floor space, revealing the original bays of the firehall to create a flexible open-concept workspace with the ability to separate one side from the other with sliding glass doors. The original fire pole has been relocated to the kitchenette seating area; the original stained-glass window was carefully removed and repurposed in that kitchen, and served as inspiration for the retro interior colour palette.
A focus on natural light, comfort, and connection between the two floors of the building were guiding principles set by the Better Business Bureau. Artwork and murals by local artists can be found throughout the space, bringing home that sense of community to the co-working areas, which are set to open this summer.