There were a number of apartment buildings on the inside streets with courtyards. These are similar in style to what has been built on LeBreton Flats and will be built on Zibi. I wandered into this one: Bike sheds lined … Continue reading Nordhavn v, courtyard apartments
The apartment units directly facing the water appeared larger and of higher amenity than those on the interior streets. They had interesting views of the active harbour and other neighbourhoods, and of course, the water. The “harbour” at Copenhagen … Continue reading Nordhavn iv, mid rise harbourfront living
Several buildings and streets in Nordhavn had a relationship to the sidewalk not seen in Ottawa. I saw similar buildings in Amsterdam too (subject to a future series…). The ground floor units are right up close to the edge of … Continue reading Nordhavn iii, low rise, sidewalk living
There were a few — very few at this time — townhouse-type units that I saw at Nordhavn development zone, Copenhagen. This is not unexpected, as (man-made) land this close to the downtown is very valuable. Nonetheless, they add variety … Continue reading Nordhavn (ii) low rise townhouses
I must confess I found Orestad new urban area rather exhausting; the Nordhavn development area was much more enticing. Some of it is scale … Nordhavn has a high percentage of low apartment buildings and inviting, very well executed public … Continue reading Nordhavn (part i) Copenhagen, Dk
There is a public open house coming up on Feb 4th at the Hintonburg Community Centre about the proposed 3 tower project beside Gladstone OTrain Station (to be built and opened at the same time as the towers). There is, … Continue reading Intensification yes, but just not this one …
Whew, walking around those European developments can be tiring. So let’s return to Ottawa for a day, to enjoy the bright winter days, the pretty snow on the ground, and the birds at the bird feeder outside my window. La … Continue reading Bird Feeder
The focus of the previous stories about Orestad is on the new “downtown” and the starchitecture buildings around the Orestad Station. Plus some views of the more ordinary apartment architecture for the rest of us. As was obvious from the … Continue reading Orestad vi, a walk in the ‘burbs
Looking again at the aerial photo of downtown Orestad, the Field shopping mall is dead centre. Just above it is an eyebrow shaped street and canal, which forms the spine of a mixed commercial/office district with a bit of residential … Continue reading Orestad (v), business district, & construction notes
My preference in seeing a place is from the walking around eye view. But sometimes a pigeon view helps too. Here is an aerial photo of downtown Orestad of just a few years ago. The giant Field indoor mall is … Continue reading Orestad apartments for the rest of us (iv)
Let’s visit some of the residential buildings in downtown Orestad. These are the prestige structures right along the main transit line. Notice the frequent stairs down and under the building. Many new residential buildings in Europe have apartments that run … Continue reading Orestad, Glamour Architecture, (iii)
Orestad is planned to have 20,000 residences, and 80,000 jobs, and 20,000 university student places when it’s finished. This new suburban city was started in 1993. The city owns 55% of the development corporation and 45% is owned by the … Continue reading Orestad Station / downtown area (ii)
Welcome back dear reader, to start the new year we are going to visit a new urban development in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. To get to Orestad we’re going to take the Metro from downtown Copenhagen. This is the … Continue reading En route to Orestad, Denmark by metro
Long-sufferings readers here may recall the unfortunate initial design and build of the portion of Booth going from Albert Street, over the new OTrain Confederation Line, to the Macdonald Parkway. It was justifiable to call this a freeway design. It was as inhospitable as possible for pedestrians and cyclists, despite the location of Pimisi Station at the midpoint. A “fix” has been in the works for a long time, and the most urgently needed portion is now in place. And more improvements are in the works (read on !) Lets review the new design, which is substantially complete. Here is … Continue reading Booth Freeway Fix continues
The City is planning to expand the OTrain Line 2 (Trillium Line) south as part of light rail, phase 2. Due to the length of the line, and the expense, and that it may have less passenger traffic at the … Continue reading OTrain Line 2, new options
So is the Sens-trinity et all plan for LeBreton Flats — called IllumiNation — really dead this time? Naah. There’s lots of opportunity to raise it from the mat one more time. There’s a high profile spat going on between … Continue reading Levisoa IlumiNation !
Mega-projects like the Clichy-Batignolles are fraught with risk. The costs are enormous, as may be the returns. Large sums in turn attract various interest groups anxious to get some of the money or spend other people’s money. The former St … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, the future carbon-neutral city?
Yes, it is somewhat exhausting to take in all the new buildings in Clichy-Batignolles. So many seemed to yell “look at ME !” Most everybuilding had something that attracted my interest, be it balcony design, shutters, landscaping, mixed use, or … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, Paris, the occupied zone, walk 2
Did you enjoy your visit to Paris’s new large park? The pathways, the greenery, the pleasant space to relax or recreate. Before that we saw the Cardinet sector in its last stages of construction. Now its time to wander through … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, Paris, the occupied zone
The urban redevelopment scheme in the Clichy neighbourhood of central Paris is centre around Martin Luther King Park. It is 10ha. and has 14 access points from the surrounding ring of developments. The park is divided into two major portions … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, Paris, MLK Park
The Clichy-Batignolles plan is highly dependent on the stacking of different uses along its western edge, facing the St Lazare railway tracks, where a track level podium base holds locomotive workshops, with parking above, with offices and apartments above that. … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, Paris, rue Cardinet
The City of Paris decided some time ago it could not meet its climate change objectives by staying with the Haussman plan for six storey buildings. More and more mid and high rise buildings are appearing in Paris, not just … Continue reading Clichy-Batignolles, Paris, the plan
How do other western cities reconstruct major areas of their inner urban core? I set off to visit 7 such major urban renewal projects in Europe. I added a few more neighbourhoods on the way, bringing the total to over … Continue reading A Walk in Paris
Not every urban core urban renewal project turns out well. A number get stuck in times of a slow economy, changing tastes, etc. In general this is to the good, as cities built all at once tend to age and decay all at once. So hitting the pause button may make subsequent plan modifications and build-outs better reflect what works. Here’s the area around Amalie Arena, in Tampa. The public facilities all share those beloved-of-architects and -planners and -politicans grand plazas of huge open spaces. The public clamors for them too. But all too often they turn out to be … Continue reading Amalie Arena, big beautiful empty spaces
This is another of a series of older stories revisited. I think it is still relevant to planning in Ottawa today. This story is from 2015, on Portland’s South Waterfront community. With the recent planning permissions for Claridge’s Flats to go taller — look way way up — and the Sens Illumination LeBreton project west of Booth, and Zibi’s buildings on the Islands, we can expect the new neighbourhoods around Pimisi and Bayview Stations to look more like this. Height, if well handled, is not antithetical to an urban neighbourhood. Let’s look more closely at Portland. And if you haven’t … Continue reading Portland South Waterfront residential buildings
