Academic / 2024

Renewal Square

A mixed-use masterplan for a 3.8 hectare site on Bank Street, built around affordability, transit and an elevated public realm of rooftop gardens and greenhouses. Garden Heights is one of its buildings, taken here to full development.

Project type: Mixed-use masterplan, residential, commercial and public realm
Location: 2100 Bank Street, Ottawa, Ontario
Status: Academic
Area: 38,000 sq.m site, 3.8 hectares, FSI 1.4
Role: Sole author, ARCS 4105 comprehensive studio

Renewal Square is a mixed-use quarter on a 3.8 hectare site at 2100 Bank Street, planned around the fact that the site is already well served by transit. The brief was affordability first: housing reachable by people from a range of backgrounds, with the amenities that make a neighbourhood work rather than just a collection of buildings.

The masterplan puts commercial space at grade and lifts the communal programme above it. Rooftop garden terraces, greenhouses, restaurants and study space form a second, elevated public realm connected across the site, so the ground stays busy while the roofs do something other than shed water. Between the blocks sit landscaped parks, sports fields, a library, a gym and a kindergarten. Green roofs and energy efficiency were requirements of the scheme, not additions to it.

Verdant Way is the internal street that holds it together. The branching canopies along it are the one deliberate piece of structure in the public realm, and they do a specific job: a street this long needs a reason to walk it rather than drive to the end, and a rhythm overhead gives it one.

The work came in three phases. Phase one establishes the road hierarchy, the stormwater and noise mitigation, and the survey that sets the residential and commercial boundaries. Phase two builds the first residential and mixed-use blocks and connects them to utilities and transit. Phase three completes the buildings, the pathway network and the public realm.

Garden Heights is the building on the site taken furthest, drawn as Building A on the sheets. Where the masterplan sets the block, this is the block resolved: ten residential levels over a commercial ground floor and a parking level below, with two typical plate arrangements alternating up the building: one-bedroom units at 46 and 52 square metres, two-bedroom at 80, three-bedroom at 118. The ground floor carries restaurants, a public gym and retail alongside the residential lobby, mail room and a recreation room. The roof is given over to a community garden, a gathering space and a barbeque area, which is the part of the brief I most wanted to get right: the amenity that residents actually share is the one on top of their own building.

Aerial render over the public square with the branching white canopies, the sports courts, the tower behind and Verdant Way running through

Aerial of the whole quarter showing the run of mid-rise blocks with green roofs, the tower and the landscaped courtyards between them — The quarter from above. The blocks step along the site with planted roofs throughout, courtyards between them and the tower holding the north end.

Aerial from the opposite end with the courtyards, the playground and the planted roof terraces visible across the blocks — The quarter from above. The blocks step along the site with planted roofs throughout, courtyards between them and the tower holding the north end.

Rendered plan view of the whole site showing the block pattern, the internal street, the courtyards and the planted roofs — Straight down. The site is long and narrow, and the plan works with that rather than against it.

The internal street with white branching canopies over the pavement, mid-rise blocks either side and a cyclist passing — Verdant Way at eye level. The branching canopies are what makes the internal street a place rather than a service road.

The square under the canopies with stepped terraces and seating, the blocks rising behind — Verdant Way at eye level. The branching canopies are what makes the internal street a place rather than a service road.

The paved route with a flowering tree, a market stall at the shopfronts and the canopy overhead — Verdant Way at eye level. The branching canopies are what makes the internal street a place rather than a service road.

Corner view with the brick base of the block in the foreground and the glazed tower rising beyond it — The street edges. Brick at the base where the quarter meets the existing fabric, glazing above.

Street level view along the pavement with street trees, the tower ahead and the mid-rise blocks to the right — The street edges. Brick at the base where the quarter meets the existing fabric, glazing above.

North elevation of Building A titled and keyed, the panel and glazing rhythm running the full height with the neighbouring brick block alongside — Building A, the three elevations as drawn, each with its key plan and the direction of view marked.

West elevation of Building A titled and keyed, showing the canopies and the square in front of it — Building A, the three elevations as drawn, each with its key plan and the direction of view marked.

South elevation of Building A titled and keyed, the brick neighbour to the left and planting along the base — Building A, the three elevations as drawn, each with its key plan and the direction of view marked.

North elevation render of Building A, the panel and glazing rhythm running the full height — The same two faces as straight renders, without the sheet around them.

West elevation render of Building A with the canopies and the square in front of it — The same two faces as straight renders, without the sheet around them.

Living room of a one-bedroom unit with the kitchen behind it, a wall mounted television and a timber floor — Inside the units. One-bedrooms at 46 and 52 square metres, two-bedrooms at 80, three-bedrooms at 118.

Master bedroom of a two-bedroom unit with glazed doors opening onto the balcony — Inside the units. One-bedrooms at 46 and 52 square metres, two-bedrooms at 80, three-bedrooms at 118.

The public gym with resistance machines and graphics on the exposed brick wall — Shared amenity at grade. The gym and the recreation room are on the ground floor and open to the public, not just to residents.

The free weights end of the gym, racked along a fully glazed wall looking out to the trees — Shared amenity at grade. The gym and the recreation room are on the ground floor and open to the public, not just to residents.

The recreation room with a full height shelved wall, a pool table and glazing onto the planted courtyard — Shared amenity at grade. The gym and the recreation room are on the ground floor and open to the public, not just to residents.

A residential terrace under a deep colonnade, seating along the edge and the city beyond — And on the roof, which is the part of the brief I most wanted to get right.

The rooftop community garden in flower, with a pergola and the greenhouse structure behind — And on the roof, which is the part of the brief I most wanted to get right.

Drawings

The Renewal Square master plan with the site drawn in full and the written intent of the scheme alongside it — Master plan

Parti diagram setting out the layering of residential above commercial and residential, with the pathways and public space between — Parti diagram

Context plan locating the site at 2100 Bank Street within the wider transit and road network of Ottawa — Context plan

Figure ground drawing of Bank Street as existing, the built form in black against the open ground — Figure ground, before

Figure ground drawing with the proposal in place, showing how the new blocks complete the street edge — Figure ground, after

The three phases drawn as axonometrics, from site preparation and infrastructure through initial development to the final construction and public realm — Phasing

Land use diagram of the surrounding area, colour coded from single family through mid and high-rise residential to commercial, institutional and open space — Land use

Site statistics setting out the gross built area, the floor space index, units per hectare, people per hectare and the split between commercial and residential — Site statistics

Breakdown of units by type across the building, tabulated floor by floor — Unit breakdown

Massing axonometric of the quarter with Building A picked out in colour among the neighbouring blocks — Building A within the plan

Circulation diagram of Building A, vertical and horizontal movement traced from the underground parking through the commercial floor and the residential levels to the roof — Circulation, Building A

Underground parking level plan with the bays, the cores and the services — Underground parking

Commercial ground floor plan with the restaurants, the public gym, retail, the residential lobby, mail room and recreation room — Commercial ground floor

Typical residential plate used at levels 2, 6 and 10, with the unit mix around the core — Levels 2, 6 and 10

The alternating residential plate used at levels 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 — Levels 3 to 5 and 7 to 9

Rooftop plan showing the community garden, the gathering space and the barbeque area — Rooftop

One-bedroom unit plan drawn at large scale with the furniture layout tested in it — One-bedroom unit

Two-bedroom unit plan drawn at large scale with the furniture layout tested in it — Two-bedroom unit

Section A through Building A with the plan key beside it, cut from the parking level to the roof garden — Section A

Section B through Building A on the other axis, with the plan key beside it — Section B

Section perspective along Verdant Way, cutting through the blocks either side of the internal street — Section perspective, Verdant Way

Construction details and materials for Building A, the wall assemblies called out from the massing with the metal panel, brick veneer and concrete specified — Construction details and materials