A place for us to share.
As the slow march towards implementing the latest revitalization of the ByWard Market continues, many questions remain to be answered. On the surface, the plan focuses on making the ByWard Market a more pleasant place to visit by addressing issues in traffic control and offering improvements to the public realm. Nevertheless, there remains questions around how the proposed plan will accomplish the intended goals and a key site left to be planned.
The plan in question is the “ByWard Market Public Realm Plan Recommendations Report – October 2020” developed by the City of Ottawa in partnership with “many stakeholders” according to the document.
As a form of commentary on the plan, TRACE architectures developed an unsolicited proposal for the destination building site. We sought to imagine what this “destination building” could become by creating a new centre for the ByWard Market. Our proposal hopes to honour this historic location by designing a community place for residents and tourists alike to enjoy and use.
The TRACE architectures proposal starts by moving beyond the notion that this site needs to be filled with a building and shifts to providing a place. Appreciating the site as a place, rather than a building, we believe encourages a greater range of uses. As a starting point, we propose the removal of the parking garage to free the site of a building to accommodate an open courtyard and public core.
We call this place the By Ward Grounds, speaking to both the physical location as being a central point within the Byward Market, and also as a grounding point for the people of Lowertown and, more broadly, the City of Ottawa.
Central Open Space
The market square would function as a gathering place and public market during the spring, summer and fall and as an ice rink in the winter. To organize the site, the proposal would be sized to accommodate an NHL-size ice rink and could feature artificial ice in response to recent temperature fluctuations that make natural outdoor ice challenging within our shifting climate.
Our approach focuses on people, inspired by historic uses in a way that speaks to the desire for making this a place for all. Supporting the function of the main market space, is a stage at the north end of the site that could be used for cultural events. Above the square we propose a “canopy” of string lighting to provide a sense of enclosure for the square while enhancing the space’s night functions. The multipurpose use of the central square, along with the canopy of lights, allows people’s experience of the space to shift depending on the time of day and the season.
Western Edge
There are two functions proposed for the western facing side of the site along ByWard Market Square. Beginning from Clarence St., change rooms and washrooms would be available for the ice rink in the winter and for the stage in other seasons. Across the balance of the western area is a new green space. To reinforce the notion that this is a place for people, the green space is intentionally small, broken into a series of areas to provide a place to sit and enjoy separate from the main east-west public realms in the revitalized market.
New Building
To provide a border to the central square, a new building is proposed along the eastern edge of the site housing a variety of functions. Anchoring the south of the building, is a two-storey restaurant space, complete with an outdoor patio on the second floor with views towards Parliament Hill. Continuing northward, our proposal would include spaces such as commercial units, Zamboni storage, loading bays, and mechanical spaces for the ice rink. Commercial units within the first or second floors of the proposed building could face or be accessible from both the new square and William Street.
