In 2004, the City of Ottawa’s Downtown Urban Design Strategy encouraged improved access and focus on the Rideau Canal, one of the city’s most cherished cultural resources. Five years later, the Rideau Canal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, further reinforcing the canal’s importance within the Capital. In conjunction with the redevelopment of the Ottawa Congress Centre, the National Capital Commission took the first steps toward improving public access to the Canal and showcasing its world heritage status. The Rideau Canal Esplanade is a significant urban design project for Ottawa because it demonstrates how simple, but bold design moves can transform otherwise wasted urban lands into spectacular urban spaces.
Inspired by the OCC’s dramatic new public face opening up to the City’s downtown, the Canal, and Parliament Hill, it became clear that the unused spaces along the west edges of the Canal should be merged with the OCC forecourt to create a larger urban plaza. The plaza is a logical terminus to the Colonel By Driveway and arrival court to the core area of the city. The Esplanade now gathers City Hall, Parliament Hill, the NAC, the OCC, Confederation Park, and the Government Conference Centre (Train Station) into one cohesive composition where the sum of the whole is much greater than its parts.
The marrying together of the OCC and the Rideau Canal Esplanade is a breakthrough project which demonstrates how thoughtful urban design can transform and create a strong sense of place. It is a planning, architectural, and landscape architectural collaboration which has revealed the canal and created a welcoming place for both visitors to the capital and local citizens.
