Contract Magazine - January/February 2017 - 114

INTERIORS AWARDS

Restoration + New Interior
NORR and EVOQ Architecture

Client
Public Services and
Procurement Canada

Location
Ottawa, Canada

Wellington
Building

By Edward Keegan, AIA
Photography by
Doublespace

114

suites for 70 members of Parliament (MP), committee rooms, a staff
cafeteria, and a library. The interior features a new central multilevel
atrium with a curving staircase.
Despite its commercial provenance, "This [building] is part of
the core of democratic buildings in Canada," explains Public Works and
Government Services Canada Director Sylvain Lepage. The architects
took cues from the original structure for the renovations and revitalized
interiors. "We used the latent Beaux-Arts organization in the structure,"
says David Clusiau, vice president, architectural design at NORR.
The building's two existing entrances were well suited to
modern programmatic needs. The 1920s Beaux-Arts entry sequence,
now specifically for MPs, has been restored to its original appearance
with the addition of enhanced security. This entrance includes
the restoration of notable colored glass tile murals. "[They're] one of
a kind in Canada," says Eric Stein, an associate at EVOQ Architecture.
"They depict vignettes of MetLife as a protecting warrior mother."
On the opposite side of the building, the Sparks Street modernist
entrance has been considerably upgraded for use by the public.
A new lobby reuses green verde marble from the 1959 building-one
of the few explicit references to the midcentury interventions-and
is augmented by stone that matches the 1920s structure. A "green"
vegetative wall is a focal point in the public space. "[The wall] provides
a welcoming environment, cleans the air, and absorbs noise, too,"
Lepage says.
The original building's fourth floor had taller ceilings than
the floors below, and the designers took advantage by placing
committee rooms with ceiling-mounted technical equipment for
broadcasting on this top level. Additional committee rooms are
located on the third floor. Since most members of the public visiting
the building are attending hearings, the public spaces were vertically
zoned on the first, third, and fourth floors and can be accessed
by elevators, escalators, and the new grand spiral stair.
Directly above the three-story public atrium is a more private
space-a skylit double-height satellite of the Library of Parliament,
with access restricted to MPs and their staff. To establish a contrast
with the elegant acoustical wood panels installed on the lower levels,
For decades after its construction in the 1920s, the 180 Wellington
the designers used copper recycled from the roof of the original
building provided the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife)
building to create a lively yet disciplined wall panel system. Sculptural
with handsome Beaux-Arts quarters just a few hundred yards from
copper shells are placed in front of a perforated copper acoustic
the center of Canada's federal government in Ottawa, Ontario. Hampered wall backing. "[The copper panels] show 80 years of patina," Clusiau
by a modernist 1959 addition and modifications, the complex was
explains. "We folded the material to make them sculptural."
somewhat less impressive by the time the Canadian government
Clusiau adds, "You always want your MP to be at the top
acquired it in 1973. With a few more decades of use as regular government of their game. Architecture can reinforce that idea." Although built
offices plus the subsequent aging of its building systems, the property
as a commercial structure, 180 Wellington has proved resilient
had become a diminished asset.
in the hands of an able design and renovation team. By embracing
The Canadian government, as part of a comprehensive strategy
its heritage qualities, and carefully inserting more contemporary
to also update the nearby Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill,
variations on the theme, the designers created a worthy
undertook an extensive renovation of 180 Wellington. NORR, with
government building for the 21st century. c
offices in Toronto and Ottawa, was the prime architect, and Montrealbased EVOQ Architecture was the heritage consulting architect on
this project to breathe new life into the 509,000-square-foot structure.
The scope for 180 Wellington included exterior renovations and the
modernization of interior spaces and systems to accommodate office
contractdesign.com

JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2017

http://www.contractdesign.com

Contract Magazine - January/February 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract Magazine - January/February 2017