Over the past couple of weeks the proposals for Lansdowne Park’s have dribbled out. First, we got an idea of what the park portion would look like and now the proposed layout of the stadium area has been released.

Proposed layout of commercial area of Lansdowne Park, provided by OSEG
The proposal for the commercial areas includes of blocks of multi-story glass residential buildings perched on seven blocks of retail, a cinema, and an office tower. The Aberdeen Pavilion and Horticulture building are furthest from Bank Street, tucked behind the rest of the development.
It’s bland. It looks like an uninspired corner of Carleton University: cement, glass, featureless facades, and lots of right angles. The two dominant thoroughfares are designed for cars, with pedestrians relegated to sidewalks partially-obstructed by cement planters. The plazas are cement blocks. If there’s any theme it would be “cement”. Meanwhile, the new buildings are three to seven stories in height, obstructing views of the Aberdeen Pavilion.
 The view of Aberdeen Pavilion from Holmwood Avenue |
 OSEG's proposal features wide roads with sidewalks partially blocked by planters |
I’d like to say that it isn’t all bad – that there are some highlights that redeem the plan. But there aren’t. The two features that caught my eye were the medians on Bank Street, and the “Lord Grey’s” building. The medians proved to be lipstick on a pig: the Bank Street entrance still looks like the asphalt afterthought it is today. Similarly, even though the dramatic overhang of Lord Grey’s looks interesting in the rendering, the detailed image makes it look more like a walled off gas bar.
Does it have to be so boring?

Another vision for Lansdowne?
I don’t think so. If commercial is included (which is fair – it’s a money maker and it would offset the cost of the park), then it should be built around public spaces. A good example of a public space can be seen in one of the old pictures of Lansdowne: a gently curving pedestrian-only street that leads past the Aberdeen Pavilion, with single-story commercial structures on either side. A modern take would be a curved pedestrian street with stepped buildings facing the Cattle Castle – they would provide retail space and somewhere interesting to walk.
Another alternative would be to go to the extreme: build an iconic structure that would dominate the commercial portion of the site and would contain all of the retail. Ottawa’s new convention centre is a striking example. Yes, it’s ugly, but it’s like a chihuahua – it’s so ugly that it goes beyond simple everyday ugliness to a weird kind of beauty.

Ugly and attractive at the same time
It’s disappointing that OSEG didn’t use the commercial portion of the design to present something attractive. Instead, they’ve designed a boring streetscape that could be any poorly planned city centre in North America. City Council should send OSEG back to the drawing board or find another proposal.