International Congress Centre

Project Outline

Urban Scale

The new pedestrian bridge over Rideau Street and a stairway access to the rooftop garden on George Street are meant to bring the heavy pedestrian traffic off the Byward Market over Rideau Street, into the Rideau rooftop garden and then into the ICC.

This way an additional route is established between bus terminals (on Rideau St. and on McKenzie King Bridge) to ensure maximum interconnectivity with public transit. Currently, the only pedestrian route between the terminals is through Bay and Rideau Shopping Centers.

The ICC site design makes the best use of the scarce land available. Also it promotes the densification and intensification of downtown Ottawa. Apartment additions are planned to be added to the site after the construction of GLACIER. The vacant lot to the east of the Rideau center will be used for an expansion of the shopping center and the parking garage. These developments will aid accessibility, improve the identity and uniformity of the ICC's site, and increase adjacent land values.

From a distance the ICC will add character to the Ottawa skyline and set a new precedent for building heights in downtown. It will act as an orienting guide for tourists and visitors.

Architectural Scale

The concept behind the design of the ICC is a linkage between the form of the structure and its impact on the form of the city of Ottawa. The ICC is designed to resemble a continental glacier. Just as glaciers had carved out Ottawa Valley, the ICC will shape the new urban landscape of Ottawa and will reinstate Canada as a world leader in design development.

Although visible at a great distance, the GLACIER will not interfere with the look of historical part of downtown (Parliament Hills), because at a sharper angle of incidence to the top of the tower the angle of refraction will make the height of the building appear to melt into the sky.

The GLACIER is a mixed-use building. On its first 2 levels it will house an
internal public market, which acts as an all season extension of Byward market. The convenient location of the GLACIER allows the internal market to function as a natural transition point between Confederation Park (where many festivals are held), Canal, Rideau Center and Byward market.

Human Scale

Throughout the Rideau centre, the ICC’s internal market, and rooftop garden there will be a multifunctional architectural sculpture (ICE sculpture), which will serve functionally as seating, vending space, setting for local art display, playground, etc., and aesthetically as an identification and welcoming piece of ICC. Since ICE is easy to assemble, the Ottawa residents will be able to participate in future design and creation of ICE public space.

Environmentally-Friendly Design Aspects

The Rideau Rooftop Garden features improved green space and expands over the top of the Chapters building. Also, there are solar panels on the roofs of the apartment additions.

Another environmental aspect of ICC is that the GLACIER building design will use Ornilux glass, which has a conventional glass appearance, but is also visible to birds in flight. This innovation will potentially save thousands of birds' lives each year.

The ICE sculpture is made of recycled plastic and can be reassembled in many ways, since it consists of modular elements connected with flexible joints, that allow the sculpture "fabric" to take any shape.