Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Another great public indoor greenspace in Ottawa


New Currency Museum (Bank of Canada)
Bank and Wellington - access from Sparks Street

One of the indoor atriums that I've always found lovely is the Bank of Canada Garden Court Atrium (that was accessed from the Spark Street side).  Now that the buildings are being renovated, I was wondering what would happen to it.  It was such a lush, relaxing spot for people to enjoy - especially in the winter!  Remember the space where you could see the Yap stone?  It was also a popular spot for wedding photos during the winter months.

The Currency Museum blog explains that the new museum will be in the lower level but it doesn't provide information on how the main floor will be transformed.

From the website: "It is there, beneath the plaza at Bank and Wellington Streets, that the new Museum is planned to be - taking up the east end of the huge former cafeteria including the glass ceilinged ‘waterfall room’, and the large common area where staff events took place as recently as last summer."

The courtyard space on Bank Street looks really wonderful and provides some great public seating - I was wondering what those strange imposing triangle structures they were building in that space were.




Sadly upon doing some further online research, it seems that the Bank of Canada IS considering eliminating this atrium for reasons of safety and space requirements. This 2014 online article from The Cultural Landscape Foundation shares the full story and provides some thought on the need to save this atrium and preserve the architectural integrity and history of the design.

Courtyard Image from Museum website

Image (top) from Oh!Gravity blog

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