Brutalist architecture could help Ottawa turn offices into housing

"We believe that there are currently favorable market and political conditions that allow transformations to take place," said Jennifer Bart, the CEO of a Canadian urban institute, a non-profit research group that produced a report on the potential for transformation in six major Canadian cities in April. Bart added that the combination of high demand for residential and extensive office vacating puts Ottawa in the "Goldilocks" zone for office transformation. However, exactly where these changes take place may be influenced by the city's brutalist architecture.
Brutalism in Ottawa
Brutalism emerged after World War II and gained prominence from the 1960s to the 1970s, according to Sarah Goldberg, a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa. She added that this style is known for its liberal use of concrete and other heavy materials. During the post-war era, brutalist designs helped governments address deep social needs by participating in large urban projects, creating spaces for art and culture, and rapidly building residential units, she said. Concrete is almost universally produced from local materials wherever it is made, and brutalism allowed countries to develop a unique national style, even as they composed concrete from whatever materials were available. For example, in the Soviet countries, brutalism was often beautifully perceived as "heavy" and typically used in residential complexes. She said that in Canada, brutalism leaned toward "a practical and grand civic statement." "I think it was a deliberate choice to see if this is a way to allow Canadian architecture to start to emerge," she said. Early projects in Ottawa, such as the National Defense Building on Colonel By Street, tended to favor simple concrete forms associated with this style.

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