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181 Queen Street - Base Building

Location:

Ottawa, ON

Built By:

PCL Constructors Canada Inc.
Project Description
This project consisted of a new office building built for Morguard Investments Limited. The building is located in the heart of downtown Ottawa, bordered by Sparks Street and Queen Street. It consists of 11 stories, with three (3) levels of underground parking. The main structure is cast-in-place concrete with a structural steel mechanical penthouse. Morguard Investments Ltd. has signed long-term leases with the building's two main tenants, CBC-Radio Canada and Public Works & Government Services Canada (PWGSC). CBC-Radio Canada will occupy the first level of underground parking as well as Floors 1 through 4. The Federal Department of Public Works has leased the rest of the building for 460 employees of the House of Commons Informatics Service.  
 
The 270,000 square foot building is clad in blue-green glass, grey pre-cast concrete, and reddish-brown clay brick. The Queen Street side on the south is detailed with pilasters and a curved wall of blue-green glass. It provides a formal entrance into a lobby that features a floor mosaic depicting a map of Canada. The Sparks Street side to the north was designed to meet various constraints. The National Capital Commission design committee requested a brick façade to blend with nearby older buildings. Upper stories terrace back to comply with City of Ottawa height restrictions and sun angles, calculated to bring sunshine into the Sparks Street Mall. The signature element of the design is a bank of 12-foot-high transparent windows at ground level, affording views into radio and TV studios and the newsroom. Passersby can see newscasters presenting the news, radio hosts on air in glass booths, and reporters writing or conducting interviews.  

 

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