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Work will begin this spring on a Douglas Cardinal-designed Grand Hall that will add some “sparkle” to the controversial Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Sussex Drive.
The National Capital Commission gave its approval this week to the glass-and-stone structure with its ‘Arabasque geometries.’ The addition will be built on the north side of the embassy, atop an existing parking ramp, and will be entirely contained within the embassy’s security wall.
The imposing, bunker-like embassy at the corner of Sussex Drive and Boteler Street has been a lightning rod for controversy since the NCC first sold the land to the Saudis in 1978 for $900,000. Work on the $25-million structure didn’t begin until 1998 and it wasn’t until 2005 — after a two-year halt on construction caused by strained diplomatic relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia — that the embassy officially opened.
The NCC’s approval this week for the Grand Hall came despite a dispute in which the Saudis began construction for security upgrades without bothering to get the required OK from the NCC, which has the final say on changes to the building’s external appearance. In May 2014, the NCC retroactively approved the upgrades figuring the work was already so far along and a stop-work order would have left the site in a mess.
Although the Grand Hall addition will project beyond the 15-metre setback set out in the 1998 design guidelines, NCC consultants concluded the design “would provide a welcome animation or ‘sparkle’ along Sussex Drive.”
The Grand Hall gives the embassy a public meeting space, which it lacks, and will include a kitchen, lobby, washrooms and extra office and storage space.
bcrawford@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/getBAC
查看原文...
The National Capital Commission gave its approval this week to the glass-and-stone structure with its ‘Arabasque geometries.’ The addition will be built on the north side of the embassy, atop an existing parking ramp, and will be entirely contained within the embassy’s security wall.
The imposing, bunker-like embassy at the corner of Sussex Drive and Boteler Street has been a lightning rod for controversy since the NCC first sold the land to the Saudis in 1978 for $900,000. Work on the $25-million structure didn’t begin until 1998 and it wasn’t until 2005 — after a two-year halt on construction caused by strained diplomatic relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia — that the embassy officially opened.
The NCC’s approval this week for the Grand Hall came despite a dispute in which the Saudis began construction for security upgrades without bothering to get the required OK from the NCC, which has the final say on changes to the building’s external appearance. In May 2014, the NCC retroactively approved the upgrades figuring the work was already so far along and a stop-work order would have left the site in a mess.
Although the Grand Hall addition will project beyond the 15-metre setback set out in the 1998 design guidelines, NCC consultants concluded the design “would provide a welcome animation or ‘sparkle’ along Sussex Drive.”
The Grand Hall gives the embassy a public meeting space, which it lacks, and will include a kitchen, lobby, washrooms and extra office and storage space.
bcrawford@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/getBAC
查看原文...
