Brutalism could help Ottawa convert offices to housing

From the stark concrete of the National Arts Centre to the angularblocks of the public library'smain branch, dozens of brutalist buildings are scattered throughout Ottawa's downtown.

Beyond aniconic appearance, the polarizing style ofpost-war architecturemay play a role in the city's efforts to convert vacant office buildings into housing, according to a new report.

With office vacancy in downtown Ottawa hitting a record high, city staff are exploring ideas to save developers time and money on projects that convert empty offices into much-needed housing.

And Ottawa may be primed to do just that.

• Downtown Ottawa office building vacancy hits new high: report
• City wants to make it easier to convert offices to housing

"We believe there's already a comfortable market and policy scenario that would allow conversions to begin to happen," said Jennifer Barrett, managing director of the Canadian Urban Institute, the non-profit research group that authored an April reporton conversion potential in six major Canadian cities.

Barrett said the pairing of high housing demand and widespread office vacanciesplaces Ottawa inthe "goldilocks" zone for office conversions.

But exactly where those transformations take place may be influenced by the city'sbrutalist architecture.

Brutalism in Ottawa

Brutalism emerged after the Second World War and reached prominence in the 1960s through 1970s, according to Sarah Gelbard, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa.

The style is known for its liberal use of concrete and other heavy materials, she added.

In the post-war era, brutalist designs helped governments fulfill a "deep social need" by engaging in massive civic projects, creating artsand culture spaces and rapidly building housing, she said.

Concrete can be manufactured out of local materials pretty much anywhere, andbrutalism allowed countries to develop a singular national style despite mixing the concretefrom whatever ingredientswere on hand.

• Beautiful brutalism: why one Ottawa urbanist thinks concrete can't be beat

In Soviet countries, for example, Gelbard said brutalism was often aesthetically "oppressive" and commonly used in housing complexes.

InCanada, she said, brutalism tended toward a more "pragmatic and big civil expression."

"I think that was a conscious choice to see that as a way that a Canadian style of architecture could start to emerge," she said.

Early projects in Ottawa, such as the Department of National Defence building on Colonel By Drive, tended to embrace the stark concrete faade associated with the style.

"It has a big mass to it and it was a massive construction," Gelbard said. "It was a deep investment in the style."

But while federal buildings were costly and highly experimental, she said, they also "paved the way" for private developers to re-implement the style faster and cheaper.

By the late 1970s, she said, private developmenthad begun to use many of the same materials but without the same attention to design.

"It becomes a purely pragmatic, functional building," she said. "It becomes kind of standardized and increasingly standardized."

Today, the presence of brutalism in Ottawa is "pretty representative" of most mid-sized Canadian cities, according to Gelbard, but key federal buildings make its use "a little bit more iconic."

Brutalist buildings may be primeforconversion

While the style is often maligned for appearing cold or industrial, its combination of vintage design and the quirks that come with it make brutalist buildings appealing candidates for conversion.

First, Barrett said, many reachan age where they need "a fair bit" of renovation. That "obsolescence" means the buildings are more likely to be available.

Once they are, a buyer would discover thesignature concrete faade makes it relatively easy to replace theinoperable windows of anoffice towerwith the freely openingwindows of an apartment complex.

Attempting to do the same on a glass-fronted building, Barrett said, is muchmore challenging.

As well, buildings from that period often followa "tower and podium" design, with a narrow highrise set atop a wide base.

Barrett said the narrowtower, which tendsto have arectangular footprint, allows light to penetrate from all sides a prerequisite when designingliving spaces.

The shape also limits the amount of dead space in the centre of the building and "allows for a flexibility of unit design" often impossible in other office buildings, she said.

The top two buildings in Ottawa most suitable for conversions arebrutalist highrises, according to modelling byGensler architects inthe Canadian Urban Institute report. The report does notname the buildings.

Although many Canadian cities are exploring office conversions, the presence of the federal government in Ottawa puts the city in a unique position.

Public Services and Procurement Canada is looking to unload nine of its buildings across the region, meaning Ottawa's conversion prospects rely heavily on the whims of a single employer.

"That creates a very unique scenario," Barrett said. "The decisions that get made by that employer, the federal government, will tip the scales in either direction."

Unknowns make for 'scary projects'

Christos Panagiotakos, senior vice-president and managing director at CBRE Canada, said converting a building away from its intended use is a complex process.

"When you actually start tearing away the skin of these office buildings, you're finding a lot of different things," said Panagiotakos, who works with both developers and lenders.

"They're very, very challenging, scary projects. There's just a lot of unknowns."

The biggest risk for any conversion, he added, is whether or not a developer can efficiently retrofit the existing services within the building.

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"A wrong placement for a stairwell, or a wrong placement of a column can significantly affect how you're going to create your units," he said. "And that can significantly reduce the value of your end project."

For many, the risk proves too high. Panagiotakos said most developers he works with contemplate conversions but rarely go through with it.

Gelbard said she'd prefer for the federal government toconvertits aging properties into apartmentsinstead of destroying them.

"I'd rather see them repurposed than demolished," she said.