Wateridge village is aprecedent-setting new community addressing Ottawa’s growing housing needs. Itis a total revisioning of a former Airforce Base that implements a neighbourhood-centredapproach to design and planning.
The community introduces respectful density on previously underutilized land close to the heat of Canada’s capital.
Wateridge Village Master Plan
Visioned from the concepts that emerged from the New Urbanism movement, the master plan for Wateridge Village is a noteworthy study in adding density, at various scales into a growing city. Through a community centered approach, it introduces gentle density on previously underutilized land.
Our work explored the inherent potential within a 300-acremasterplan to create a human-scaled community that is well connected and addresses a diverse cross-section of potential inhabitants. The final plan, approved by the City of Ottawa, sets the tone for a vibrant, well-integrated, and sustainable new neighbourhood.
Through strategic interventions, the plan for Wateridge positions residential design as a dialogue centered on the negotiation of space between private and public interests, with a connection to nature at the forefront of the site’s visioning.
The site design examined Building type, block configuration, and concealed parking creates strong street-front presence with town-like appeal while providing necessary privacy and security measures. Open areas and strategic vistas promote continuity of green space to adjacent parks and properties directly to the North, South and South-West. Massing articulation choices, like entry stoops and roof terraces, reinforce the spatial organization with community safety in mind.
Wateridge Village Low Rise Community
Block 24 at Wateridge Village is a new-build residential development overlooking the Ottawa River on traditional Algonquin territory. The medium-density urban community is comprised of 12 rear-lane and 2 stacked-type townhouse buildings linked by interconnected lanes and a pedestrian mews corridor.
The project provides housing units to over 100 families with strategic considerations given to natural light, landscape, and appropriately scaled neighborhood life.
The design team looked within the site’s ecology and unpacked layers of cultural meaning to discover anchors for artistic expression. This would inform design decisions between and amongst consultant teams– united in mediating the needs of private-use and community benefit and promoting connectivity at various scales.
The focal point of the project, a wide pedestrian-only mews, most prominently evokes the result of this approach.
Functionally speaking, the open space of the mews acts a thoroughfare providing street-level access to the townhouse units. In Block 24, the programming of this space is an inviting, car-free, and park-like communal venue open to various neighborhood interactions.
Formal and informal seating areas create gathering areas amongst native species of drought-resistant shading trees and plants. A stream-like bioswale with river stones “flows” along its length, providing further site activation and separation between use-based areas.
Individual unit entrances are accessed by crossing small footbridges over the swale. Pocket yards, and screening from tall grasses and shrubbery further cushion and gently reinforce this separation while adding to overall liveliness.
Throughout the project, various design features demonstrate this same holistic development of separate urban systems as a strategic and creative endeavour. Below are a few themes:
Beyond design, it is noteworthy that the founding vision for creating Wateridge Village was a cooperation between Canada Lands Company (a Crown corporation,) and the Algonquins of Ontario (AOO.) The expression of Algonquin heritage, and consultation with the AOO is coded into its development process within the Former CFB Rockcliffe Secondary Plan. With a rediscovered stance on space and a focus on the people and nature that occupy it, Block 24 stands as a contextualization of New Urbanism, a primarily American design movement, within the Canadian cultural landscape. Amidst the immense housing pressure in Canadian cities like Ottawa, Block 24 demonstrates an alternative to suburban sprawl and the house/lot delivery model.
The project’s focus on community integration and designing through an understanding of land as a shared resource and responsibility, makes this an exemplary community-building project where culture and sensible densification combine.
360 Condos at Wateridge Village
Ready for occupancy, 360 Condos is a mid-rise project within the greater Wateridge Village Community. Built on the lands of the former Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe, existing onsite conditions were an urban void, with limited integration to surrounding residential communities.
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The location of the site, however, was abundant in both natural and urban heritage, and ready for new interpretation.
This directly led to two equally important conceptual mandates that emerged during the design phases for the midrise blocks. The first: to establish an identity and sense of place for a new community. The second: to integrate any new build into the context of a well-established, culturally rich area.
With these goals in place, strategic innovation paired with an integrative spirit drove the resulting project methodology.
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Q4A's landscaping and urban design strategy contributes to transforming the site into a space that encourages pedestrian connectivity, creates links with nearby green spaces, and promotes community life.
Its design promotes the installation of an inherent sense of place (genius loci) by introducing a hub of urbanity on an existing and vacated heritage site. This presence will empower connective interrelationships and spurt organic growth as a seed to future integration into Ottawa’s city fabric.
These four contemporary condo buildings offer impressive amenities, and sustainable features were central to the design. With nearby access to multiple highways and transit line, the close commute to central Ottawa positioned the building well to attract a variety of buyers.
Wateridge Village Presentation Pavillion
The Wateridge Village Presentation Pavilion is a 3500sf commercial and retail space completed in 2018. Our vision was to establish a design language and visual aesthetic that would inspire and enhance the home-buying experience for future residents of the Wateridge Village development in Ottawa.
With social and private areas, our design allows the suites and units to shine. We want anyone entering the space to understand the client vision for the community and feel the sense of comfort and belonging that is linked to community building.
Wateridge Village is a redevelopment of the former Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe. The Presentation Pavilion's construction and materials evoke Rockcliffe's aviation history. The wing-like roof profile and exposed framing also allow abundant natural light to enter the space, highlighting the sales materials within.
Our goal was to inspire and invite, while giving a built-form narrative to the heritage and program of the development.
