Another Deconstruction

This is a former, or nearly former, government office building at 90 Elgin Street, here in Ottawa.  I developed urban design guidelines for a new building on this site, but had not heard anything about the project until recently seeing the deconstruction start.

It seems a waste to demolish the building, but there are many technical constraints, such as floor to floor heights and seismic ( earthquake) structural stiffening that make it more practical to construct a new building.

So - another architectural anatomy lesson for me to draw.

Deconstruction

This week my old friends from Doran Construction have been taking a building apart (demolition is so last century) to clear a site for a new condominium building.  They have been fastidiously separating metal from concrete which takes some time, so luckily for me, I have been able to return a few times to see the progress...or is it un-progress?  I've been fascinated by this building anatomy lesson , as it makes a lot more sense to me than disecting frogs did in grade 9.  My collegue Scott sees it as a terrible waste as, "the greenest building is an existing building", but I'm afraid I think it is more interesting in it's deconstruction than it has been in its life as a revenue producing structure.