Carleton University ARISE Building

Client

Carleton University

Location

Ottawa

Completion

2019

The ARISE (Advanced Research and Innovation in Smart Environments) building at Carleton University is a dramatic expansion of an existing building. It captures attention with its dynamic façade and prominence along the Rideau River. A complex project, the ARISE building absorbed a significant grade change between the main entrance to the north and the secondary entrance on University Drive.

Seating, bicycle parking, and tree planting welcome students and staff as they approach the building, while maintaining the character of the existing campus through standard Carleton University details and lighting. On the south side of the building, a wide paved plaza and street tree plantings improve the quality and connectivity of pedestrian movement along University Drive. To address the significant grade changes around the building, precise grading exercises, a series of retaining walls, and reforestation planting were completed to stabilize the earth and naturalize the site, blending in with the surrounding campus and river’s edge over time.

The landscape portion of the ARISE project delivers a strong overall connectivity across the existing campus while maintaining university standards and ensuring current master planning goals and objectives are met.