Building a Memory: Reactivating a Lineage of Community Life at Centretown's 330 Gilmour Street

Centretown, one of Ottawa's oldest residential neighbourhoods, has continuously been evolving since its establishment in the late 18th century. The 21st century pressure for densification in this now mixed-use neighbourhood is increasing the need for community resources, while at the same time pushing them out. Centretown's 330 Gilmour Street, the former Ottawa Public School Board Administration Building, provides a place to establish the missing public space within the community. By adaptively reusing all three additions - 1922, 1956 & 1963 - along with new interventions in 2020, Centretown's newly established 'Meeting Place' binds itself to its lineage of intangible social histories as an expression of community memory characterizing each volume into four places - A Place to Be, Gather, Create and Grow. The four places under one roof assist in providing a burgeoning future of community life in Centretown through representing the historic lineage of community memory.