The Governor General’s Foot Guards’ (GGFG) organizing committee has selected a winning proposal, by architecture students at Carleton University, for Ottawa’s Confederation Park.
Marking the 150th anniversary of the GGFG, Standing Steady, by students Erika Colmenares-Di Maria and Tess Coman, led by Professor Lyette Fortin, will be made up of three linked stone arches.
Visitors will pass through an arch that marks the threshold between the sidewalk along Laurier Avenue and the park landscape. The two smaller flanking arches hold bronze sculptures of foot guards at attention.
A slender inner arch of wrought iron tracery, alluding to natural plant forms, accents the central bay. The Guard’s Star, a heraldic emblem, is set in the centre of the ironwork. The design takes inspiration from the three arches on the facade of Cartier Square Drill Hall, home of the regiment.
“The Governor General’s Foot Guards Regimental Association was absolutely pleased with the professionalism and quality of work demonstrated by the students and staff at the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism,” said Major Gray Shanahan, project leader for the GGFG Commemorative Gate Project.
The project design goals include protecting and enhancing the heritage value of the site and cultural landscape and harmonizing with existing monuments, which include the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument and the Animals in War Dedication.
The GGFG is fundraising for the gate, which they hope to build next year. The goal is $1 million.
The winning design concept will go to a firm of practicing architects, and they will produce working drawings and specifications for the construction. The student designers will receive credit for the design and $5,000.
For more information, visit: https://architecture.carleton.ca/archives/21524