Saturday, November 28, 2009

No lobby for the homeless



The two new condo towers downtown on Kent Street called the Hudson have their entry keyboard on the outside rather than in the Lobby.

I haven't noticed this in Ottawa before. It is common in Vancouver, where the climate is milder. Approaching and using this key pad felt cramped and uncomfortable.

It is reality today that so many buildings now have to have their exterior doors locked to prevent people moving into the comfy chairs in the lobby, but this is the first time I have seen one keep people out of the airlock entry. It's one more step to a more unfriendly, colder city.

5 comments:

  1. Apparently this builder did this with their other building as well. The condo board in the Hudson Park building is actually looking to move it into the airlock entry and replace the locks with a electronic key-fob system.

    I can't imagine it'd be fun trying to fish out your keys in -20 weather!

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  2. There used to be an enclosed CIBC bank machine at Bank and Nepean many years ago. It had an exterior code entry, but that didn't keep it from being inhabited more or less continuously. I always had this weird feeling that I was entering someone's home when I went in there.

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  3. "I can't imagine it'd be fun trying to fish out your keys in -20 weather!"

    This reminds me of my earlier inquiries as to whether these new high rise condos have residents that behave like other centretowners (high proportion of walkers, car free households) or if they mostly arrive thru the parking garage.

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  4. It would not be fun at all.

    And you're raising an interesting question re: walkers vs. garagers.

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  5. "I can't imagine it'd be fun trying to fish out your keys in -20 weather!"

    It isn't really, but every one of us that owns a house in the city does it.

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