By: Shawn Micallef
In Toronto — and Canada in general — we’re often accused of constantly looking to the outside for approval and validation of what we do. If the New York Times writes about something Canadian, well, then, everybody pays attention. I’ve often thought this is an overly cynical view to take and overlooks the value of an outside opinion that isn’t as close the matter at hand. Yesterday architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff did indeed write about the new AGO in the Times and it’s worth reading along with the extensive coverage in the Canadian press. Ouroussoff hasn’t lived with the constructions fences or seen the building go up in daily increments and, one would assume, isn’t emotionally invested in this renovation the way a local is (press or civilian alike). He’s seeing it as any visitor would — all at once — and it would seem his thoughts aren’t so different from what our own writers and journalists are saying. Some excerpts:
Given that this is Mr. Gehry’s first commission in his native city,
you might expect the building to be a surreal kind of self-reckoning, a
voyage through the architect’s subconscious.
So the new Art Gallery of Ontario, which opened to the public on Friday, may catch
some fans of the architect off guard. Rather than a tumultuous
creation, this may be one of Mr. Gehry’s most gentle and self-possessed
designs. It is not a perfect building, yet its billowing glass facade,
which evokes a crystal ship drifting through the city, is a masterly
example of how to breathe life into a staid old structure.
And its interiors underscore one of the most underrated dimensions of Mr.
Gehry’s immense talent: a supple feel for context and an ability to
balance exuberance with delicious moments of restraint.
Ouroussoff also address the old and new collision that we’re so used to in Toronto:
As you travel deeper into the building, you experience a delightful
tension between old and new. From the lobby you enter a court framed on
four sides by the original museum’s classical arcades. A glass roof
supported on steel trusses has been cleaned up, and on a sunny day a
heavenly light pours into the space from two stories above.
At the far end of the court, a spectacular new spiraling wood
staircase rises from the second floor, punching through the glass roof
and connecting to the contemporary gallery floors in the rear of the
building. The staircase leans drunkenly to one side as it rises, and
the tilt of the form sets the whole room in motion. When you reach the
first landing, the stair rail keeps rising rather than becoming level
with the floor, so that your view back across the court temporarily
disappears and then returns. It’s as if you were riding a wave.
This is a textbook example of how architecture can be respectful of the past
without being docile. All the old spaces and the memories they house
are brought lovingly back to life.
Read the rest here.