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31 Dec 07

Toronto's year of living large - and tall (Toronto Star)

"Love it or hate it, the ROM Crystal signalled the return of ambition to our architectural stage" -- Christopher Hume on the change(s) in the role of buildings, public architecture, and public perceptions around the values of public space.

www.thestar.com/...289358 - Preview

architecture christopher_hume cities museums public_buildings public_space toronto urbanism

If nothing else, 2007 was the year Toronto's Cultural Renaissance hit its stride. The main event was the opening of the Royal Ontario Museum's Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Designed by New York-based architect Daniel Libeskind, the $400-million addition offended many, pleased a few, but in either case, it raised the stakes hugely. This isn't a city given to risk-taking, but what's often overlooked is that Libeskind's radical remake of the ROM addresses the urban condition as much as institutional revitalization. The result is a building that has reconnected with the city, and that's fully a part of the urban scene.
Just across the road from the ROM, the compact Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art found new life as the jewel in Toronto's cultural crown. Redesigned by KPMB, this is the urban project par excellence, filled with exhilarating spaces and exquisitely integrated, it could serve as a model for everything that follows.
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- On the other hand, the much-delayed Metropolis at the northeast corner of Yonge and Dundas turned out to be a dud.
  Though it forms one edge of the square, and occupies land on a major downtown intersection, it seems oblivious to anything beyond its own banality.
  - - would love more info on the dud: why it doesn't work, what's wrong with it, how it could have been better... - on 2007-12-31
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- Further north, the city's love affair with the condo tower reached new heights; a tower at Yonge and Bloor will stand 80 storeys tall and a second, at Yonge and Gerrard, 75 storeys.
  Though neither tower could be described as architecturally exciting, both are presentable. At the same time, however, most development happened in the vacuum that passes for planning in Toronto.
- Think of West Queen West, which was "salvaged" at the last minute after the city had lost at the Ontario Municipal Board, the de facto city planner.
  - - another interesting difference: that T.O. has this Ontario Municipal Board, which can override council's land use decisions... - on 2007-12-31
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- The final irony was Pier 27, the condo launched at the foot of Yonge St. on the water's edge. Designed by Peter Clewes of architectsAlliance, it will be one of the most interesting residential projects ever built in Toronto.
  The problem is that it should have been anywhere but here, prime waterfront land that calls out to be part of the public realm.

14 Nov 07

globeandmail.com: Harper's gallery gambit 'stagecraft,' critic says

www.theglobeandmail.com/...home - Preview

art_museum arts_funding canada competition p3s politics portrait_gallery public_buildings

The cities from whom Ottawa is requesting proposals from developers this spring are Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax.
"Now we're engaged in this distasteful playing off of one city against another," Frenkel said
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- Alain Pineau, executive director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, said he thinks the notion of basing a national institution outside Ottawa is "interesting" but it needs to be framed as part of "a conversation and debate" about museum policy - something the Tories have not done even though they called for same while in opposition. Like Frenkel, Pineau questioned "the realism of anything moving seriously [on the gallery] given the current political climate and the deadlines imposed on the call for tenders."
- The hope is the winning city can be named within the next eight or nine months, with construction of gallery completed by 2011 or 2012 - a decade after the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien first announced it would build the gallery in the reconstituted 1932 Beaux Arts-style building on Wellington. The original construction cost for the refurbishment was $22-million, but by spring, 2006, the overall cost had risen to $45-million, which includes an estimated $11-million that has already spent on design, site preparation and management fees.
  
  Last fall, numerous media reports indicated the Tories had killed the project. However, nothing official was declared and the resultant vacuum was filled with reports that the minority Harper government was considering establishing the gallery as, variously, an online museum, a touring showcase and, finally, as a permanent fixture in the huge EnCana Centre now under construction in downtown Calgary. (The portrait gallery is currently overseen by Library and Archives Canada, a Crown corporation, and its collection stored in a climate-controlled vault in Gatineau, Que.)
- With federal government offices closed yesterday for the Remembrance Day holiday, Canadian Heritage was unable to provide details as to how the bidding scheme would work or what budget might be attached to it. A brochure posted on the portrait gallery's website simply announces: "We are in search of the perfect host community" and describes the competition as "a rare and exciting opportunity" because of the tourism potential, without explaining how a subsidized public institution such as a national museum could be turned into a profit-making model for a private developer - if, in fact, this is the government's concept.
- John McAvity, executive director of the Canadian Museums Association, called the Tory plan "innovative" and one that at least puts the portrait gallery "back on the radar screen." But he urged the government to include smaller cities such as Charlottetown, Fredericton, Saint John and Regina in the running.
- The CMA last year, in a presentation to the Harper government, called for an additional $75-million in funding to the not-for-profit museums and galleries sector. Yesterday McAvity called the potential for "greater corporate involvement . . . a very positive sign." The "main issue is governance. . . the collection must be preserved and governed in the public interest, not the private interest . . . 'Let's see where this goes,' is my philosophy."

TheStar.com | entertainment | Cities fight to pay for portrait gallery

www.thestar.com/...275573 - Preview

art_museum arts_funding canada competition p3s politics portrait_gallery public_buildings

Nine cities are invited to compete for the prize of securing the portrait gallery. Toronto is on the list, along with Halifax, Quebec City, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. The catch: this will be a private/public partnership.
Translation: someone in the lucky city that wins gets to pay the bills so that Stephen Harper's government won't have to.
fascinating and inventive exercise in face-saving for a regime that, to put it mildly, lacks a vision of what investing in culture could do for this country. Despite a huge surplus, the Harperites are obsessed with pinching pennies
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- For a while there was a scheme to put the gallery in a Calgary office complex, but the idea was quietly ditched when it became clear it would increase costs.
- Richard Florida, the influential urban guru who recently moved to Toronto from the U.S., believes that cities compete with one another for cultural dominance, but I doubt this was quite what he had in mind.

CBC.ca Arts - Portrait gallery looks nationwide for new home

www.cbc.ca/...ot-portrait-071109.html - Preview

art_museum arts_funding canada competition p3s politics portrait_gallery public_buildings

The federal government wants nine cities across Canada to compete for the right to host the national portrait gallery originally slated to open in Ottawa.

"Our government has set forth the notion that national cultural institutions do not necessarily have to be located in the national capital," said Heritage Minister Josée Verner at a news conference Friday announcing what she called "a bold and innovative step."
The competition will seek a qualified developer in "the best possible location in Canada" for the Portrait Gallery of Canada, Verner said.
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- Verner said those cities are being considered because they have large populations, strong tourism and would make the gallery accessible.

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Yule Heibel's Library tagged public_buildings → View Popular

Toronto's year of living large - and tall (Toronto Star)

globeandmail.com: Harper's gallery gambit 'stagecraft,' critic says

TheStar.com | entertainment | Cities fight to pay for portrait gallery

CBC.ca Arts - Portrait gallery looks nationwide for new home

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