"The glass and steel roof is made up of 1,656 pairs of glass windowpanes; each of a unique shape because of the undulating nature of the roof." QUOTE. thedeepend.
The above is a thing that did NOT happen when building ROY THOMPSON HALL. The rooftop was to be an elipse. "Too costly", was the thought due to the unique glass shaping.
Should have beaten K T over the head!
Regards,
J T
Yes i remember that whole incident very well--the jettisoning of the original roof was an early example of something we've all become very familiar with--ROM, OCAD,
et al--its the same old sad corner-cutting that obliterates any chance of a building becoming truly great--rather than just being passably 'OK'. As we see with ROM and Roy Thomson especially, this penny--pinching in public buildings is usually a recipe for total mediocrity....
It is my personal belief that the
'OK-ness' of so much Toronto architecture is at the heart of what defines us as a city--sadly. We are awash in
'OK' materials,
'OK developments,
'OK' designs. Clearly there are very important exceptions, exceptional developers, exceptional minds, exceptional architects, but by and large Toronto is a city defined by its lack of truly challenging work.
Of course, one of the reasons change is hard is that our expectations are so low. We are comfortable with mediocrity; we make allowances for developers that cheap out; we boost projects that are clearly substandard. And like many colonies, we are a Tall Poppy people:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome
I am always struck by how defensive many posters get when others criticize CRAP developments like Uptown, ROCP or Crystal Blah. It amazing to me how low the bar is being set. Its as if we feel that we don't deserve better. And then there is the problem of "Toronto Boosters No Matter What"; and the skyscraper geeks ejaculating over every piece of garbage over 45 stories. When you get posters pathetically claiming that they think the Uptown is better than Rockefeller Center—
"Sorry my friend, I have been there many times and I do prefer the Uptown. It’s younger and fresher yet still holds that sexy, tall retro feel."--
You just have to shake your head...and realize how far we've got to go....
