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Re: Interior Shots

...And in AGO construction news... the spiral stair on the north side of the tower is currently being installed. It will slowly rise out of Walker Court in a few weeks. The titanium cladding on the tower won't be installed 'till the fall so that it doesn't get banged up while other constuction is going on. The tower should start being enclosed (with glass) in the next month or so as will the new 'Galleria Italia.'
 
Re: Interior Shots

AoD, that article was posted on the previous page ;)
 
Re: Interior Shots

cassiusa:

Oops! thanks for point that out.

AoD
 
I'm getting increasingly excited about the AGO.

It's interesting how it's taking a back seat in the cultural renaissance. You hardly hear anything about it, even here on Urban Toronto. All the focus seems to be on the opera house and the ROM, the latter getting more and more attention in the media as its construction draws to a close.

I think that like all the Gehry buildings that I've personally seen up close, the details will MAKE this project. You can go up close or you can stand back... either way, a Gehry is best viewed in person. If my imagination of the AGO is correct, we're going to love this one.

Although I like the direction the AGO is taking, I'm hoping that Frank Gehry will get another project in Toronto, one which he can draw from scratch and have access to a decent budget.

The man is getting old, somebody please welcome him to Toronto with open arms!
 
Re: Interior Shots

I played the angel in my post above, now I must be the devil :evil

As is being discussed in the ROM post -- and this my post is to provide a stage to continue that discussion here -- Frank Gehry clearly didn't get the budget and facilitations to do what he would have liked.

Let's take the following example:

450px-2005_08_18_17_09_22.JPG


In this project (where a large budget was provided), Gehry used a beautiful pattern of shapes for the glazings and an absence of underlying supports.

In the case of the AGO, Gehry had the opportunity to use this again, in what close observers of his work would confirm to be his style.
AGORender(4).jpg


... yet, no doubt due to budget constraints, a standard pyramid with supports and conventional windows is chosen.
This skylight had the opportunity to be a center piece above Walker's Court. On the contrary, it's going to be just another ordinary skylight, visibly obstructing and taking away from the beautiful serpentine stair case.

Maybe we'll be surprised with improvements since the renderings were drawn up before final changes were made to the design. Here's to hoping...
 
ok, I know I know.. my 3rd consecutive post about this.... but I've looked around and found a construction picture of this skylight with the framework already built:

A-32397.jpg


Looks like changes have indeed been made. Although I would have liked a soaring open atrium glass container that would have reached to the top of the end of the serpentine staircase, the built form of this skylight seems to not only not have supports, but the frames seem diagonal unlike the straight glass slabs shown in the rendering.
 
Re: Interior Shots

But remember, the difference btw/Toronto and Berlin is that in Toronto, Gehry had to deal with an "existing interior condition", i.e. Walker Court. Whereas in Berlin, he was only constrained outside, but had relative from-scratch free will inside...
 
Hopefully the AGO will surprise us all and be fabulous. Though it would have been nice if Gehry had had a blank canvas to start with. Toronto could use one of his unique buildings.
 
Re: Interior Shots

The more I look at Gehry's work, including the DG Bank in Berlin, the more I see that Gehry is full of examples of "regular" looking boxes with irregular items tacked on. I think that his buildings are about contrast rather than compliance with not only its sorroundings but also with themselves.

In any case, the detailing of his work, namely the use of wood in his interiors is nothing less than artistic pure genius. I cannot wait to walk into the renovated AGO next year!
 
From what I've seen of his work, I have a great deal of faith in Frank Gehry. The AGO won't be remembered as one of his great works, but I have no doubt that it will be an excellent building, and one that Toronto will have reason to be quite pleased with.
 
Re: Interior Shots

Walking up the serpentine sprial staircase in Walker's Court is probably going to be one of the most amazing public space experience in Toronto.

AoD
 
Gehry wasn't given a blank check but I hardly think that the AGO budget is chump change for the amount of added museum space. Should 500 million been made available for instance? I would expect to get a signiture new museum larger than the existing AGO for that kind of money.
 
Re: Interior Shots

Tdot:

I suppose with that kind of money, Gehry could have afforded to rip out more of the old Parkin and Barton-Myers wings of the AGO and come up with an even more coherent project. Gehry mentioned how he would have liked to get rid of the steps in front of the AGO, but the budget didn't allow him to do so.

AoD
 
It is logical for the design of the skylight to be an extension of the Neo-Classical Walker Court below it. That way, the organic-looking spiral staircas can play off both of them.
 
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