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So, I went back to the AGO this afternoon and what a difference a bright, sunshiny day makes to the building and the art within. Goodly number of people there, gob-smacked as I was when I first entered last week...and still am, and will continue to be for sometime to come. The views from "The Barnacle" (it was still under construction last weekend) were worth the second visit. I can't wait for the central spiral staircase to finally open. I played "count the Krieghoffs" for a while but soon lost interest; a few of them go a long way. In short, I love this building and I'll be visiting it again next week.
 
I counted that only 112 of the 135 model ships are on display currently as they wait for the remain glass case components to arrive...

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pix

Beautiful pix! Are there any showing the entire Dundas side of the gallery including the spiral staircase?
 
I noticed Katharine Lochnan at the AGO on Saturday - or, more to the point and never having met her before, I noticed someone wearing her name tag. Bold as brass I introduced myself and said that a number of members were unhappy with what has been done to the Grange, expressing the hope that it will be returned to its earlier appearance. She was diplomatic - but expressed the opinion that it will "evolve over time". Let's hope. Fill in those comment cards, she suggested.

I wonder why Samson and Delilah, the Rubens loaner from the National Gallery in London, isn't protected like The Massacre of the Innocents and the Ottawa loaner behind perspex? I think that its incandescent qualities ( Benc7 describes it as, "so luminescent I thought I was approaching a high-definition slide" ) are partly due to the protective surface. The display lighting certainly reflects in a more diffused way off the surface of the painting from London, giving it a softer quality.
 
interesting article from tomorrow's Daily Commercial News....

For EllisDon, failure was ‘not an option’ on Transformation AGO project

PATRICIA WILLIAMS
staff writer

As legendary NASA flight director Gene Kranz said in reference to the Apollo 13 rescue: “Failure is not an option.â€

EllisDon construction manager Jack Stelpstra adopted that phrase as his mantra when it came to the Art Gallery of Ontario’s (AGO) ambitious expansion. The recently completed project includes a mix of newly built and renovated spaces.

EllisDon, which signed a guaranteed maximum price contract with the AGO and acted as construction manager “at risk,†was responsible for translating architect Frank Gehry’s vision into reality.

“There were inherent challenges as the AGO remained operational throughout the construction process,†Stelpstra said. “As well, the gallery had seen a number of major expansions over the past 100 years. We had to look at existing spaces and build new ones, fulfilling Gehry’s complex design features and penchant for detail.â€

The Transformation AGO project includes 190,000 square feet of renovated space and 97,000 square feet of newly built space. The base construction cost was $130 million.

Key design features include:

• An elegant glass and Douglas-fir timber façade that spans 600 feet along Dundas Street West, the length of two football fields, and rises 70 feet above street level.

• A new titanium and glass-faced five-storey south wing overlooking Grange Park.

• A new glass roof over Walker Court, the historic heart of the gallery, and a light-filled walkway around its upper perimeter.

• A sculptural staircase scaling the heights of the dramatic new south tower.

• Extensive glazing on both the north and south facades.

Stelpstra, who has been at EllisDon for the past 20 years, said successful completion of the project required close collaboration with Los Angeles-based Gehry International Architects Inc., as well as the team of consultants and subcontractors.

“Working collaboratively, we were able to address issues and come up with solutions that were innovative and constructible,†he said.


The project presented its share of challenges.

One such challenge involved construction of the “feature†staircase that cantilvers on the north side of the south tower. That involved some logistical nightmares.

“It was an island onto itself in the middle of nowhere,†Stelpstra said. “We had to figure out how to support it in a temporary fashion, how to get it up and how to clad it.â€

Construction of the glulam-beam supported promenade named Galleria Italia posed headaches as well, given that “no two pieces are alike.

“The design of the connections was a difficult challenge as were the installation of the glulam and co-ordination of the glazing,†Stelpstra said.

Painstaking attention was paid to selection and application of interior Douglas fir veneers that are installed throughout the facility.

“Gehry’s office was very, very particular about the quality of the veneers,†Stelpstra said. “We had them look at every single sheet to make sure it was acceptable.â€

Likewise, he said, the quality of the wood flooring “is better than A . We call it Gehry quality.â€

Stelpstra, who worked closely with senior EllisDon superintendent Scott Jesney during the course of construction, said the project required “a lot of hard work, dedication and teamwork.

“We had the A-team of subtrades,†he said.

Key subcontracts were pre-tendered, including demolition, mechanical, electrical, structural steel and glulam.

Prior to signing its contract as construction manager, in January 2006, EllisDon was extensively involved in pre-planning and preconstruction activities.

The consultant team included structural engineers Halcrow Yolles, mechanical engineers H.H. Angus & Associates and electrical engineers Mulvey & Banani International Inc.

A total of 42 subcontractors were on site. Some of the key subs were Benson Steel (structural steel); Antamex Inc. (curtainwall); Structurlam (glulam); Provincial Store Fixtures (millwork); Architectural Millwork Installations (millwork installations); Cesaroni (drywall); George A. Kelson (mechanical); Ozz Corporation (electrical); Flynn Canada (metal cladding); and Mariani Metals (specialty stairs).

The AGO re-opened its doors to the public last weekend.
 
I went by for my first real look at the AGO on Friday. Overall I think it turned out very nicely, though I noticed that they've got a huge problem with condensation in the spiral staircases. I guess they didn't take into account the effect of using single-pane laminated glass in a humidified building in our climate. I think they may end up needing to install doors to/from the stairs so that they can take some of the humidity out of the air in that part of the building. Either that or they're going to have to somehow hook up some high-intensity heaters to the glass.
 
http://www.ago.net/iconic-staircase-opens-at-last

AGO’s Iconic Staircase Opens At Last



(Toronto, December 2, 2008) One of the most distinctive architectural features of the Frank Gehry-designed Art Gallery of Ontario opens to the public this Thursday, December 4.

The Douglas fir-clad sculptural staircase rises from the second floor of Walker Court, through the glass ceiling and extends to the fifth floor of the Vivian & David Campbell Centre for Contemporary Art. It was one of the last architectural elements to be completed in the $276 million transformation of the AGO. While more than 80,000 people have visited the new AGO since its series of pre-opening events began November 9, none have yet walked the entire length of the dramatically curving staircase, named for Allan Slaight and Emmanuelle Gattuso in recognition of their generous support of the Transformation AGO campaign. The campaign reached its goal on opening day, November 14.

In designing the signature staircase, Gehry remarked that he hoped its warmth and intimacy would beckon visitors and become a place where people fall in love. While romance has yet to be kindled along its 138 steps, competition was, as visitors were invited to guess the number of steps while the staircase was still closed. Guesses ranged from zero (“it’s a slide, a magical slide,” wrote the entrant) to 1,900. The five winners are Elsa Macdonald, McKinley Duncan, Joseph Lui, Bev Biderman and Susan Curtis. All will receive a gift from Shop AGO.

Be among the first to walk this already celebrated stairway to heaven. The AGO is open this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors, $10 for students, $45 for a family of two and up to five children, and free for children ages five and under. Admission is always free on Wednesday nights 6-8:30 p.m.

With a permanent collection of more than 73,000 works of art, the Art Gallery of Ontario is among the most distinguished art museums in North America. The Gallery began an extraordinary chapter when it launched Transformation AGO in 2002. Multi-faceted in scope, Transformation AGO involves the unprecedented growth of the permanent collection, an innovative architectural expansion by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, and the strengthening of the museum’s endowment resources. As the imaginative centre of the city, the transformed AGO dramatically enriches our visitors’ experiences and provides greater access to the full vibrancy of the art museum.

staircase-dec2-288.jpg


*****

Just the staircase is enough to make me want to go to the AGO again this Wednesday. Thankfully the AGO still has a free night unlike the ROM... unfortunately the photography ban still stands.
 
I have wondered about that too. Since the exterior fittings of the staircases are not finished yet though, is it not possible that a second set are still to be installed encasing the existing ones?

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I highly doubt another set of windows are going in. I've seen the prints, and unless there was a major revision in the last few months there's no more glass going in on the exterior of those stairs. That, and it wouldn't really solve the problem because it still wouldn't be the same as having a sealed unit. All it would do is move the condensation to the inside of the outer window (unless they were going all-out and also hooking up some kind of mechanical between the two sets).
 
Such a visual delight! Another beautiful and unique space to enjoy - practical and sculptural, like the ROM's Spirit House. And, unfortunately, a bit Stair of Wonder-ish in the irritating workmanship: glimpses of wiring and lights beneath the wooden handrail as you ascend; inconsistent gaps where the vertical panels in the core of the stair meet that handrail; and a core that leans inwards and away from the handrail at the top.
 
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I also think the trajectory of the metal handrails could have been designed to more closely match the smooth serpentine curve of the staircase.
 
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