Before living in Toronto, the city was defined in my imagination by places such as Union Station, and the Royal York and by its many limestone and brick facades. All of which were elegantly depicted by comic book artist and designer, Seth in his book, "It's a Good Life, if You Don't Weaken". Seth seems to particularly capture Toronto's winter grayness with a unique dignity that I don't often see in images of the city


Image Copyright 2003 Seth (G.Gallant).

This parking lot is not visible to everyone who passes it. Somehow, its frustrated monotony forms a barrier that the ordinary gaze doesn’t attempt to penetrate. It is a void in the built environment; stores turn their backs to it, leaving their garbage to spill out of this end. An old brown church awkwardly flanks the opposite side. From the sidewalk, the plaster peeling from the walls, the gravel and cigarette butts scattered on the ground, and finally, even the people standing outside become hazy, their distinctions bleeding together. Only the red lettering on a sign manages to draw attention to the drop-in centre that is tucked away in the basement of the church.

Kurt told me about this place yesterday. He lives in a tent at the edge of the city, and comes here almost every day. The drop-in centre is a place where the homeless can do their laundry, eat a hot meal, and plug in to an expansive network of resources and people who are eager to help them to a better life, when it is possible. Kurt uses these facilities sometimes, but he comes here regularly because he is a volunteer. He likes to cook, and usually works in the kitchen.

We are sitting in the parking lot outside, because Kurt wants to have a cigarette before he helps to prepare sandwiches for lunch. At first, he is quiet and pensive; slowly, he begins to speak, and it seems like he is not as small as he was in silence. He is recounting fantastic stories about road trips to the Maritimes, hard drugs, and near-death experiences; when he tells me about rescuing an old woman, as she is being mugged in a cemetery, he grows to the size of a hero; he looks at me covertly, trying to gauge my reaction, and when he finds it, he laughs, revealing a shocked topography of jagged black teeth. At the end of his story, the old woman is so grateful that she goes to the grocery store and buys enough food for him and his friends to feast on for a week.

Listening to Kurt talk, my mind sifts through the myths, trying to separate them from the truth, but after awhile I give up. His tone is dramatic; the grin he wears is slightly derisive, towards himself for telling these stories and enjoying it, and towards me for believing any of them. Perhaps the distinction is not important: myth will sometimes shelter intentions and possibilities; reality resides in circumstances that have been determined, decisions that have already been made.

I will be going to school in September, Kurt told me yesterday. Saying this made him cheerful. I’m going to learn about computers; you can’t get anywhere these days if you don’t understand computers. I’m going to learn to be a chef, too.

He invited me to the drop-in centre so I could try his cooking. In the morning, I arrived before he did; everyone in the room laughed (...read more...)

Denver Art Gallery


The ROM Crystal

When a building as radically different as the ROM's Crystal juts into our visual consciousness, the natural instinct is to think it is unique to our city. With the opening on Oct. 7 of Denver's new art gallery addition, also by architect Daniel Libeskind, some Torontonians are wondering if we got a copy of a crystal, not the original.

It is important to remember the Denver Art Gallery's Frederic C. Hamilton Building began its life years ahead of the ROM's Michael Lee Chin Crystal. Libeskind was already designing the Denver building before he dashed off the infamous napkin drawings as his entry to the ROM expansion competition.

So, it is no surprise both buildings adopt a language that Libeskind first brought to world attention with his Jewish Museum in Berlin. He continues to use his personal design style in proposals for the World Trade Center in New York and many others.

Why not? After all, we all know a Frank Gehry building when we see one. Why can't the ROM Crystal be part of a series of architectural works by one of the world's more innovative building designers?

Still, some say they feel cheated. Maybe the experience is like being a child waiting expectantly for the newest bike at Christmas, only to wake up and see every kid on the block riding one.

Novelty is serious business in the world of art tourism. A city's unique architectural treasures attract visitors. Those people bring tourist dollars. We need them.
How important are those dollars? In New York, marketing firm Audience Research & Analysis says that the Museum of Modern Art generates about $2-billion in spending in that city. That is billion with a ''b.'' Culture is big business.

What happens to those dollars when almost overnight an attraction's uniqueness is seemingly undercut by the opening of another, familiar looking building? Will this lessen tourists' desire to visit our city?

The ROM's CEO, William Thorsell, says no, it is a mistake to look at two different buildings from ''35,000 feet'' and conclude they are the same.
''There are some superficial resemblances,'' says Thorsell, ''but they are two very different buildings. If you look at Libeskind's buildings up close, each is a unique solution to its context and program.''

''The Denver gallery is much different than the ROM Crystal. Their building stands alone on a side street, while ours engages the existing building on one of Toronto's major streets. Theirs is less transparent.''

Thorsell is confident enough to speculate that, ''Many people would find it a great thing to go back and forth between the two buildings to see how different and unique they are.''

It is easy to agree. Toronto is in the process of constructing buildings that will define the city's culture for decades to come. Diamond and Schmidt's opera house led the way, along with KPMB's Gardiner Museum renovation. Both are successful and both are unique in that they respond to local site conditions and (...read more...)

Every once in a while we have the opportunity to look at how other countries manage their transportation infrastructure (you may remember our "Traffic Without Control" posting). Reader J. Loewen passed these images along. They were taken in Asia. While we don't recommend these techniques as the answer to reducing truck traffic on Toronto's roads, they do suggest that there are more efficient ways to move goods and materials around town. Instead of using tractor trailers we just have to be innovative.