Today I picked up a copy of the Village Post, well lets say I didn't have a choice, I was at my family's home, this is the appendage of their former newspaper subscription habit. They read online for free, for now. Truth is that I moved back to Toronto from Rome and have yet to finish my new studio...
To the point, in the Village Post there was another article regarding the so-called failed ROM Michael Lee Chin Crystal. The much despised addition to the ROM, composed by Daniel Liebeskind, has been the poster child for Toronto conservative critique at its best. The point of this post is to talk about why it is an important building, if at least in my dreams. Lets talk about what isn't concrete and steel. The post gathered a few notables to comment, including our newly crowned import starchitect, Will Alsop. The post asked what they would do with the building, Alsop's reply is to say it would make a 'great hair salon'. Will, lets not get ahead of ourselves, you're being a little cheap, after all, your OCAD building also represents a great folly. Not to worry, I will address my theory on why you have come to roost in our city on my next posting. The point being, these follies represent our ability to dream, to create a city worthy of fantasy, not like other cities, rather our own unique fantasy. The more we destroy what these buildings aspired to be, the less our city will accomodate the folly that makes great cities in this world what they are.
What the ROM and the OCAD building have in common is hesitation, our city became hesitant with both projects. This led them to fizzle on the final laps of funding and project development. Both function very poorly on a physical level, but to Toronto this is less important than what it means to our immaginations. Some important buildings are said not to function, the Guggenheim New York is a commonly touted example. The problem is that its function wasn't to exhibit modern art, it was to legitimize it. It was also an ego trip and a monument, nevertheless an incredible experience. What is even more shameful is that their own occupant criticize them on a regular basis, how dare they. What a shame indeed. The story is more muddied on the ROM, most people hate it for easy reasons, which is of no concern to me. What is scary is that it makes dinosaurs look like toys in a cheap Torontoised FAO Shwartz satellite shop. They lost their magic in that space, no longer do they feel like threatening, inspiring, alien-creatures putting a young five year old on edge. If anything this is evidence of how powerful architecture can be, how could you make a dinosaur boring? The answer, we made sure of it, we didn't encourage this project at all, the money is in the shape, not the complete project through and through.
It is our fault, the citizens of Toronto, that these projects failed to go the distance to become truly seminal pieces of architecture. Where is the generosity, sense of drama, and ability to dream in realtime that held these two opportunities back (The AGO is even more guilty of pathetic compromises). Both projects, before being born into the physical world, were intensely maligned and criticized. This made the final acts of construction and funding nearly impossible to surmount. The media created dissent, mostly for ratings attention, by asking local 'authorities' for their opinion. Those people had a vested interest in destroying the credibility of the projects, for they knew that the consequences would be contained. They did so in order to forward their own mediocre architectural careers in a country that seems to pay less and less attention to how amazing the people of other developed nations really build. It is a miracle that, under the circumstances, both Liebeskind and Alsop percevered and saw both works through to some level. This is the curse of being an architect, they will have to live each failing of those buildings.
Lets melt our crystalline hearts. I won't lay down until people start to warm up. I have nothing to lose, so expect me to say and write more.
Sincerely,
Alexander Josephson
