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An architect's frustration
By LISA ROCHON
UPDATED AT 5:44 AM EDT
TORONTO -- Frank Gehry was in a curious state of mind yesterday in
Toronto: by turns exhilarated and frustrated. Exhilarated by the
commission to design the trophy for the World Cup of Hockey, which he
conceived as an elongated metal vase sheathed in an outer layer of
twisted plastic. A merger of technology and high design, the trophy
reads like a stamen wrapped in petals of ice. At the same time, Gehry
can't help but express his frustration over the redevelopment of the Art
Gallery of Ontario, a project that exemplifies the conservative culture
of architecture in Canada.
"I'm pregnant now," he said, during an interview at the Sports Hall of
Fame. "I have to go through with it." But going through with it doesn't
mean he's thrilled about the AGO design. The project, he says, lacks
about $50-million. And without a larger budget the design offers a
competent solution to the gallery's programmatic requirements. But it's
not going to put Toronto on the architecture map.
The design has been improved, said Gehry, since it was unveiled to the
public earlier this year. The cold, corporate aesthetic of the major
canopy that runs across an entire block of the gallery's front elevation
has been humanized. The heavy steel cladding of the canopy has now been
reduced to its lower edge, and large wooden timbers now serve as
structural members - a move, says Gehry that makes the piece read like
the belly of an old naval ship. The hope, said Gehry, is that the
collection of boats belonging to Kenneth Thomson, the gallery's major
patron, will be exhibited near the AGO's front entrance.
The thought of walking off the job at the AGO has crossed his mind. As
somebody with profound childhood memories of Toronto, who first
experienced art at the AGO, Gehry wants the building to be spectacular.
But he shakes his head at his architectural ambition for Toronto. His
initial, playful iterations for the Dundas Street façade chopped the
gallery into several big houses clad in different wrappings. "I liked
the vertical sections," he said, "but they would have cost another
$50-million and they didn't work as well for the museum."
Little has changed on the back side of the gallery. The roof of the
Tanenbaum sculpture court is coming off and a boxy addition, rising
several storeys high, will be constructed on top. Gehry says he was
initially nervous about placing a big box over the historic Grange Park,
but the tabletop addition by British architect Will Alsop established a
design precedent, giving him licence to proceed in a similar, albeit
leg-less, fashion.
Gehry met later yesterday with the Thomsons to go over issues of design
and budget. He has not had any discussions with Joey Tanenbaum, who
expressed outrage over the dismantling of his interior courtyard by
stepping down from the AGO board.
Asked whether Gehry ever discussed designing a separate museum to house
the Thomson collection in Toronto, he replies: "Many times." But,
ultimately, it's not the Canadian way. "The Thomsons are very proper,
very dignified and very much in the spirit of doing something right, and
being part of the AGO is what they think is right. It's not their way to
establish their own museum. They don't have the ego. They're Canadian."