| and a good strong thumb up the noses of anyone who thinks
| Modern Architecture is "heritage". We think it is just off
| on a holiday :-)
Sadly, few architects managed to match the mastery that Mies brought to
this project, and modernism quickly became a race to the bottom. Little
wonder cities around the world look so much the same.
But for Toronto, the significance of the TD Centre went well beyond
architecture. This was the city's declaration that it was no longer a
sleepy provincial burg, but a global player. It had arrived. The choice
of Mies, among the most famous practitioners in the world, was a clear
signal that Toronto wanted to be taken seriously. If he was the best, we
must be, too.
Certainly, by the time Mies began work on the TD, he had completed
similar schemes in many cities. Our complex might have resembled others,
but Toronto got the benefit of Mies's considerable experience. Given
that his was an architecture based on restraint and refinement, it only
makes sense that the later projects were his most polished. Don't
forget, it was Mies who said famously, "Less is more," and who
proclaimed, "God is in the details."
Anyone who takes time to look at these buildings close up – especially
the banking pavilion on the corner of King and Bay – will be rewarded.
The way that each marble slab is aligned perfectly with the next; the
English oak trim; the granite podium inside the pavilion and out; the
precise spacing between the towers themselves; these are the kinds of
details that preoccupied Mies, and that make the TD so impressive.
cont'd....
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/218317