From PT reader Timothy Thomas:
On the off chance that an architecture maven like you missed it, below see Lisa Rochon’s remarkably petulant rebuke of the new addition to the ROM in Toronto.
Such gnashing of teeth and rending of garments!
In Rochon’s diatribe, the new Crystal “bullies” being “brutal” “dangerous” “prurient” “morbid” “an assault” “a rage I cannot pretend to understand” “a dog’s breakfast” “a humiliation” “oppressive” “mean” “Dante’s Inferno” “a lie” and “indulged personal angst.”
Now what’s really going on here? Could it be yet another rationalization for hating audacity, any kind of bold, creative energy that is perceived to be resolutely un-Canadian? Note the nasty personal tone toward Daniel Libeskind and his life story: the building is the product of an outsider, a dreaded “Starchitect” Oh no- the building has committed the sin of “exalting the individual!”
Is this kind of provincial hostility and resistance to risk an explanation for the inert, tedious quality of much of Canadian architecture? Have smallness and dullness become our unbreakable habit of thought, even in our cultural capital? (After they read her words, friends from Europe and the US said it sounded like the crabby comments of an old lady writing in a small town paper.)
It might sound harsh to the ears coming from a polititian to the general public, but its a far cry of what has been said in the architectural circles. I suppose from a lamemans view its a site to be seen, but it does little to further architectural responses in Toronto.
Toronto is a city where old firms and influencial foreign firms dominate the skyline, where little is allowed for the small up and coming Canadians to be a part of. I rather a successful city designed with unpretentious architecture, than a city filled with the popcorn show pieces that many politicians feel will boost a cities economy. The architect doesn’t bring in the money, a truely inspiring design does that and the architects name should be last on the advertisement for a buildings success.
CP
Master’s of Architecture Student