Transformation AGO (5s, Gehry) COMPLETE

[JasonParis]

DS: I'm not against another public art gallery for the city, but I'd like to see the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art on West Queen West expanded significantly before we got another one going.
42

I neglected to think of MOCCA, my bad.

However, perhaps some MOCCA/AGO-modern marriage could be created one day in a new signature building?

 

[CDL.TO]

Redpath! Redpath! Redpath!

 

[condovo]

Photo update from this morning:

From Dundas and McCaul.

Different angle.

Glass installation in progress.AoD

The second pane of glass from the eastern edge of the visor, in the centre row, is not installed properly, making it slightly misaligned and giving it a subtly different reflective quality. It's barely noticeable in the pic's but quite distracting in person, especially for us obssessive/perfectionist/demanding types. Hope it's fixed. Everything else seems to be coming together quite well. Thanks for posting.

 

[interchange42]

42, I doubt they'll do any expansions for at least another decade or two. The neighborhood was up in arms about this expansion so soon after the previous one in the 90's. The AGO came to terms with them with an improved design which included a less imposing facade facing the Grange and with a promise that there would be no more additions.

I'm not expecting another expansion soon either, and I remember the NIMBY opposition to this expansion. I am occasionally sympathetic to NIMBYs, but this was definitely not one of those times. Before the AGO sets up a branch site, I believe the land use here truly should be maximized, and we can go up a few more floors here before that happens.

I'm sure as space demands it, it will happen and like you said, there is a convenient spot immediately north of the new modern art "block".

A new addition could go North of Walker Court with its own spiraling staircase to mirror the one on the south of the court

Are those italics yours, or was that a quote from someone involved with the design of this particular expansion?

I would be happy enough with a north tower block mirroring the south one - but I would also like to see both blocks connected without visitors having to descend and reascend to those floors. The purple area is the bit that I mentioned in the previous post that I would like to see totally rebuilt. Maybe in the future we'll have a titanium clad lightwell fully surrounding Walker Court, or at least on three sides.

Something mirroring the squarish titanium clad block on the south end and a vertical glass shield with tears on the top to complement the Dundas facade on the North would look nice and add to the overall glass + titanium of the building.

As it stands now, even though Gehry's making sense of the interior (it was a confusing mess before), the exterior still remains a mish-mash of different styles of different eras.

Well, on the north side, we'll only have the Gehry and Parkin facades when this phase of expansion is done, right? Some Myers will remain at the south end of the Beverly Street facade, but I don't think that's a problem - institutions like this normally show their history through such mishmashes.

42

 

[Venti de Milo]

Wow. That question/statement hasnt been posted here before.

I am even guilty of it myself.

Read the previous pages - those curly bits are to be added later on the ends of the existing glass canopy.

How are they going to add later now that the whole area is going to cover up with the glassess?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Blue Titanium!!

The blue titanium cladding is up - it is really really blue.

AoD

 

[alklay]

Great pic. Thanks for the update...and yes, that is certainly blue. At least the building will not be lost on those grey days of winter.

 

[Jayomatic]

Wow. That blue looks amazing. Should really make that box stand out.

 

[whatever]

That looks like the titanium is just wrapped in nitto to protect the metal during installation.

 

[MetroMan]

It's still hard to imagine the whole building like that, but once a larger patch is in place, we'll get a real taste for the titanium.

I can't tell if it's being overlapped like fish scales the way Gehry is known to do.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Metro:

It's hard to tell from the webcam pic - but it appears they titanium panels are scale-like - vertical panels (bigger than those in Bilbao) that are arranged in a staggered pattern. Lisa Rochon's article earlier in the thread also mentioned that it will be 'pillowed'.

AoD

 

[MetroMan]

This part is THE moment of truth, as we've humbly found out with the ROM.

 

[mysteryman]

The titanium panels will be installed in an 'earthquake' pattern. Outside of California we call that a staggered grid.

 

[MetroMan]

Somebody with access to OCAD should go up there with a decent zoom lens and get a shot... or we can just wait 'til the titanium reaches the south facade

 

[syn]

I thought the glass shield would be more of a single piece (or a few pieces) sculpture on top of the grid, rather than a series of smaller windows (as you'd see in an office building or condo). It could tie in much better with the titanium box though.