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http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/642881
Has it really been two decades?
TheStar.com | Sports | Toronto's dome turns 20
May 30, 2009 04:30 AM
Garth Woolsey
Sports columnist
It has been the site of some our greatest sporting and civic moments, this architectural wonder that doffs its top when the sun shines and the events warrant.
Can it really be 20 years since the SkyDome roof first retracted for public consumption on June 3, 1989, and Mother Nature celebrated the occasion with a mocking, drenching downpour?
Since then, many more than 50 million people have visited the iconic structure to attend Blue Jays and Argonauts games, sundry other sports, conventions, revivals; to go to the fitness club or stay at the hotel or simply to gawk.
The Rolling Stones and the Backstreet Boys played there, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama spoke there, folks mourned Princess Diana and egged on Hulk Hogan there, the Jays won a pair of World Series ("touch 'em all Joe"), the Argos had Grey Cup-winning seasons, and consenting adults did unmentionable things in the hotel rooms overlooking the outfield, teenagers had first dates and/or beers, friendships were forged, marriages were proposed and accepted.
It really is something unique to behold, the place corporately called the Rogers Centre but still good, old SkyDome underneath, an engineering marvel, as much machine as building.
But two decades on, the place is also showing signs of advancing age, if not structurally so much as in the public imagination. Its vastness and greyness can give it the feel and sound of a mausoleum, the sterility of a hospital operating theatre. Its bells and whistles can't hide its oh-so 1989 feel – that's the year the Berlin Wall came down and Driving Miss Daisy won the best picture Oscar.
Once a must-attend, it has also gradually slipped down the list of best places to watch baseball: ESPN rated all 30 ballparks in 2006 and the SkyDome came in at No.23, exactly the same rating Forbes.com gave it last month in a more recent set of rankings.
Columnist Jim Caple of ESPN.com: "SkyDome is like the rich kid in your neighbourhood who was the first to get a TV/ VCR/PlayStation/DVD player. He seemed incredibly cool for a while, but as soon as everyone else got something newer and better, no one wanted to visit him any more."
Here's an anonymous but not isolated comment from a fan blog: "How unfortunate is it that T.O. so narrowly missed out on the trend of building retro-themed outdoor ballparks? SkyDome is such a depressing place to watch a game in comparison. The experience is infinitely better when the roof is open, but still lacks in atmosphere."
There are those who suggest ominously that the place that was the first in baseball history to break the 4 million single-season attendance mark is now slowly and relentlessly killing the sport in Toronto.
SkyDome may have been first of a kind, but it was also in many ways the last – a magnificent one-off. It was and is an elaborate multi-use facility that marked a transition from the bubbles and the concrete doughnut edifices of the mid- to late-20th century to the popular retro single-purpose designs that first made their mark in the majors in Baltimore, when Camden Yards opened in 1992.
They put the park back in ballpark and how long until someone important in Toronto starts to agitate for one of our own – post-recession? What then for SkyDome/Rogers Centre, built to last 100 years or more?
Hard to believe, but the Blue Jays' home is now the ninth-oldest among the 30 major-league buildings.
In hard dollar terms, the place has depreciated faster than a Big Three gas guzzler. It cost a then-whopping $600 million, much of it public money, but in 1994 was sold to a private consortium for $151 million. That group filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998 and the complex was awarded to Sportsco International LP in 1999 for $80 million. The Blue Jays, under owner Rogers Communications Inc., paid $25 million for the building in 2004 and renamed it the Rogers Centre in 2005. Notably, the Jays joined all other major league franchises in owning and/or operating their own buildings and the team has made well-received efforts to soften the dome's atmosphere.
Still, it is what it is and what it is not is a "real" ballpark even if it still has a "wow" factor for first-time visitors.
"The best thing about it is the general public has always liked the building," said Toronto architect Rod Robbie, now 80 and still active in his profession, who headed up the SkyDome design along with Ottawa structural engineer Michael Allen. "It's not been quite so much with some of the cognoscenti; I think a lot of the architectural profession never liked it."
Why would that be, he was asked. "I don't know," replied Robbie, "Jealousy maybe. I have no idea.
"There was a lot of bitchy criticism of the design, most of which didn't take into account the budgetary constraints, which were extremely severe. Nobody can quite believe that, I know. But all of this had never been done before. Let's face it, it was an experiment."
At the time it opened, Robbie noted "it was the biggest and most complex structure that's ever been moved in human history." No small feat, that.
So what would he have done with an unlimited budget? Robbie said, among other things, that his original concept called for all sorts of finishing touches that would have brightened the overwhelming greyness of the place, inside and out. Originally $50 million was allotted – but never delivered – for highly finished, precast concrete exterior cladding.
There was $5 million in artwork commissioned in 1989 and the resulting pieces have retained their charms, but they also still feel overwhelmed by the sheer dimensions of their surroundings. The Blue Jays have added huge outdoor decorative banners and greatly improved interior concourses, but the place can feel spooky without a 30,000-plus crowd in attendance.
Critics should be reminded of what came before the dome – Exhibition Stadium, the often cold and windy mistake by the lake. For all its perceived faults, the Rogers Centre has virtually no postponements due to inclement weather. But management at times seems reluctant to open the roof.
"Bright sunshine on a crisp afternoon," reads a mid-May comment from a fan on the Jays' website. "Let's play ball indoors! Why are the people who run this stadium so intent on murdering the game of baseball? Maybe they'd open the roof more often if they could figure out a way to sell cellphones by doing it. SkyDome (yes, I'm aware there's a new name) offers the worst fan experience in sport."
"They should have left the name SkyDome in there somewhere," said Robbie. "The building belongs to the public and the public chose that name. ... I've always felt that one of its functions – aside from being the home of the Blue Jays and Argonauts and so on – was to be the public forum of Toronto."
It was also designed intentionally as the matched-set "female" counterpart to the neighbouring CN Tower. Aside from being an "obvious penile symbol," Robbie said, the tower is a "strong sentinel" protecting the dome symbolically and literally – attracting lightning strikes during storms.
Robbie and Allen patented their roof design and the four MLB stadiums that are currently retractably domed do not come close to duplicating their ideas. They require a much larger footprint and produce less complete exposure to the elements, said Robbie.
He has been involved in designing several stadiums incorporating the pair's unique ideas, but none have been constructed. Robbie said he was paid by Taiwanese interests to design the main stadium for the Beijing Olympics but was eliminated in the final four of the competition.
As for the dominant uncovered, real-grass, retro, asymmetrical designs, Robbie said the Baltimore stadium's architects "made sure it diverted from what we had done," setting a trend that "very brilliantly turned to U.S. nostalgia for the game" continues to this day.
"I said back then (20 years ago)," added Robbie, "that the biggest problem this building will face is it will endure for a number of years and then something will happen and nobody will give a damn and it will be neglected for a quarter of a century."
Has it really been two decades?
TheStar.com | Sports | Toronto's dome turns 20
May 30, 2009 04:30 AM
Garth Woolsey
Sports columnist
It has been the site of some our greatest sporting and civic moments, this architectural wonder that doffs its top when the sun shines and the events warrant.
Can it really be 20 years since the SkyDome roof first retracted for public consumption on June 3, 1989, and Mother Nature celebrated the occasion with a mocking, drenching downpour?
Since then, many more than 50 million people have visited the iconic structure to attend Blue Jays and Argonauts games, sundry other sports, conventions, revivals; to go to the fitness club or stay at the hotel or simply to gawk.
The Rolling Stones and the Backstreet Boys played there, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama spoke there, folks mourned Princess Diana and egged on Hulk Hogan there, the Jays won a pair of World Series ("touch 'em all Joe"), the Argos had Grey Cup-winning seasons, and consenting adults did unmentionable things in the hotel rooms overlooking the outfield, teenagers had first dates and/or beers, friendships were forged, marriages were proposed and accepted.
It really is something unique to behold, the place corporately called the Rogers Centre but still good, old SkyDome underneath, an engineering marvel, as much machine as building.
But two decades on, the place is also showing signs of advancing age, if not structurally so much as in the public imagination. Its vastness and greyness can give it the feel and sound of a mausoleum, the sterility of a hospital operating theatre. Its bells and whistles can't hide its oh-so 1989 feel – that's the year the Berlin Wall came down and Driving Miss Daisy won the best picture Oscar.
Once a must-attend, it has also gradually slipped down the list of best places to watch baseball: ESPN rated all 30 ballparks in 2006 and the SkyDome came in at No.23, exactly the same rating Forbes.com gave it last month in a more recent set of rankings.
Columnist Jim Caple of ESPN.com: "SkyDome is like the rich kid in your neighbourhood who was the first to get a TV/ VCR/PlayStation/DVD player. He seemed incredibly cool for a while, but as soon as everyone else got something newer and better, no one wanted to visit him any more."
Here's an anonymous but not isolated comment from a fan blog: "How unfortunate is it that T.O. so narrowly missed out on the trend of building retro-themed outdoor ballparks? SkyDome is such a depressing place to watch a game in comparison. The experience is infinitely better when the roof is open, but still lacks in atmosphere."
There are those who suggest ominously that the place that was the first in baseball history to break the 4 million single-season attendance mark is now slowly and relentlessly killing the sport in Toronto.
SkyDome may have been first of a kind, but it was also in many ways the last – a magnificent one-off. It was and is an elaborate multi-use facility that marked a transition from the bubbles and the concrete doughnut edifices of the mid- to late-20th century to the popular retro single-purpose designs that first made their mark in the majors in Baltimore, when Camden Yards opened in 1992.
They put the park back in ballpark and how long until someone important in Toronto starts to agitate for one of our own – post-recession? What then for SkyDome/Rogers Centre, built to last 100 years or more?
Hard to believe, but the Blue Jays' home is now the ninth-oldest among the 30 major-league buildings.
In hard dollar terms, the place has depreciated faster than a Big Three gas guzzler. It cost a then-whopping $600 million, much of it public money, but in 1994 was sold to a private consortium for $151 million. That group filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998 and the complex was awarded to Sportsco International LP in 1999 for $80 million. The Blue Jays, under owner Rogers Communications Inc., paid $25 million for the building in 2004 and renamed it the Rogers Centre in 2005. Notably, the Jays joined all other major league franchises in owning and/or operating their own buildings and the team has made well-received efforts to soften the dome's atmosphere.
Still, it is what it is and what it is not is a "real" ballpark even if it still has a "wow" factor for first-time visitors.
"The best thing about it is the general public has always liked the building," said Toronto architect Rod Robbie, now 80 and still active in his profession, who headed up the SkyDome design along with Ottawa structural engineer Michael Allen. "It's not been quite so much with some of the cognoscenti; I think a lot of the architectural profession never liked it."
Why would that be, he was asked. "I don't know," replied Robbie, "Jealousy maybe. I have no idea.
"There was a lot of bitchy criticism of the design, most of which didn't take into account the budgetary constraints, which were extremely severe. Nobody can quite believe that, I know. But all of this had never been done before. Let's face it, it was an experiment."
At the time it opened, Robbie noted "it was the biggest and most complex structure that's ever been moved in human history." No small feat, that.
So what would he have done with an unlimited budget? Robbie said, among other things, that his original concept called for all sorts of finishing touches that would have brightened the overwhelming greyness of the place, inside and out. Originally $50 million was allotted – but never delivered – for highly finished, precast concrete exterior cladding.
There was $5 million in artwork commissioned in 1989 and the resulting pieces have retained their charms, but they also still feel overwhelmed by the sheer dimensions of their surroundings. The Blue Jays have added huge outdoor decorative banners and greatly improved interior concourses, but the place can feel spooky without a 30,000-plus crowd in attendance.
Critics should be reminded of what came before the dome – Exhibition Stadium, the often cold and windy mistake by the lake. For all its perceived faults, the Rogers Centre has virtually no postponements due to inclement weather. But management at times seems reluctant to open the roof.
"Bright sunshine on a crisp afternoon," reads a mid-May comment from a fan on the Jays' website. "Let's play ball indoors! Why are the people who run this stadium so intent on murdering the game of baseball? Maybe they'd open the roof more often if they could figure out a way to sell cellphones by doing it. SkyDome (yes, I'm aware there's a new name) offers the worst fan experience in sport."
"They should have left the name SkyDome in there somewhere," said Robbie. "The building belongs to the public and the public chose that name. ... I've always felt that one of its functions – aside from being the home of the Blue Jays and Argonauts and so on – was to be the public forum of Toronto."
It was also designed intentionally as the matched-set "female" counterpart to the neighbouring CN Tower. Aside from being an "obvious penile symbol," Robbie said, the tower is a "strong sentinel" protecting the dome symbolically and literally – attracting lightning strikes during storms.
Robbie and Allen patented their roof design and the four MLB stadiums that are currently retractably domed do not come close to duplicating their ideas. They require a much larger footprint and produce less complete exposure to the elements, said Robbie.
He has been involved in designing several stadiums incorporating the pair's unique ideas, but none have been constructed. Robbie said he was paid by Taiwanese interests to design the main stadium for the Beijing Olympics but was eliminated in the final four of the competition.
As for the dominant uncovered, real-grass, retro, asymmetrical designs, Robbie said the Baltimore stadium's architects "made sure it diverted from what we had done," setting a trend that "very brilliantly turned to U.S. nostalgia for the game" continues to this day.
"I said back then (20 years ago)," added Robbie, "that the biggest problem this building will face is it will endure for a number of years and then something will happen and nobody will give a damn and it will be neglected for a quarter of a century."
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