Toronto Reference Library Renovation (Moriyama + Teshima)

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Personally I think a POMO styled addition - think something along the lines of the atrium structure at Botta's SFMoMA might have worked so much better, even if it is done out of bricks.

Too bad the tower at KPMB's AGO addition wasn't saved - it could have been used at this corner to much effect.

AoD

 

[alklay]

That's funny because I was thinking the same thing, with regard to the use of bricks. But your AGO tower idea is truly ingenious.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

alklay:

That corner screams for something special that allows the building to be identified as a landmark in the city which is one thing lacking - like there's a library around the corner feel. I would have preferred something that continues the brick "band" and maybe rises as a cylindrical volume (or something Amsterdam School-ish) above that, almost like a miniature watchtower or lighthouse.

AoD

 

[cdr108]

first time on this thread and seeing the pics.

whhat was the point of doing the prism entrance ?!?

it doesn't look like it added any additional usuable space to the library and only dimished the sidewalks further.
stairs seemd to be placed in the middle of the space leading to a 2nd floor catwalk to nowhere.

aesthetically, i think it would have been more appropriate to have the glass panels installed on the vertical plane (instead of horizontal) to echo the rest of the building.

 

[alklay]

alklay:

That corner screams for something special that allows the building to be identified as a landmark in the city which is one thing lacking - like there's a library around the corner feel. I would have preferred something that continues the brick "band" and maybe rises as a cylindrical volume (or something Amsterdam School-ish) above that, almost like a miniature watchtower or lighthouse.

AoD

Agreed. A dramatic and creative use of red bricks and glass would have been preferable.

 

[Affordable]

I 'm off to London, England where they actually care about how their city affects its citizens. Go 2012 Olympics !, Peace

 

[Towered]

Such an underwhelming addition. A total waste of time.

 

[condovo]

The additions are worse than underwhelming. They actually detract from the original building. And they're falling apart. The exterior panels of the reading area that juts out onto Collier are coming apart at the seams. Who's responsible for this debacle?

Well, I'm off to Chicago where they actually care about how their city affects its citizens. Peace.

 

[Irishmonk]

Given the high the standards given to most TPL additions/renos (Gladstone comes to mind) this is especially disappointing. Amazing that they saved the worst for the most important branch. Tragic fail.

 

[Register123]

Is possible to demand a redo?

 

[adma]

And given the current Teperman hoarding around their old Davenport premises nearby, it's a real moment of self-inflicted Moriyama injury (I was going to say harakiri, but for concerns about racism)

 

[AlbertC]

http://www.thegridto.com/city/places/what-could-the-toronto-reference-library-have-looked-like/

TheGridTO recently released an article featuring the original design of the Reference Library by Raymond Moriyama in 1973.

Article also states that a gift shop and Balzac's Coffee will open in the spring (in the renovated building). They'll span the library's Yonge Street stretch and will both be accessible from the sidewalk.

 

[johnwood]

that design is a 100 times nice than the library now with the reno.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I am fairly certain building technology in the 70s would not allow you to get a building that look remotely similar to what the illustration suggests. You'd need ultra-clear glass for that. What you are likely to end up with is a mirrored glass box.

AoD

 

[adma]

Or a watered-down Beaubourg wannabe. (And remember that Beaubourg's design was surely "in the air" when Moriyama presented his original scheme.)