Toronto U of T: Robarts Library Renovations & Robarts Common | ?m | ?s | U of T | Diamond Schmitt

[UrbanFervour]

I was expecting something entirely glazed and transparent to offset the heaviness of Robarts' brutalism. This seems like a strange approach to me.

 

[adma]

Christopher Hume reports, with a render to boot!

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/907740--turning-the-page-at-robarts-library

One issue I have w/Hume is in describing Robarts as not one of Warner Burns Toan & Lunde's better efforts--actually, such Ministry-Of-Truthiness is *entirely* characteristic of WBTL's oeuvre. They weren't "art-architects" a la Saarinen, Pei, Johnson, Rudolph; they were the architectural equivalent of bureaucratic drones with H.R. Haldeman flattops. They were the house architects for "The Man": the go-to guys whenever a state-college hypermegastructure was called for. Under such circumstances, Robarts was, perhaps, WBTL's greatest monument...

 

[Tulse]

Fascinating, greenleaf -- thanks for the clarification.

 

[khris]

What a disappointment. It doesn't compliment Robarts at all!

 

[ladyscraper]

Oh no. I love Robarts just the way it is.. that render is awful (for those of us that like the building)

 

[junctionist]

The architect handling the project seems to be too negative about Robarts and doesn't seem to know what to do with it.

At least this very dull addition is over the loading docks facing Huron. It might look like a separate building in front of Robarts.

 

[Dan416]

The new staircases and glassed in atriums were part of the original Robarts design but were cut from the original construction due to budget constraints, so it makes sense that those look like very natural changes.

I haven't been to Robarts in years. Any pictures of what you mentioned?

 

[greenleaf]

I have a few old pictures, but they don't give a good sense of what they're doing with the new atriums. I'll see if I can get some new pictures today or tomorrow.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

See

http://discover.library.utoronto.ca/robarts-revitalization

Pretty mild interventions.

AoD

 

[Parkdalian]

The new staircases and glassed in atriums were part of the original Robarts design but were cut from the original construction due to budget constraints, so it makes sense that those look like very natural changes.

So, it's kind of the opposite of the Cheapening - The Expensiving? Maybe all those folks who are horrified by the persistence of the Cheapening can look forward to a whack of Expensiving brightening up the city in a few decades.

 

[Torontovibe]

So, it's kind of the opposite of the Cheapening - The Expensiving? Maybe all those folks who are horrified by the persistence of the Cheapening can look forward to a whack of Expensiving brightening up the city in a few decades.

Wouldn't that be nice for a change! I'm tired of bad compromises.

 

[thecharioteer]

More in keeping with the context would be something along the lines of the Yerba Buena Lofts in San Francisco, by Stanley Saitowitz, a building that embraces the brutalist aesthetic with a very light touch, and whose rhythm of verticality would complement the lines of the Robarts:

 

[Red October]

Robarts looks fine as is.. they should leave it the way it is now..

 

[greenleaf]

A look at what is happening on the St. George Street side:

What is there now (stairs to be added next summer, I presume):

A closer look at the glass. And if you look closely, you'll see the new tall horizontal light features that hang for the ceiling:

The new staircase on the Hoskin Avenue side:

 

[Dan416]

Even with the pics I'm somewhat confused. I'm the kind of person who needs before and after pics