Urban Shocker
Doyenne
The faceted-rather-than-curved glass front is apparently the AGO's version of The Cheapening, just as the mismatched exterior cladding is the ROM's.
Though the upward curve of the AGO's Big Glass Front is fairly gentle, it is composed of five long horizontal sections of glass that - at their joins - reflect their surroundings with an annoyingly abrupt visual jog that could have been avoided had The Cheapening not occurred.
Still, it gives a plausible enough Big Wow effect I guess ...
We'll just have to settle for what we've got. Full of sculpture and people it'll be worth a look-see from the street, just as the empty Crystal galleries are now being transformed by dinosaur bones and visitors, and the Four Seasons Centre by two thousand patrons in the City Room on opera and ballet nights.
From pedestrian level - seen from the north side of Dundas - the gentle curve experienced by the eye as it travels along the top of the Big Glass Front from east to west, is quite lovely. You expect to see some sort of doodad termination to the curve, but instead it shoots off into infinity. Though perhaps the flippy-bits at the ends will provide the doodad effect.
Though the upward curve of the AGO's Big Glass Front is fairly gentle, it is composed of five long horizontal sections of glass that - at their joins - reflect their surroundings with an annoyingly abrupt visual jog that could have been avoided had The Cheapening not occurred.
Still, it gives a plausible enough Big Wow effect I guess ...
We'll just have to settle for what we've got. Full of sculpture and people it'll be worth a look-see from the street, just as the empty Crystal galleries are now being transformed by dinosaur bones and visitors, and the Four Seasons Centre by two thousand patrons in the City Room on opera and ballet nights.
From pedestrian level - seen from the north side of Dundas - the gentle curve experienced by the eye as it travels along the top of the Big Glass Front from east to west, is quite lovely. You expect to see some sort of doodad termination to the curve, but instead it shoots off into infinity. Though perhaps the flippy-bits at the ends will provide the doodad effect.
