Building Styles
The Twenty-first Century
Residential---
Curran - Scime/Curran---
Shim-Sutcliffe - Integral House---
Nobourg---
Merrickville
--- Gananoque---
Holland Landing---
Brockville---
Simcoe---
Dundas
Modern architecture is difficult to categorize. After
1950, most major buildings are "one-offs."
Twenty-first century architecture is international:
looking at the Pritzker website , the online
catalogue of cutting edge design, the projects could be anywhere.
Architects have their own personal style and a preference for
a certain set of materials, but they don't easily fall into a
style or concept trajectory the way Classical, Romanesque or Gothic
do. What are professors of history of architecture in the year
2500 going to do? It's true that Foster's Swiss Re building has,
affectionately, been referred to as the "Gerkin," and
it is only a matter of time before someone notices that Ghery's
Guggenheim in Bilbao could be seen as an unfolding cabbage, but
it is unlikely that, in the fullness of time, this period will
be referenced within the general category of "Garden Vegetable
Modern."
Never mind the way they look , the most sophisticated
medieval scholar would shake his head at the very concept of either
the Swiss Re or the Guggenheim museum. The proposal for a huge
building as the headquarters for an international
|
|
banking enterprise would have been as difficult to
sell as the idea of a monument dedicated to selected individuals
expressing themselves in meaningful ways. Department stores, airline
terminals, automotive factories, atmospheric research centres,
nuclear reactor sites - all of these are 20th century buildings
and there are no historic precedents, vegetable or otherwise.
Twenty-first century in Ontario
Twenty-first century architecture in Ontario is as
international as any on the planet. The population of Ontario
has doubled over the past 50 years, most of the growth being in
cities. The population of Toronto has increased by 600 percent.
This has resulted in much of the 'historic' architecture of the
17th, 18th and 19th centuries in downtown locations being torn
down to provide offices and multiple housing facilities.
While many people regret what seems to be a complete
lack of a reasonable plan for areas such as transportation, energy
grids, and conservation of both green space and natural resources,
not to mention the rapidly disappearing historic properties, the
upside is that Ontario is home to some of the most revolutionary,
cutting edge, and beautiful buildings created this millennium.
|
Twenty-first
Century Architects in Ontario
In a documentary filmed in 1998, Frank Ghery discusses
his new monument, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Spain. In that
interview, Ghery said "They don't like me at home."
Ghery was born and raised in Toronto just a few blocks from the
Art Gallery of Ontario. Like many Canadian artists, Joni Mitchell,
Neil Young, and William Shatner, just to name a few, Ghery had
to leave Canada and make a name for himself elsewhere before he
was considered of any importance here. Anyone who has been to
the new AGO will be glad that we were able to get him back.
While Gehry is certainly the most famous internationally,
there are a large number of architects working in and around Ontario
producing excellent work. On this site I will outline just a few.
The pages on Sustainable architecture will showcase other work
that focusses on the sustainable side of design.
A full list of Ontario architects can be found on
the OAA site. In addition,
this site will show you where and how to choose an architect for
your project.
|
|
Sources: Periodicals, Magazines, Newspapers
Those interested in excellent articles and wonderful
photography of current work can do no better than to look at the
Canadian Architect magazine
or Perspectives,
both periodicals produced for and by architects.
Construction Canada provides in-depth information on both
architecture and construction methods and Arabella
provides a cultural/historical perspective on Canadian architecture
past and present. For design trends with spectacular photography
aimed at the general public, both Canadian
Architecture and Design and
Canadian House and Home are good choices. Finally, for really
terrific articles on a wide variety of subjects from 'green design'
and wind turbines to designing a porch, Cottage
Life has excellent writers and a fresh perspective.
Dave LeBlanc hosts The Architourist on CFRB and writes
excellent articles for the Globe and Mail. The National Post and
Toronto Star also have worthy articles and stories. Most local
newspapers have a section on homes, and there are often good stories
there as well.
|
For more examples of cutting edge architecture
see http://www.ontarioarchitecture.com/Classlate20th.htm
|
Museum
of Civilization
Douglas Cardinal
It is said that 70 percent of the people currently
living in Toronto were not born there. At least half of the
architects with practices in Ontario were not born in Ontario.
Some of these architects are internationally famous. An example
is Douglas Cardinal, born in Alberta but with offices in Ottawa.
Cardinal's 'ribbons of stone' can be found around
the world. One of the best examples, however, is found in Hull
Quebec. The Museum of Civilization, built in 1989, was designed
in his Ottawa Offices. The forms intertwine, undulate, and are
organic in the real sense of the word.
|
|
Ghery
- Bilbao Guggenheim Museum
Frank Gehry, on the other hand, was born in Toronto
Ontario but like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, William Shatner,
and many others he has done most of his work elsewhere. The
Bilbao Guggenheim is, perhaps, his most famous building.
The AGO is one recent building constructed in
Canada.
|
|
Residential
Design in the 21st Century
At the turn of the millennia, much of the suburban
and urban architecture in Ontario was eclectic in nature.
The bigger the better. Designers tried to please their clients
by creating impressive quasi-historic facades compiled with
an astonishing variety of unrelated historic elements, all
held together by large quantities of beige paint. Everyone
knew the energy grid was close to collapse, but everyone
thought it was someone else's problem. Opulence, prestige,
and the visual display of wealth were the defining factors.
|
|
With the beginning of the collapse of the economy
in 2009, more and more designers are heading towards sustainable
design, trying to build homes that are comfortable as well
as practical. 21st century architects are embracing the
Modernist materials, concrete, glass and metal. Historicising
detail is kept to a minimum. Respect for the correct placement
of the property to take advantage of sunlight and prevailing
winds is paramount.
|
An article comparing the Scime/Curran Residence and Integral
House is found in Arabella
Spring 2009 issue.
|
Scime
- Curran Residence
Architect Bill Curran and his
wife Maryanne Scime wanted a small house with minimal maintenance.
Hamilton's north end offered "tear-down" properties
at a remarkably good price. The harbor area with the yacht clubs,
nature walks and roller-blading paths was the obvious choice
for a brilliant location. They chose an innocuous looking cottage
and started to dismember it only to find that the structure,
minus the 1970s veneer and bad addition, was rather pleasing.
Restoration with artistic license took the lead.
|
Front Facade
|
Scime - Curran Residence
By reinforcing the lintel over the front door,
Curran was able to replace the '70s vinyl door assembly with
a large pivoting door complete with transom overhead for natural
light. The pivot door is a favorite with the engineering set
and was a huge success in medieval manors for hiding secret
passageways. The Freemasons made spectacular use of them while
plotting the French Revolution and other anti-aristocracy intrigues.
The revolving stone door at the Initiation Well, Quinta da Regaleira,
Sintra forms a solid, impenetrable mass of rock when closed.
Here, the revolving door is used to offer a maximum amount of
light to enter with the guest.
The interior of the cottage is open concept, the
walls having been removed. The main horizontal support allowing
for the open space is provided by an exposed steel beam that
spans the width of the building, totally befitting a house in
the Steel City.
|
Revolving Door
|
Scime
- Curran Residence
Perpendicular to this, the kitchen island provides
an attractive work space, a useful wine rack and a visual device
which draws your eye along the main axis of the house towards
the bathroom and master bedroom.
From the front foyer, the visitor advances towards
the main living area centred around the fireplace. Beginning
with Corbusier, the cherished materials for most modernist architects
are steel, concrete and glass. The rough concrete of earlier
years was replaced in the late 20th Century with polished concrete,
usually poured in place.
|
Kitchen
|
Scime - Curran Residence
With a sleek surface and careful
design, the solid chunks of concrete contrast with balanced
voids to provide storage for wood as well as allowing the hearth
to almost float above the floor. A glass fronted energy efficient
fire and alternating light and dark wood provide the finishing
touches.
Though ultra-modern in appearance,
this layout follows a time-honored plan for single family housing.
In the late 14th Century, one room wattle and daub shanties
were replaced by the cutting-edge two-room cottages that had
a wide front door opening onto a hall with a hearth. The hall
served as dining room, food prep area, living room, lounge and
business centre. The huge innovation here was the separate chamber
or bower in the back where the master and his wife could sleep.
|
Fireplace
|
Scime - Curran Residence
Following this tradition, the
Curran master bedroom is at the back of the hall. A modern innovation
is the placement of a horizontal slash of window above the headboard
that opens on to a dense thicket of cedar bows, uniting the
bedroom with the outdoors.
Thankfully pillows on the bed
have replaced the log which would have served the same purpose
in the Middle Ages.
|
Bedroom
|
Scime - Curran Residence
The light well in the main hall
follows a similar historical precedent. This device is found
frequently in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa, anywhere
that summer heat would make interior space uncomfortable. The
light well provides interior light all year while the abat-jour
is perfectly placed to allow the wind to cool the house in summer.
An abat-jour, is a window or skylight set in a non-strictly-vertical
light well. Like the breezes, the colours on the inside of this
well ricochet around the room bringing a lovely, warm radiance.
|
Lightwell
|
Scime - Curran Residence
Sheet glass was developed as early as 1838, but
the full potential of it was not realized until the mid-20th
Century when heating and air-conditioning made it possible to
experience a full open vista any time of year, unencumbered
by walls, columns or even window ledges.
Sheet glass here is used to great effect for opening
the living area onto the courtyard. The windows are protected
from direct sunlight, keeping the room cool in summer, by having
them on the north and east walls.
|
Courtyard
|
Scime
- Curran Residence
Keeping the courtyard cool in
summer is a reflecting pool, another device that was used to
help regulate heat and air movement for centuries before the
current dependence upon mechanical methods. Both light wells
and the reflecting pools are being revisited by 21st Century
architects as two of the most picturesque means of reducing
the carbon footprint.
Curran is way out in front.
|
Curran - Reflecting Pool
|
Shim-Sutcliffe
Integral House
Integral House is a large
residence built as a concert hall with living quarters. It was
commissioned by James Stewart, a former professor of Mathematics
at McMaster University who has cornered the market on calculus
textbooks. His real passion, however, is music. Following
an age old tradition, this house attempts to meld the audio
with the visual experience.
When Stewart commissioned the house, his three
requirements were loads of curves, loads of glass, and a performance
area that could hold 200 or more people.
|
Shim-Sutcliffe - Integral House Exterior
|
Shim Sutcliffe
The walls of Integral House are created with plate
glass held together by ribs of wood, like columns, but not circular.
The cross-section of the columns is a spline curve, used for
air or water flow in plane and boat design. Where the splines
of a keel direct the water to flow more quickly and propel the
boat forward, the splines on these windows direct the light
into an ever changing pattern on the ceiling and floor.
The floors are marble from the Loire valley in
France. There is an intricate system of in-floor heating that
keeps the open-concept building at a constant, comfortable temperature.
Here the evening light has changed the tone of
the wood creating a more intimate chamber in which to play duets.
|
Duet room - Integral House
|
Viewing Balcony
The term piano nobile, an indispensable area in
every concert hall in the country, providing the revenue from
the liquor sales, comes from the Italian Renaissance palazzi
where the main room on the first floor was used for guests to
assemble and enjoy performing artists. The chateaux of the Loire
Valley are a series of living chambers surrounding large galleries
where art, tapestries and string quartets could be found. English
Manor house design is the same. Shakespeare's sonnets were commissioned
by the owners of Wilton House to be read aloud in their drawing
room. The English Country House was the first performing space
for many a fine composition, most composers being supported
by private patrons not arts council grants.
Here Stewart has provided the world with a gorgeous
performance space, seemingly in the woods, but in fact not far
from Toronto's down town area.
|
Performance area and viewing balcony - Integral House
|
Living Quarters
The bedroom chambers sit atop the wooden and concrete
structure in ice glass brilliance like a glacier. The access
to these chambers is up a frosted glass stairway lined with
a series of hand-blown glass scales suspended on brass lines.
This is craftsmanship at its finest. The spirit of Antonio Gaudi
has climbed this stair.
Like any trend-setting piece of architecture,
the finishes on Integral House are innovative and flawless.
The handrails throughout the house are brass with a leather
finish.
|

Stairwell - Integral House
|
Stairs to performance Area
Steel mesh provides safety and satisfies the building
code requirements while adding glitter to the staircases leading
from the balconies to the main performance area.. The poured
concrete walls are polished but not otherwise finished and as
yet unadorned.
|

Stairway - Integral House
|
Living Quarters
There are countless levels along which you can
discuss the theory and relevance of both music and architecture,
but if you don't feel the music or are not moved by the building,
it is simply a failure and no amount of discussion can make
it a success.
Integral House was not built to impress the neighbors.
It was designed as a place where like-minded people could assemble
and then be magically transported by music to other worlds and
parallel universes across the light of the moon to Puck, the
Queen of the Night and a host of characters invented to both
arouse and soothe the human spirit.
The Shim-Sutcliffe design, commissioned by James
Stewart, is a glittering example of an age old tradition made
manifest in 21st century Toronto. The most ground-breaking engineering
is mixed with an artistic use of sumptuous materials to fulfill
the age old desire to create a temporary refuge from the cares
and worries of the world.
|

Indoor pool - Integral House - Full article in Arabella
|
Civic
Design in the 21st Century
As with residential architecture, the main thrust
of civic architecture in the 21st century is sustainable
design. Many architects are continuing the late 20th century
penchant for unrelated forms crashing into one another,
with varying degrees of success. Gehry's addition to the
AGO is one of the most successful.
|
|
Colleges and Universities have changed their
entry requirements and an unprecedented amount of people
are signing up for post-secondary education. The new buildings
reflect the attitude that glass and steel provide the best
learning environment, provided there is a food court on
the first floor.
|
An article comparing the Scime/Curran Residence and Integral
House is found in Arabella
Spring 2009 issue.
|
Frank
Gehry Art Gallery of Ontario
The AGO has had as many face
lifts as Joan Rivers. The first exhibitions were held in a Georgian
style building, the Grange, an 1817 property willed to the city
in 1910. The original building is still found on the south facade
of the AGO.
By 1919, new galleries were built
in the then-current Beaux-Arts style by Pearson and Darling.
Various new wings and galleries were added, bit by bit, generally
in the style of the time. The last gallery was the Post-Modernist
wing finished in 1992 by Barton Myers and Kuwabara Payne McKenna
Blumberg Architects (KPMB).
|
Front Facade
|
Frank Gehry AGO
Critics of Post-Modern designs often said that
the appeal of these buildings would be short lived. This proved
to be the case for the AGO. In 2004, Toronto born Frank Gehry
was coaxed back to Canada to work on a revitalization project
called Transformation AGO which virtually eliminated the Postmodern
entrance.
Gehry's signature material is titanium, as can
be seen in the Bilbao in Spain, the Pritzker Concert hall in
Chicago, the Disney Concert Hall, and a variety of other buildings.
The blue Titanium provides a wonderful complement
to the white and gray of winter, but is even more magnificent
contrasting with the orange and gold of the fall leaves on the
trees in the Grange Park.
The main design feature of the AGO is the magnificent
staircase that winds in and around, and outside the main building.
From the outside, the staircase looks as if it is oozing out
of a tear in the metal, pushed out, like so much tooth paste.
From the inside, the visitors have a spectacular view of the
surrounding park and downtown core buildings.
|

Inside the staircase looking out.
|
Frank Gehry AGO
On the inside, the curving
shape is similar, but the material is a sensuous golden wood.
Escaping from the roof and flowing into the round-headed arches
of the Renaissance style gallery, the staircase provides a visual
focus as well as an interesting ascent from one floor to the
next.
The mastery of this design is in the way it weaves
in and out of the existing building, uniting the once disparate
galleries into a whole. Out of one gallery, into the next, opening
up views in each direction, but keeping a flow. This flow is
found in ramps and passageways from the main entrance right
through the building.
|

Staircase flowing like a ribbon of toothpaste into the Classical
gallery
|
Frank Gehry AGO
Visitors are lead through
the gallery in twists and curves, Walking through spaces that,
ten years ago, would have been inaccessable.
Here the stairway leading up goes through the
top of a Renaissance arch.
|

Staircase up.
|
Frank Gehry AGO
The staircase provides an opportunity for the
visitor to move around the gallery and get acquainted with the
different floors. But the actual viewing space part of the addition,
it is an art gallery after all, is the large Galleria Italia
on the Dundas Street facade.
Sitting in the galleria you get the feeling you
are in a very large ship. The ribs supporting the glass roof
are curved like a ship's bow, The room is certainly organic,
few straight lines, everything opening up to the north - the
constant light preferred by painters.
|

Galleria Italia
|
OCAD
2004 - to be continued
This brilliant new addition, instead of adding
to the existing building, simply has it floating above it. The
Sharp Centre for Design, by acclaimed British Architect Will
Alsop, of Alsop Architects, in a joint venture with Toronto-based
Robbie/Young + Wright Architects Inc, was completed in September
2004.
|
|
Toronto
|
|
Leslie
L. Dan Pharmacy Building 2006
Moffat Kinoshita Architects in co-operation with
Foster and partners.
Part of the University of Toronto, the Faculty
of Pharmacy on College Street provides state-of-the-art facilities
for more than 1000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The facility boasts teaching laboratories, a new student services
centre, faculty and support staff offices, and a virtual doubling
of the pharmacy student body. It is the largest pharmacy faculty
in Canada.
|
|
Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building
Two classroom pods float above the main lobby.
The tops are open meeting rooms.
|
|
Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building
The classrooms themselves are in a focused environment
that provides no distractions.
|
|
To be continued
Just a few blocks away
is a camera flash posing as a residence.
|
|
Twenty-First
Century Extra Reading and films
|
|
|