The AGO Preview Breakfast
After years of following Frank Gehry's Transformation AGO, I got my first peak at the gallery, nearing completion. It opens to the public November 14th.
There was a breakfast held for donors this morning that Debbie and I attended. I was impressed the most with all the woodwork inside the museum. The serpentine staircase in Walker's Court is gorgeous! It will definitely become the focus of the gallery.
Arriving at AGO, one is greeted by an outstanding wooden ramp that sparks memories of Chicago with its reminiscence to the bridge linking Millennium Park to Grant Park. Cuts in the floor, intertwined with the ramp, allow a view to Ken Thompson's ship models in a gallery below.
The interior of the new modern art wing is quite nice with the wooden blinds on the windows facing Grange Park, generous spaces and sun wells that allow natural light into the gallery throughout the 5th floor ceilings.
The only caveat is that the massive windows facing the park are virtually blocked. An opportunity for viewing the city from the gallery – a beautiful vista granted by OCAD's Alsop building next door – is interrupted by those wooden blinds and dotted glazing. You get a peak at the city, but it doesn't go beyond the tease. That's too bad.
For the preview today, both organic stairs were closed off. The only access to transit between floors was via a single elevator at the back. Eventually, staff recognized the problem and began using the large service elevator instead.
The sculpture gallery is impressive and allows much more visibility to the city below. All that wood just sings "Oh Canada!". The ribbed structure feels like the inside of the hull of an upside down ship.
The single disappointment – one that I expected when I saw the original drawings years ago – is the glass roof above Walker's Court. When walking into the court, one's eyes are immediately drawn to the light source from above. Once there, the sight isn't as rewarding as the invitation would lead you to believe. The metal trusses and ordinariness of the triangular structure disappoint. For Gehry – and a quarter Billion dollars – you'd hope to see a beautiful pièce de resistance, a glass sculptural ceiling worthy of the place it is in. Gehry's DG Bank (Berlin) comes to mind.
The main attraction turns out to be the one you can see from the outside. The Galeria Itália's massive expanse of curving glass with its tears on either end will no doubt transform this part of Dundas.
Come to think of it, it already has.
There was a breakfast held for donors this morning that Debbie and I attended. I was impressed the most with all the woodwork inside the museum. The serpentine staircase in Walker's Court is gorgeous! It will definitely become the focus of the gallery.
Arriving at AGO, one is greeted by an outstanding wooden ramp that sparks memories of Chicago with its reminiscence to the bridge linking Millennium Park to Grant Park. Cuts in the floor, intertwined with the ramp, allow a view to Ken Thompson's ship models in a gallery below.
The interior of the new modern art wing is quite nice with the wooden blinds on the windows facing Grange Park, generous spaces and sun wells that allow natural light into the gallery throughout the 5th floor ceilings.
The only caveat is that the massive windows facing the park are virtually blocked. An opportunity for viewing the city from the gallery – a beautiful vista granted by OCAD's Alsop building next door – is interrupted by those wooden blinds and dotted glazing. You get a peak at the city, but it doesn't go beyond the tease. That's too bad.
For the preview today, both organic stairs were closed off. The only access to transit between floors was via a single elevator at the back. Eventually, staff recognized the problem and began using the large service elevator instead.
The sculpture gallery is impressive and allows much more visibility to the city below. All that wood just sings "Oh Canada!". The ribbed structure feels like the inside of the hull of an upside down ship.
The single disappointment – one that I expected when I saw the original drawings years ago – is the glass roof above Walker's Court. When walking into the court, one's eyes are immediately drawn to the light source from above. Once there, the sight isn't as rewarding as the invitation would lead you to believe. The metal trusses and ordinariness of the triangular structure disappoint. For Gehry – and a quarter Billion dollars – you'd hope to see a beautiful pièce de resistance, a glass sculptural ceiling worthy of the place it is in. Gehry's DG Bank (Berlin) comes to mind.
The main attraction turns out to be the one you can see from the outside. The Galeria Itália's massive expanse of curving glass with its tears on either end will no doubt transform this part of Dundas.
Come to think of it, it already has.
posted by iPedro at 2:23 PM
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