New Diamond May Be Crowning

Toronto's long-awaited opera house designed by veteran architect is slated for 2006 opening

Veteran Toronto architect Jack Diamond has big plans for his latest local project, the new home for opera and ballet in the city.
Speaking at a downtown news conference earlier this month, Diamond said he would like to see the new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts - the future home of both the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada - to be considered one of the top two or three opera houses in the world. "We want this building to have more than 15 minutes of fame," Diamond said.
Construction has begun on the new arts centre, which occupies a city block southeast of Queen Street and University Avenue. The province donated the land, valued at $31 million, and the federal government has contributed $25 million. The Four Seasons hotel chain has made a commitment of $20 million for naming rights to the unique complex.
The prominent downtown location of the arts centre will be fully utilized by the design of Diamond and Schmitt Architects, beginning with a very public gesture. A transparent five storey "city room" fronting on University will make for a spectacular lobby for theatre-goers and become a night beacon on a currently dark section of one of Toronto's main thoroughfares. The large volume will include a translucent Jacob's Ladder-like staircase, a feature consistent with Diamond's feeling that architecture should be "sequential, experiential and kinetic". The main entrance at Queen and University will be marked by a glass canopy and glass edging will extend past the west side façade to emphasize a delicate quality to the building.
An opera house sited next to a city subway line creates major sound-proofing considerations, so the entire building will be isolated on a series of rubber pads to cut out subway noise as well as the rumble of Queen streetcars. The 2,000-seat auditorium, orchestra pit and three stages of the new arts centre will be further isolated from outside noise, creating what Diamond calls "an egg in a nest".
The architect has been practicing in Toronto for almost 40 years and in 1996 he was awarded the honour of Officer of the Order of Canada. Diamond and Schmitt Architects this year received the prestigious Award of Excellence from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In the firm's research for the design of the Four Seasons centre, the architectural team visited prominent opera houses around the world and ultimately decided on the traditional horseshoe-shaped auditorium design of performance houses such as Milan's La Scala (currently undergoing a controversial renovation).
The Diamond and Schmitt design of the new Toronto arts hall promises a more intimate theatre experience than the Hummingbird Centre, the current main performance space for the national opera and ballet companies. The last seat in the house at the Four Seasons will be a comparatively close 120 feet from the stage and the four balconies will have a shallow depth so that seat holders will not feel visually restricted. Balcony fronts will be lightly coloured to create an impression of overall hall intimacy. The room's configuration is also designed so that performers do not feel dwarfed by the house. A frameless proscenium is intended to further encourage a connection between performers and the audience. It is hoped superior acoustics will be achieved through both the narrow shape of the hall and finishes such as a basket weave plaster shell.
The Queen Street front of the new arts centre will include ground level retail as well as glass enclosed upper level reception lounges. A roof top terrace will accommodate outdoor receptions. Above grade construction of the centre is scheduled to begin next spring and a completion date has been set for June 2006. The complex will include underground parking for 200 cars.
Rome-based writer Lee Marshall noted earlier this year that "Opera houses stir deep passions. More than a city's art museum, more than its concert hall, railway station or airport, it is an opera house that really marks out a city's claim to be a metropolis rather than a provincial outpost." Marshall cites the Sydney Opera House for transforming that city. Diamond knows the symbolic power of an opera house as well, noting the new Four Seasons centre will have huge significance for both Toronto and Canada.
Along with Daniel Libeskind's redesign of the Royal Ontario Museum, Frank Gehry's revitalization of the Art Gallery of Ontario and Will Alsop's startling building on stilts at the Ontario College of Art and Design, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts by Diamond Schmitt Architects may well confer on Toronto that world class stature that has been so desirable yet so elusive.

Publication Date: 2003-09-28
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3185