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Sept. 12 - Sept. 19, 2004 |
Architecture at Home for the Holidays
Take advantage this season to visit Toronto's internationally significant and acclaimed buildings
By Mark Curtis
Originally Published: 2003-12-28
The holiday season is a great time for family outings which, in addition to spending quality time with loved ones, are also a great excuse for working off those extra helpings of turkey. Toronto galleries and museums will undoubtedly be busy this week, and visitors can complement their day trips by considering some of our local architecture.
The new Princess Diana exhibit at Design Exchange should attract some fair-sized crowds over the holidays, and providing it's not too blustery, a stroll through the adjacent Toronto-Dominion Centre courtyard is a strong reminder that the world's greatest architects have graced this city with their designs.
The six-building Toronto-Dominion complex in the heart of the city's business district is integral to the downtown core and despite its size, easily overlooked by most daily passersby. It was given great thought, however, by its architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the undisputed giants of 20th century architecture. Mies designed the first two towers of the complex and the banking pavilion, and these three buildings were completed by the end of the 1960s. (The remainder of the complex follows his original designs, although he was less directly involved in these projects.)
For Mies, the Toronto-Dominion Centre and his particular brand of modern architecture signaled progress, technology, order and the triumph of rationalism. Strong stuff, and the German-born architect took it all very seriously. Retired Toronto architect Ivar Kalmar spent 28 years of his career working on various aspects of the TD Centre. In a 2001 interview, Kalmar recalled his amazement at the level of precision and workmanship brought to the complex by Mies. God is in the details, after all, is a Miesian catch phrase that is with us still. If it's too cold for an outdoor stroll, a walk through the underground shopping concourse won't quite capture the spirit Mies intended for this part of the office building complex. Recent renovations have diluted the architect's original idea of an underground concourse which, with its low lighting, suggested a shopping district at dusk.
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