Arts
Gehry and Mirvish project officially unveiled in Toronto
Don't call them condos. "I am building three sculptures that people can live in," David Mirvish said during his official unveiling of the Mirvish/Gehry transformation of King Street West. "We're sharing a privilege."
That privilege will climb up to 85 storeys (pending approval, of course), spread over three residential towers and sit atop two six-storey stepped podiums. David Mirvish and world-renowned architect Frank Gehry formally introduced their plans for a major overhaul of King Street West this morning at the Art Gallery of Ontario — an appropriate setting considering the 2008 AGO redesign exists as Gehry's other major Canadian project.
The project, as it currently stands, will stretch from the Royal Alex to John Street and include a 60,000-square-foot gallery, a new OCAD University facility, and three distinctly designed residential towers. The gallery will showcase the personal art collection of Audrey and David Mirvish, which will land after years of international travel (loans to museums in Europe and the U.S.) and will be free and open to the public. The one major casualty of the Mirvish and Gehry design, however, will be the Princess of Wales Theatre, which opened back in 1993. Mirvish was not shy to address this point at his press conference Monday morning.
"Having theatres that are not full all the time is not better than art galleries," he said.
Gehry echoed that idea — albeit, somewhat vaguely — when he later took the mic. "We have this image of Toronto that doesn't really exist anymore," he said, noting that his Toronto roots stem back to his grandfather's hardware store on Queen Street. "Yet we're yearning with nostalgia to connect to it."
Gehry's portfolio includes such venerable works as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. When asked why he's decided to return to Toronto now, Gehry answers simply, "David Mirvish. Period."
Both Mirvish and Gehry readily pointed out that the models presented this morning don't necessarily represent the final project as it will eventually be built. That is to say; the exterior sculptural "cladding" (which some commenters have helpfully noted as akin to "garbage" or "torn paper") that's intended to create vertical expression may not survive. And we'll see if Mirvish and Gehry achieve their far-reaching (excuse the expression) goal of three 80+ storey towers.
But Councillor Adam Vaughan, of course, was there to offer his unbridled optimism. "Planning is about finding the word 'yes,'" he said to reporters after the presentation. "It's very easy to say 'no, it's too big' or 'no, it's too small' [...] something's going to happen, we have to make sure it builds strength into the community not just simply builds a building."
"I believe when you build a tall building like this it must be a vertical neighbourhood if it's going to succeed."
The next step to success for Mirvish and Gehry however, depends on City approval.
Photos by Tom Ryaboi
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"“I’m not sure if we’ll have a fight with this,” said Mr. Mirvish, as he explained how he believed the condos were necessary to finance the rest of the project"
What rest of the project?! He's saying he needs 3 condos to fund a museum and OCAD space? What a load of BS. Mirvish is trying to cash in on the condo bubble. Too bad it's just about ready to burst.
This is far from progress. Getting rid of the Princess Wales Theatre is no surprise. Just like New Tork City, theatre goers are thinning out due to expensive tickets and the rehashing of the same musicals, etc. I'm guessing David will be building more condos and getting rid more theatres one by one. Expect lame excuses why they will need to come down.
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YEP! Another ROM "crystal" shitshow COMING RIGHT UP KIDS!
They should be forced to keep the theatre's facade.
Come on.
With only another 101+ stories towering over everything else it'll be lost forever.
Personally I would visit an abstract art museum / gallery ten times more often than I would see a Broadway-style theatre production, but that's just me.
It ain't no historical jewel.
No need to save any of it.
Unless someone famous peed there.
Then save the urinal and put it on top of one of the new towers.
CAN YOU SAY CHA CHING
Is King between Spadina and University going to be one giant construction block for the next ten years? I love how none of these developments seem to look at the broader context.
How is that stretch going to sustain several thousand more residents?
It's knocking down a non-historical theatre, that appears to be no longer commercially viable, and some very nice, midrise buildings (that I would be sad to see go).
But Gehry IS probably the most renowned living architect today. Dish out the cynicism if you want, but it's true.
The idea that someone like him could have a downtown cityblock to sculpt is something that Toronto has been screaming for. So many boring, glass, boxy buildings. So much mediocrity, and low aspirations in the way this city is built.
This is a bit crazy. But if it succeeds as a cultural and architectural landmark, it has a chance to be monumental for the city.
I think I wrote this in another post - but Toronto is growing. It will continue to grow. (This is actually a good thing, by the way).
Toronto can either build up (downtown condos) or build out (Brampton/Vaughn suburbia). Guess which is more livable? Guess which gets more people out of their cars and using transit/walking? Guess which is better environmentally? Guess which creates a more vibrant, enjoyable, interesting city? NOT the option that has everyone drive out of the downtown at 5pm (one person per car) to their house 45 minutes away (see most US major cities).
Obviously, this can go too far. You don't want your whole city made up of condo highrises. But this is right downtown. It's a fine place for something like this.
People are crying that Cityplace and Liberty village are going to become slums since there's "no neighbourhood" and the area's so expensive, well what will happen here?
The city needs to pace itself and look at long-term planning, instead of being dazzled by big names dangling the promise of "world class" buildings.
This condo boom just isn't sustainable unless we take a hard look at what else is going on in the area with respect to demographics, transit, and community services
I think the fact that we may be building too much too quickly is a fair criticism from a real estate point of view though. If that's the case, I'd love to see this project go ahead of some other, less ambitious proposals.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63649137@N06/8017977990/
If that was the case, then BRAVO! - they've succeeded? I don't think the idea as a whole is necessarily bad, but these initial designs make me shudder.
Why not make a real statement and make them taller, say, 120 stories?
It'll look fine on the Toronto skyline and at ground level, I always enjoy Gehry's bizarre metal designs. This is a pretty cool project and I hope it goes swimmingly.
I do think that the TTC will need a MAJOR overhaul to handle the added density, however.
It's very unCanadian, I know. But Canada hates us anyway, so screw 'em.
http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2012/10/sara-diamond-talks-ocad-university-mirvishgehry
I'm not grieving for the Princess of Wales Theatre. In the downtown core alone, we have the Royal Alex, Roy Thomson Hall, the Sony Centre, the Opera Centre, the Operetta Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Tarragon, Lower Ossington, Factory, Hart House, and I'm sure I'm missing others. I don't think we're in any danger of losing crucial performance space.
If Princess of Wales' attendance is dwindling and people agree it's a bit of an eyesore, then why not go ahead and build something cool in its place? Some people are saying, "It was only built in 1993, why are we tearing it down so soon?" You just can't win with some people! It it were built in 1893, you would here, "It was built in 1893, so it can't be torn down." For the first time ever, I'm hearing that a building isn't old enough be torn down. Wow, get a grip people!
That said, I have always been an advocate of building up instead of out. It works... when the city keeps up with itself. But Toronto doesn't. We've canceled every transit and highway project since the 60s, and people wonder why we're ranked 5th in North America for the worst traffic. Even New York City is like 20th on the list! We are worse than an island with like 6 million on it! Hello? The idea that we should tear down an institution of art to build another is ridiculous when you look at what's happening to arts and culture in general. We cut it out of schools and we tear down the venues and then we wonder why movies and plays sucks these days -- because we've eradicated any way for people to study GOOD ART. You don't see people tearing down the Sony Centre at Front and Yonge. They're building condos on top of it so they can preserve what is arguably the ugliest theatre in Toronto. A good architect would figure out how to build around and over the Princess of Wales. It's the nicest theatre in the city, and being newer doesn't make it expendable. It's a monument to a woman who died and now we're disgracing both her and the legacy of now-deceased Ed Mirvish by doing away with it. Ed brought culture to Toronto through theatre and SAVED properties like the Royal Alex and Old Vic from the wrecking ball. This whole thing is devastatingly ironic and hypocritical.