Libeskind in Toronto to Promote, Defend ROM

Gotta agree with the guy about the state of architecture in Toronto. He seems to have sparked a bit of change, and regardless of what I think of the ROM (I'm still a little iffy), I'm certainly thankful for that.

He fielded that "If you could change one thing about the building what would it be" question quite well.

While I do admire the concept of the building, frankly I think this guy is full of it. He refers to the building as "a work of art", but works of art are supposed to be unique and creative. Take a look at any of his other buildings and you'll find that they look exactly the same, better even, cause they were done first. But frankly, what do you expect from the new breed of "star-chitects". Libeskind and Gehry both have been successful in branding their work to the point where they're all identical and any form of inventiveness and/or innovation is practically non-existent. Look at one of the premiere architects of the 20th century, Frank Lloyd Wright, he kept experimenting and improving on every one of his buildings till the day he died, so for him to say that architecture is not something to improve upon is both egotistical and closed-minded.

Oh, and if he was so considerate of the civic space that he was using, why was the original concept of a glass crystal (which would have looked amazing) changed so much until we are left with the amazingly ugly aluminum sided structure we see today?

The answer is simple, he was taking the easy way out by plopping the same building he's used elsewhere into this space without taking into consideration the climate it was being built in and, perhaps most importantly, the purpose of the space.

He is right about one thing though, Toronto is, and still remains a remarkably boring city in terms of architecture.