OCAD U makes list of the world's strangest buildings
This type of attention is normally reserved for the ROM, isn't it? Will Alsop's Sharp Centre for Design at OCAD U has been selected by Travel and Leisure Magazine and the BBC as one of the world's strangest buildings. In fact, if the order of the list indicates rank, then our iconic building on stilts actually takes the cake. Here's the justification for the selection:
"This crossword puzzle checked box appears, at a distance, to be hovering Close Encounters-style above an otherwise mundane Toronto neighborhood. As you approach, its improbability only increases. British architect Will Alsop planted this collection of galleries and studio spaces on brightly colored columns so insouciantly angled and skinny that they barely look like they can support themselves."
Obviously strange doesn't mean ugly here, and it'd be silly to argue that the building isn't at least somewhat odd (that's what makes it compelling). But what's with the knock on the neighbourhood? The Village by the Grange might not be much fun to look at, but is the area really that mundane given the nearby presence of the AGO? And, because the writer couldn't help but add the ROM as a footnote â "Daniel Libeskind's bizarre 2007 crystalline addition to Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum is just a mile away" â which building do you think should have taken top honour in the "strange" category?
Screengrab from the BBC's website. And a hat tip to the Reddit Toronto, where I found the article(s).
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