The building is surprisingly Gehry’s first commission in his native city and contains an interesting array of signature elements such as an iconic sculptural staircase emerging from Walker Court (the historic center of the AGO), the sweeping glass-and-wood Galleria Italia extending an entire city block along Dundas Street, and the new contemporary tower with its vistas of Grange Park and of a Toronto Skyline never seen from this angle.
With this new museum extension, Frank Gehry has devised an unforgettable space to honor the art housed within. Attention to the core issue of the pleasure of art viewing is palpable throughout thanks to the amount of natural light and transparency that permeate the extension.
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlargeJust above the glass facade, you glimpse the top of the new big blue box that houses the contemporary-art galleries, its blocky form balanced on top of the old building.
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlarge“We’re not just opening doors, we’re opening minds”. It is with this forward thinking slogan that the Art Gallery of Ontario opened its doors after a remarkable transformation penned by Toronto- born Frank Gehry.
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlargeThe new glass facade, swelling out one story above the sidewalk, seems to wrap the building and embrace passers-by below. Its faceted glass panels, supported by rows of curved wood beams, evoke the skeleton of a ship’s hull or the ribs of a corset. At either end of the building, the glass peels back to reveal powerful crisscrossing steel and wood structural beams.
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlargeThe climax arrives in the Gallery Italia, a long narrow sculpture corridor just behind the new glass facade. The entire composition snaps into place. As you watch the figures jostling outside and then turn to the sculptures, urban life and art seem in perfect balance.
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlarge
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlargeA spectacular new spiraling wood staircase rises from the second floor, punching through the glass roof. The staircase leans drunkenly slightly to one side as it rises, and the tilt of the form sets the whole room in motion.
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlargeIn the contemporary galleries, big wood frame windows offer views onto the park in back, and skylights funnel sunlight into the upper-floor spaces.
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlarge
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlarge
image(copyright Gehry & Partners),click 2 enlarge
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