The New...
What is it about architecture that gets people so excited? Very few people know anything about architecture, and it's not like it has a presence in the Canadian school curriculum, yet everyone seems to have an opinion on it. "Why is it on stilts?" "What is the point of the red neon?" and "It looks like a gherkin".
Most of these responses I find are reduced to matters of aesthetic judgment based on individual taste. Very few comments are constructive, "I don't like it BECAUSE...".
Some people are just opposed to change. "Not in my backyard!!" is their battle cry - which is interesting to me.
These NIMBY's are a strange breed. They're not opposed to architectural change but as long as it doesn't affect them. They want nothing to do with it. But they don't care if it goes on somewhere else.
I currently reside in the Toronto neighborhood of The Annex, which is not unlike other places I have lived like Edgemont Village in Vancouver or Cook Street Village in Victoria. These communities are full of history and have become sought after locations for many people. These communities have developed over the years into cultural and economic diamonds within their respective cities. People are attached to them and get a strong sense of community from them. Changing what is seen to be as a perfect balance of residential retail and cultural facilities simply scares people. Maybe more nervous than scared.
In the mail yesterday arrived a promotional pamphlet for a development down the street at Bloor Street West and Bedford Road. I've become more interested in these types of pamphlets and flyers in the past few years, not from a condo buying perspective, but from an architectural perspective. The project, One Bedford, is a two tower development across the street from the ROM and the Royal Conservatory of Music [which are both undergoing a major expansion along with the Varsity Stadium across the street] and is causing a bit of fuss in the area. Most see it as a massively out scaled project which sets up Bloor Street West for major land development.
The expected population increase for Toronto is upwards of 1 million people in the next 10 to 15 years. What I find curious is that the current population seems to have an ignorant and/or arrogant view when it comes to this daunting problem. The residents are happy more or less with where and how they live, and are unwilling to accept the changes necessary to absorb this potential problem.
In a recently updated Master Urban Plan for the city major traffic corridors were deemed to be key areas for future development. These designated corridors, paired with city infrastructure [Subways] make certain areas major residential development areas. A quick trip up Yonge street between Sheppard and Finch easily shows this in full effect.
So why then are people getting so excited about this building? Is it the height? Is it just the fact that it is a modern tower which proposes a different way of living? It's not a crazy design. In fact it's by one of the top architecture firms in Toronto.
I think what I find so interesting is that The Annex community is regarded as being extremely well educated [having the highest concentration of PhD's in Canada] yet the residents retreat to an isolationist type of thinking when development comes knocking. There's no intelligent conversation between either side. It's simply "we hate it, not here". The argument continues over about a year and a half at various community meetings and municipal development appeal processes until a moment of critical mass where the project is either built or scrapped. If scrapped the project is usually redesigned, gestates for a while and is eventually reproposed. In the case of the Bloor and Bedford site the project was proposed as a 19-storey tower some years ago but was shot down for various reasons. It was reproposed early in 2005 with a completely new design and interestingly was approved for construction. Interesting since the new design is significantly larger than the last one.
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