AGO: GottaGO

Also, for all those that checked out the brand-spanking new AGO this weekend... how much more do we love our very own Toronto-native, Mr. Frank O. Gehry?

Sinuous ramps and staircases? Beauty. Wooden beams and floors?? Beauty. Galleria Italia??? Beauty from the inside of a humongous cavernous ship/whale/fish - pure beauty!

Though the blue cladding on the South facade is still a little confusing for this Inter-Shifter, I raise my hands to the sky and thank goodness for a piece of starchitecture in the city that is contextually respectful and yet still experimental and experientially surprising. Hats off to you, Mr. Gehry.

Although the spectacular free opening weekend is over, you can still visit the museum for free on Wednesday nights 6:00-8:30 pm. It's definitely worth seeing for both the architecture and the lovely and extensive Canadian collections.

And here's a review from the New York Times.

--Yi

origami structures

For all those Inter-Shifters that remember ARC213 in the 2006-2007 semester, this should bring back a wave of nostalgia for our first ever design project.

And at the time, to think that we were all incredulous about how paper folding could be remotely architectural... just check out the beautiful temporary chapel that Swiss firm Localarchitecture has created in the small town of Pompaples, Switzerland. Chapelle de St-Loup is designed as a provisional solution for the two-year restoration period of the community church.

Here is just a preview of this modest but beautiful chapel. More pictures here and here.




-- Yi

The University of Valparaiso's Open City, Ritoque, Chile

-- Sarah

...if charlotte's article in shift 2.1 just left you wanting more fallingwater... i didn't want to keep this to myself. "Fall View at the South Front | Félix de la Concha"

--sarah

Concrete?

Came across an interesting article in The Star a couple days ago:
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/268847

It discusses the current dislike for concrete and structures of the 1950's-1970's.

Here are some high-lights from the article:

McClelland and co-editor Graeme Stewart have assembled Concrete Toronto, a tome of writing, interviews and photographs about concrete architecture here, with a mind to reclaiming its good name – or, at least, start that conversation,

"We're interested in why people appreciate certain buildings, and look at others and say `Oh, I hate that,'" says McClelland, a principal at ERA Architects, who specialize in historic restorations.

"We found that if they like it, it's because they understand it. And if they don't, it's because of a prejudice."

...

In the late modern rush for democratic structures and space, concrete was not oppressive, but liberating – an inexpensive form so malleable as to lend almost sculptural possibility to the built environment. It was solid, permanent and ideal-embodying – a material that allowed an architect to believe he or she was building something that would last forever.

It was also the catalyst for a nationwide building boom, and a technological revolution in the field that wouldn't be seen again for decades, until advanced computer rendering made such things as Frank Gehry's titanium-sheathed Bilbao Guggenheim possible in 1995.

So, what do you guys think? Have we surpassed "Brutalist" concrete slab architecture? Or are we neglecting this material in favor of glass and steel?

-mj

I hope this is the beginning of something splendid rather than a waste of time.

University of Toronto, in my own personal opinion, has not been able to create a typical environment for architecture students to fully develop their potentials. From the lack of studio space to the disorganized undergraduate program and sometimes underqualified professors, the experience the school provides me, as an architecture student, has not been something I want to describe with words like "great" or "amazing". Yet, we find ways to deal with issues like climbing five storeys while holding the final model to the studio class. We become more independent and we rely less on each other and the professor, more on our own abilities.

BAASS as an organization has tried to make up for the lack of student interaction and information that exists within the program. Shift, started out simply as a student-run publication/journal, has become a focus of BAASS. This year, Shift is looking forward to a change, or coincidentally, a shift within Shift. This blog has been created as a tool to display current student projects, track their progress along the way, and bring up-to-date information on school events and local architecture-related happenings. I hope and am looking forward to the development of this space as a student-run, free, and highly useful integral of our university experience.