Site Lines
Designing from the inside out, Gehry strove to rid the gallery of its Achilles heel – its maze-like circulation. A long-overdue shift in the main entrance restores the axial alignment with the classically arched Walker Court. Inside the newly skylit space, a spiralling Baroque staircase twists its way through the roof to the contemporary galleries. Seen less as circulation and more as a meeting place, the curvaceous staircase is actually the only gesture that speaks the Gehry language.
A Sort of Homecoming: The Art Gallery of Ontario
Reporting on Frank Gehry’s new Art Gallery of Ontario, Sean Stanwick raises important questions about architectural expectations. What happens, for instance, when Gehry chooses to pull the plug on the Bilbao effect on his home turf?
What started as a conversation in early 2002 led to an emotional homecoming for architect Frank Gehry as he unveiled his plans for ‘Transformation AGO’, the make-over of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. And while the aim is to strengthen the relationships between the gallery and the city, Gehry has delivered a mixed bag that questions the fundamental expectations when hiring the world’s most famous ‘starchitect’.
Founded in 1900 by local citizens, the AGO is currently the tenth-largest art museum in North America and holds the world’s largest public collection of works by British sculptor Henry Moore. The ...
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