Starchitecture!

Starchitecture!  Yes, there's an entry in Wikipedia for starchitect.  It is used to describe architects whose celebrity and critical acclaim have transformed them into "idols of the architecture world". It is a very long list of architects in this category.  At the top is Frank Gehry. There are lots of articles with starchitect in the headline - we can check out the top starchitects of Miami, Paris, New York and London.  Who won the Pritzker Prize amongst the top starchitects? Starchitect is associated with the phrase "the Bilbao effect." This phrase came about after Gehry's Guggenheim Museum was built in Spain in 1997.  This building has become the most influential building of modern times.  Visitors' spending in Bilbao in the first three years after the museum opened raised over €100m ($110m) in taxes for the regional government, enough to recoup the construction costs and leave something over.  Rarely have the many subsequent "Bilbaos" matched the original in economic and social uplift.  For example, one can learn about the "Bilbao Effect" at 20 Canadian Galleries and Museums HERE. The article covers some familiar Toronto landmarks - the ROM, Gardiner Museum, the AGO, and the For York Visitor Centre. One of my favourites in the article is the Aga Khan Museum.  Our pictures today show exterior views of the gardens and building. What I find interesting is the angle of the entrance, making the last photo look like it needs horizon fixing.

Facebook Twitter Website Email

Views of Niagara

I was at a garden meeting at the Toronto Botanical Gardens yesterday and took some time to visit the Aga Khan Museum and Garden.  I wanted to see the Autumn colours as this is a key feature of the plant choices.  There was a some colour, but the leaves have been blown off the trees so there was less than I'd hoped for. This is such an astonishing building and garden.  With the infinity water pools, the white walls of the building, and the grand walk ways, everything is harmonized and serene. Coming back to Niagara, we drove around the escarpment and took a view of Niagara Falls from Megalomaniac the Winery.  Remember the posting last week  'The Great Toronto Mirage'?  Yesterday's view of Toronto was very clear and the buildings on the landscape extend from Toronto right through to Hamilton in a continuous line. At Megalomaniac, I was able to get a good picture of the Niagara Falls view, and include a cropped view so you can see the 'thumb print' stubby building in the centre.  It is Brock University in St. Catharines, and then Niagara Falls is beyond that.  The Skyline Tower is the telling shape of Niagara Falls. There are no articles (other than camera lens compression) to explain this compression phenomenon that we saw. Storms were ahead for the Niagara Falls area.  Voting is ahead for us today.

Front and Back - At the Aga Khan Museum

Today we're looking at a hanging in the Aga Khan Museum.  We were asked what it is made of.  We thought it was silk.  It isn't.  We were told to look at the back and we saw these little gold pins. The hanging is made of 1.2 million gold and silver pins, all placed by hand.  The exhibit Your Way Begins on the Other Side was commissioned by the museum and is the work of Aisha Khalid from Lahore. Her Facebook page has a March 22 post with a video on the piece. Here is the Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/aishakhalid72?fref=photo   Facebook Twitter Website Blogs at: