the darkerside to rants

I just read up a bit on Jean Snow’s website who once again has some really cool architectural photos from Tokyo.

So I was thinking about Toronto, where have I been lately, what have I seen lately that would have put me at awe?

And I can’t help it, but I simply right now cannot think of one structure in Toronto that would make me stand there with a mouth wide open.

Certainly, there is the new OCAD building they just finished (which, if anything looks “interesting” and I guess I will take some pictures of it next week) then there is the ROM with it’s new addition (webcam of construction) and the Four Seasons Centre of the performing arts, but if I compare this to any european city (or it seems Tokyo) I have been to it is just plain boring.

Why is that? I have a theory:

Good art, or anything good for that matter, that we human beings make usually happen under “stress”. I use the term losely here.

Think of the second world war, a time of great stress, war, death, and we pushed technology, because we had a motivation (how bad it may have been). Or look at Metallica, the first few albums were really good, they were full of emotions and anger, and thus the music was “alive”, later albums are just a pale copy of the Original.

Same with The Tea Party and their latest album, musically it is “clean” but if I compare it to their first three albums there is no comparision, Sister Awake is still (in my opinion) their best song.

And this is where architecture comes into play. Europe and Japan are more tightly packed, people are “sitting” more on each other and at the end of the day this sparks a certain genius. If I only have X square metres to build a new house I have to be creative. But here in North America? Well, you can build large because the one thing you have here is land, but that’s where the creativity goes out of the window as well, why build something breathtaking which makes clever use of space when I can just move 5K down the road and plop a gray box into the landscape?

Sad, truly sad. I hope that Toronto stops growing like weed and makes the best out of the city.

MMHhh, since 12:09pm CET I have left the 20′s behind and now I am moving full spead ahead into the 30s.

The last 29 years have been interesting, I have gotten around a bit, though not as much as I would have liked.

I guess it’ll be interesting to see what the next year brings, and of course the big question needs to be answered: Will I ever feel my age?