The Art Gallery of Toronto have taken the radical step of creating a collaborative hub for community creativity and learning. The notion of community creativity, as a component of social capital, has long been debated, but finding ways to build such an abstract notion has often encountered political resistance. Well, not in Toronto where, at the Art Gallery of Ontario, by
Hariri Pontarini Architects, they have moved beyond a gallery as simply a place to hang paintings or exhibit sculpture, by converting a wing of the gallery to this ambitious project.
At the heart of the learning centre is a light-filled gathering space that functions for all kinds of activities from practice to performance, to youth centre. This space is served by or serves, depending on your view point, studio spaces, seminar rooms, youth spaces, and administrative rooms. It is bang -up to date with technology but that will not last long. The architecture will however stay the course and... imagine a general population that understands and appreciates the value of art.
In Ontario they already teach architecture and landscape architecture to children, this building is the logical extension of such enlightened policy and it makes me feel optimistic!
