அரிய வாய்ப்பு - Doors Open 2012: The changing face of Toronto

டொராண்டோவில் உள்ள பல முக்கிய இடங்களை பார்வையிடுவதற்கு ஒரு அரிய வாய்ப்பு. மே 26, 27 திகதிகளில் டொராண்டோவில் உள்ள வரலாற்று பிரசித்தமான பழைய கட்டடங்களை பார்வையிட அனைவருக்கும் அனுமதி வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. City Hall 40ம் அடுக்கு உச்சி வரை சென்று பார்வையிடுவதற்கும், இரகசிய உயர்த்தியை பயன்படுத்துவதற்கும் (24வது அடுக்கு தொடக்கம்) அனுமதி உள்ளது. இந்த காலப்பகுதியில் CityTv கலையகத்தில் நுழைவதற்கும் அனுமதி கொடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

By Christopher Hume Urban Issues, Architecture

In 1812, people around here were more likely closing doors than opening them.

Toronto, such as it was, and Canada, such as it was, were caught up in yet another European conflict, this one between France and Great Britain. Our part of the conflict began when the Americans declared war on the British, which over here then meant British North America.

Map: Doors Open building locations

Doors Open 2012: Explore Toronto’s spaces and places

American forces invaded Canada. English forces raided the U.S. And so it went, back and forth. Even today no one's sure who won.

The most dramatic event happened here in 1813 when American soldiers under General Zebulon Pike attacked the town of York. As the British retreated, they blew up their ammunition dump, setting off what is thought to have been the most powerful man-made explosion up to that time.

Regardless, the War of 1812 is now long forgotten. But had the outcome been otherwise, the course of Canadian history would have turned out quite differently. For one thing, there wouldn't be a Canada. If Canadians had joined with the Americans, as the latter expected, we would have become part of the U.S.

We refused, resisted and remained loyal to the Crown. Historians tell us that the “victory” led to the first stirrings of Canadian nationhood. Canadians had decided they weren't American, but neither were they fully British.

In the military outpost that became Toronto, life soon settled down and the city was rebuilt. In 1812, the population of York stood at 1,450. By 1834, when it was incorporated as the City of Toronto, it had grown to 9,250. Though designated the capital of Upper Canada, it was no city. But settlers poured in and the young community grew.

By 1822, the Chief Justice of Upper Canada, Sir William Campbell, had built himself the substantial neo-classical mansion that still stands today, though in a different location.

Which brings us to Doors Open, the hugely popular weekend event in May when hundreds of buildings throw out the welcome mat and reveal themselves to the world. Private and public, new and old, humble and grand, sites normally inaccessible accept visitors. This year's edition, the twelfth, features more than 135 buildings, everything from Sir William's Georgian heap (Queen and University) and Fort York, which boasts the largest collection of 1812 buildings in the country, to the TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King St. W.) and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute (209 Victoria St.), which both opened in 2010, and the Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre at 585 Dundas St. E., still under construction.

In other words, the idea is to cast as wide a net as possible to impart a sense of just how much Toronto has changed and grown over the last two centuries.

Fortunately, with the exception of a few Fenian raids, and various uprisings, insurrections and skirmishes, Canada has remained war-free since 1814, when the War of 1812 ended. If heritage has been demolished, we are to blame. At the same time, cities must evolve or die. But growth in Toronto occurs so quickly people are feeling unnerved. Indeed, one of the subtexts of Doors Open Toronto can't help but be change itself, the process whereby cities must destroy themselves in order to renew themselves. Stasis is not an option; one need only look at, say, Venice to see what happens when a city dare not change, when it becomes a museum piece. It's great for visitors, less so for residents.

Doors Open Toronto also reminds us that today's buildings are tomorrow's heritage. What will Torontonians make of TIFF 200 years from now? Will it even last that long? But whether our heirs love or hate it, if for nothing else, they will value it for its age.

Tastes change, but age confers a sense of venerability on a building. As Toronto's earliest towers hit the century mark, one realizes that even modernist structures such as “New” City Hall (1965) are now almost 50 years old, if not venerable, getting close.

As inhabitants of 21st-century Toronto, we also have a vested interest in projects that mix old and new. This year's examples include the National Ballet School (400 Jarvis St.), MARS Discovery District (101 College St. and the Distillery District. All are brilliant, and demonstrate how historic buildings can find new life in the hands of contemporary architects.

Humber College's Centre for Justice Leadership (3120 Lake Shore Blvd. W.) is another excellent example; in this case, however, it was a 1970s car dealership that was transformed into a remarkable crime-scene classroom for student detectives – and, perhaps, a perfect set for The Mousetrap.

Toronto's buildings have never been so well used.

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Map: Doors Open building locations

Credit:

http://www.thestar.c...face-of-toronto

http://www.citytv.co...ronto-buildings

http://www.toronto.ca/doorsopen2012/