I love buildings that are built to last forever with the best materials. The details you describe of the Science Centre building are great examples, and have proven they have stood the test of time with little to no deterioration.
This builds will last for hundreds of years with little maintenance and it’s carbon footprint will best be respected by making it last and used as long as possible.
What a beautiful building, and stunning details. What a shame that it has been neglected. No doubt if this was a boring Beaux-Arts building it would be revered and maintained.
If you get the chance, you should visit Science North up in Sudbury to compare/contrast. It’ll be 40yrs old next year (opened June 19th, 1984).
I spent the first ten years volunteering (started when I was 11, back when kids could do things like that) then working part-time thru high school and my first couple of summers home from university. I definitely have fondly biased memories of the place, and haven’t been back myself for a solid 20yrs since my mother moved here to Ottawa.
I'm glad some people in Ontario still appreciate this building. The exposed aggregate floors with gold trim are also very nice. I wondered how they got the rough finish on the ribbed concrete, so thank you for the bush-hammering info. This is my favourite building. I hope it doesn't get destroyed.
This is so cool, thank you Lloyd for posting about the concrete used. Similar to you, I used to spend my summers volunteering and working there in the early 2000s. There was an exhibit that said the current building is situated in the geographic centre of Toronto. That's pretty significant if you ask me - at least it was symbolic we're all equals in the eyes of science. It was also the only cultural institution that was located relatively reachable from the suburbs using the TTC without having to deal with the chaos of going downtown.
Awesome building. Our young country lacks a strong cultural memory so new politicians find it easy to destroy what they don’t understand. They only understand the developmental $$.
I love buildings that are built to last forever with the best materials. The details you describe of the Science Centre building are great examples, and have proven they have stood the test of time with little to no deterioration.
This builds will last for hundreds of years with little maintenance and it’s carbon footprint will best be respected by making it last and used as long as possible.
What a beautiful building, and stunning details. What a shame that it has been neglected. No doubt if this was a boring Beaux-Arts building it would be revered and maintained.
I will say unreservedly that Doug Ford wants to destroy this building and rebuild another one somewhere else because there is money in it for him.
If you get the chance, you should visit Science North up in Sudbury to compare/contrast. It’ll be 40yrs old next year (opened June 19th, 1984).
I spent the first ten years volunteering (started when I was 11, back when kids could do things like that) then working part-time thru high school and my first couple of summers home from university. I definitely have fondly biased memories of the place, and haven’t been back myself for a solid 20yrs since my mother moved here to Ottawa.
I'm glad some people in Ontario still appreciate this building. The exposed aggregate floors with gold trim are also very nice. I wondered how they got the rough finish on the ribbed concrete, so thank you for the bush-hammering info. This is my favourite building. I hope it doesn't get destroyed.
This is so cool, thank you Lloyd for posting about the concrete used. Similar to you, I used to spend my summers volunteering and working there in the early 2000s. There was an exhibit that said the current building is situated in the geographic centre of Toronto. That's pretty significant if you ask me - at least it was symbolic we're all equals in the eyes of science. It was also the only cultural institution that was located relatively reachable from the suburbs using the TTC without having to deal with the chaos of going downtown.
Wonderful post. So glad you quit Treehugger.
well they quit me, but I believe it has worked out well, thanks for your comment.
Awesome building. Our young country lacks a strong cultural memory so new politicians find it easy to destroy what they don’t understand. They only understand the developmental $$.
Wonderful post. So glad you quite Treehugger...
Lloyd, please include some quotes from your daughter on Substack...