1. The next site I decided to observe was the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, a small museum located just south of Bloor Street on Queen's Park. The only museum of its kind in Canada, it was founded in 1984 and underwent a multi-million renovation in 2006, resulting in the building I saw during my visit. The building itself looks to be built of granite and cement with many glass windows facing the street and beautiful glass doors that allow visitors inside the museum. A line of four tall billboards advertising current and upcoming exhibits stand between the sidewalk and the stairs, hoping to attract some of the several hundred (and sometimes thousand) people who pass by this location every day. The building is nestled between two buildings (U of T's Annesley Hall Residence and the former Department of Household Science building that is now home to a Club Monaco) whose more traditional architectural styles contrast significantly with the modern design of the museum.
It is around the time most people take lunch when I visit the museum, and while it is not particularly warm, the sun keeps peeking out from behind the clouds and makes it a pleasant mid-November day. The traffic is heavy, but normal for the area and time of day. I hear the usual sounds of traffic while I am there. Pedestrians have conversations as the pass by. I can see a few artificial light sources when I arrive, but the more I look the more I find. In addition to the street lighting, there are eleven approximately waist-high lampposts that line the two gardens on either side of the stairs leading up to the main entrance, in addition to small lights on the back of each stair and a row of lights between the stairs and the retaining wall that is engraved with the museum's name. I also notice some attractive overhead lighting in front of the entrance as I get closer to the building. I imagine that it must look quite lovely at night.
2. Walking appears to be the most common activity in the area, and many people pass by the front entrance of the museum in both directions. The surrounding area is busy, but fewer than ten people leave or enter the actual building while I am there, although the pace with which they enter and leave is fairly steady. There are the typical downtown activities going on while I do my people-watching - talking on cell phones or dialling a call, listening to their iPods, jogging and bike riding. With the exception of the few people who come in and out of the museum, most people are not stopping in the area for long, seemingly passing by as they go about their daily routine.
3. The thing that really got me interested in this site was its modern style of architecture, especially considering its location between Annesley Residence (with its Queen Anne Revival style of architecture), the Club Monaco building (in a Neo-Classical style), and just across the street from the ROM with its new postmodern "crystal" addition - which, depending on who you ask is either gorgeous or hideous (I happen to think it's the former, but I seem to be in the minority with that opinion). In many ways the museum is an almost unassuming building, yet it still manages to stand out in spite of its awesome surroundings. It almost reminded me of a home in a strange way, most likely because it reminds me of a nicer version of a home that was built next door to my in-law's home a few years ago. Interestingly enough, that home has often reminded me of a museum.
4. Whenever I see or think about sites in Toronto such as the Gardiner Museum, I am now reminded of the discussion we had in class about the Globalization and World Cities Studies Group (GaWC). When we were going over the list of qualification in class, I almost felt as though someone working for the city got a hold of those requirements and it was decided that from that point forward, every thing the city did would be a step towards moving up in the World City Hierarchy. Poor Mayor Miller tried so hard to get us into that Alpha B group, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen before he leaves office. However, Toronto citizens win no matter what with the improved infrastructure and culture that was brought to the city as a result.
One of the readings in the SUDR I thought was relevant to my visit to the museum was Allan B. Jacobs' piece on "seeing change." because it was by taking the time to actually walk around and really stop to look at and examine my every day surroundings that I was able to appreciate them and learn about them to a much larger degree. I walk by this building on a fairly regular basis - at least once a week, but usually more - and have been doing so for the past four years, but I have never noticed many of the things that I noticed about it today - things that have been essentially right in front of my face this entire time.
5. A group of pigeons sitting on one of the ledges of the Club Monaco building got me thinking a lot about urban nature. Pigeons are an interesting part of our city's ecosystem, seen by many as being "natural" simply by being a living thing, yet in many ways they often seem better adapted to urban life than many humans. I watched the group of these birds sit there for a while; one would fly off and not too long after another would come in to take its place on the ledge. This kept happening the entire time I was there and there didn't seem to be any rhythm or reason to the pattern, although there did seem to be a kind of method to the madness. One pigeon would fly off, followed by another one a few seconds later. Then about ten seconds later two birds would come in together as one more flew off the ledge, and so forth. This continued for the duration of my visit.
While watching the pigeons I got a bit philosophical and started thinking about our limited space, and how not only have these animals found a way to successfully share their space with humans, but how they also learn to successfully co-operate with each other in their own "neighbourhood," even if it all did seem a bit chaotic. For whatever reason this was by far the most popular pigeon ledge in the area, the best piece of bird "real estate," but not one of them seemed to "own" it. No bird pushed any of the other ones out of the way or overcrowded them until they had no choice but to leave. I'm certainly no bird expert, but it looked like sharing to me.
This tree may have been the most interesting part of the visit for me. Due to its very obvious placement perfectly in the center of the perfectly round hole that has been cut in the surrounding layer of cement to accommodate it, there can really be no question that someone thought it was very important for this tree to be here. And unlike the rest of the landscaping, which is kept entirely contained within concrete walls and barriers, this lone tree almost appears as though it has escaped from those confines and found a home of its own in the concrete. The tree actually made me quite sad. It probably didn't help that it no longer has any leaves (if it ever did), so it looked almost naked and pitiful all by itself in this sea of concrete.
Thinking about this tree, I started to really wonder why the people who created this new building would have thought it was so necessary to include this one solitary tree in their landscaping design. I assumed they were quite proud of their design, considering they decided to engrave their names on the stone pillar right next to the front entrance. I tried to figure out the thought process behind such a strange decision. It is because humans seem to require a certain amount of "nature" in their view when surrounded by so much stone and glass? The building itself is quite beautiful, but without the two large overflowing gardens and this one lonely tree, it would seem much colder, much more utilitarian, and I'm sure the (world-class professional) architects and designers responsible for the building were aware of that.
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