Toronto's year of living large - and tall (Toronto Star)

If nothing else, 2007 was the year Toronto's Cultural Renaissance hit its stride. The main event was the opening of the Royal Ontario Museum's Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Designed by New York-based architect Daniel Libeskind, the $400-million addition offended many, pleased a few, but in either case, it raised the stakes hugely. This isn't a city given to risk-taking, but what's often overlooked is that Libeskind's radical remake of the ROM addresses the urban condition as much as institutional revitalization. The result is a building that has reconnected with the city, and that's fully a part of the urban scene.

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Just across the road from the ROM, the compact Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art found new life as the jewel in Toronto's cultural crown. Redesigned by KPMB, this is the urban project par excellence, filled with exhilarating spaces and exquisitely integrated, it could serve as a model for everything that follows.

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On the other hand, the much-delayed Metropolis at the northeast corner of Yonge and Dundas turned out to be a dud.

Though it forms one edge of the square, and occupies land on a major downtown intersection, it seems oblivious to anything beyond its own banality.

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Further north, the city's love affair with the condo tower reached new heights; a tower at Yonge and Bloor will stand 80 storeys tall and a second, at Yonge and Gerrard, 75 storeys.

Though neither tower could be described as architecturally exciting, both are presentable. At the same time, however, most development happened in the vacuum that passes for planning in Toronto.

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Think of West Queen West, which was "salvaged" at the last minute after the city had lost at the Ontario Municipal Board, the de facto city planner.

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