The Globe and Mail

Torontonians enjoy an almost half-and-half kind of existence: For five months, we're a verdant place with buzzing bees and big trees bursting with leaves. For another five, we're a grey and white mosaic of snow and cloud, bare arthritic tree limbs and salt-stained roads. For the former, we crave the California lifestyle, where walls of glass slide open to patios and barbecue pits; for the latter, we'd like nothing more than to curl up in a room where fireplace flames flicker off of wood-panelled walls.Architecturally, it's a delicate situation in which the modern is united with the old-fashioned. Consider Daniel Libeskind's new "Crystal" addition to the Royal Ontario Museum and the love-it-or-hate-it reaction it engenders.