Toronto Star

Frank Gehry's return to Toronto also marks his return to architecture. Though his $254 million remake of the Art Gallery of Ontario is a year from completion, already its virtues are apparent. In this case, they are not the usual Gehry qualities of spectacle and drama. No one doubts his ability to produce buildings people talk about, but as is so often the case with architects – think Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York or Mies van der Rohe's New National Gallery in Berlin – Gehry's galleries have been great for everything but their intended purpose, displaying art. The best example may be his famous Bilbao Guggenheim, which, with the exception of Richard Serra's monumental steel sculptures, tends to overpower the exhibits. Of course, people don't go to Bilbao to look at art; they go to ogle the building, which amply rewards ogling. By contrast, his renovation of the AGO is all about the experience of art. Though he has made no secret of his exasperation with Toronto conservatism, perhaps it turned out a blessing in disguise. Wandering through the construction site that is the AGO today, it's clear the new building's chief benefit will be what it does for the collection. Yes, there are the inevitable architectural flourishes, most obviously the spiral staircases that add a certain flourish inside and out.