Toronto Star

The difference couldn't be more dramatic: On one side there's Daniel Libeskind's addition to the Royal Ontario Museum; explosive and dissonant, it sums up the unresolved tensions of the 21st century. On the other, there's the Royal Conservatory of Music, now being transformed by one of Toronto's leading architectural firms, KPMB, into a model of harmonious contrast. Contemporary design has never been more approachable, accommodating or resolved. Life is good, after all. The $110 million project, which like the ROM includes renovating an existing 19th-century structure, represents the school of thought that sees architecture as an act of city-building. Of course there are many practitioners who proclaim the pre-eminence of context, but who use it as an excuse for their own mediocrity. The streets of Toronto are lined with the built wreckage of second-raters hiding behind good manners and architectural politesse.