The Globe and Mail

In the brief time Daniel Libeskind spent in Toronto this week, he found 15 minutes between meetings to stop in at Bootmaster, a Yonge Street shop that requires no further explanation. By the time he arrived for a walkabout through the middle of downtown, the architect - still high from the sales launch of his boot-shaped opus, the L Tower condo - had slipped into a new pair of chocolate-brown alligator cowboy boots. "They didn't need breaking in," he said, otherwise sporting his usual black attire. If anything, Mr. Libeskind seemed relieved to have a break from conventional interviews. And as he strolled the St. Lawrence neighbourhood and the financial district, the one-time Torontonian - Mr. Libeskind and his family lived here sporadically through the 1970s - offered his thoughts on a city where he is trying to make a major impact. Mr. Libeskind's current project, named after both its creator and its unique shape, is being presented as an iconic statement that will reinvigorate the Hummingbird Centre, from which it will slope upward. But could his mark on the city be as broad as Peter Dickinson's - the architect responsible for the Hummingbird and scores of other modernist buildings? "I've just seen a tremendous resurgence of design interest in Toronto," was Mr. Libeskind's roundabout answer. "People want Toronto to be a great city, and it is."