Toronto Opens Gehry's Sober Masterpiece

Swirling, crumpled new clinic building is certainly unique

(NEWSER) - Designing a building that outdoes the already delirious Las Vegas skyline is no easy trick, but Frank Gehry is the man for it. Gehry tells the AP he wanted the nearly complete swirling stainless steel structure he built for the Cleveland Clinic's brain center to stand out from what he called "the cacophony" of high-rise casinos and condos forming the spine of Sin City's sprawl. And he declares himself pleased with the results. "It took my breath away," he says, adding, "I mean, some people may think it's over the top. I don't think so." More»

The models are great, but Wright show disappoints

(NEWSER) - Fifty years after the death of Frank Lloyd Wright, historians and critics are still fighting over the legacy of an architect called in turns a genius and a megalomaniac. Now, a new exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York—one of Wright's last buildings—offers an anniversary retrospective of his career. For New York Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff, the show is a disappointment: While it contains beautiful drawings and models, it "offers no new insight into his life’s work." More»

Piano's addition for Art Institute called his best in a decade

(NEWSER) - This weekend the Art Institute of Chicago opens a mammoth new modern wing designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. Nicolai Ouroussof praises Piano's mix of "Modern and classical themes," and "towering glass-and-steel facade, with its floating roof and excruciatingly slender columns" straddling gritty railroad tracks. The New York Times' critic calls the building one of Piano's best, "the closest he has come in at least a decade to achieving his near-classical ideal." More»

(NEWSER) - Canadian Tamil demonstrators protesting fighting in Sri Lanka shut down a highway in Toronto for several hours, reports CNN. Some estimated the crowd at several thousands. As many as 70,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's civil war. Government troops are pressing a final assault on the rebel Tamil Tigers, creating massive evacuations and more deaths. There were no arrests in the Toronto protest that dispersed early today. More»

Will discuss past 16 years, current issues

(NEWSER) - Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will appear in Toronto next month for a two-hour, moderated “conversation,” the Globe and Mail reports. But don’t expect a bloodbath: The former presidents will likely hold a friendly discussion of past events and current issues. Still, the meeting promises to match up leaders who “embody the ideological struggles” America’s faced since the 1960s, writes John Ibbitson. More»