Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

It isn’t every day, or decade, that the city gets a beautiful new museum, not just paid for and fully stocked, but located in a part of town where architectural excellence is rare.

Toronto’s next important cultural institution, the Aga Khan Museum, and the Ismaili Centre next door will open this fall on Wynford Dr. near Eglinton Ave. and the Don Valley Parkway. The two stone-clad structures sit in a formal Islamic garden adapted to one of the most visible sites in Toronto, a 6.8-hectare high point known to countless commuters.

Until recently, this was the location of the Bata Shoe headquarters, a John Parkin masterpiece from the ’60s. Its disappearance upset many; at the same time, how can one argue with buildings by one of the India’s most respected architects, Charles Correa; Japanese master and Pritzker Prize winner, Fumihiko Maki and landscape architect Vladimir Djurovic?

The trio has transformed a high-profile suburban plot into a place of high culture, spiritual renewal, social gathering and tended landscape. In a terrain of broad strokes and left-over spaces, the detail will go unnoticed until one gets out the car and wanders around the new complex. That won’t be possible for some time, but a quick tour reveals a series of large interior rooms designed for maximum flexibility. The main prayer hall, capped with a magnificent glass dome and filled with light, is the heart of the centre. Other rooms, more social than sacred, radiate out from the hall.

Connected but separate, the Aga Khan Museum is a medium-sized facility spread over two floors and a series of galleries. Some will be programmed for the long-term; others for temporary exhibitions.

The aesthetic is clean — teak floors, white walls and windows broken only by Islamic screens. The granite on the exterior, soft-looking and creamy white, provides the perfect foil for the rows of trees and black reflecting pools that have turned the site into green oasis.

To their eternal credit, the Ismailis have planted mature trees, some 10 or more metres tall. No whips or saplings here, but a fully-formed landscape. The grass has yet to arrive, as does the museum’s 1,000-piece collection. Hardhats and work boots are still required, but the big moves have been made and spaces defined.

The simple facts of the $300-million project would make it remarkable anywhere; but on Wynford Dr. it takes on special significance. Though just down the road from the Ontario Science Centre, the Ismailis are bringing architectural and cultural excellence to an area more accustomed to office slabs and condo towers. Surrounded by anonymity, the new arrival has quietly but decisively remade the neighbourhood. The quality of design and materials alone make it a landmark, but it’s also the obvious attention paid to space itself, as if it mattered for the first time, was even valued.
Imagine, planting big trees and installing benches in the garden, as if visitors might want to linger awhile and enjoy the place. Everywhere else, the city’s in a rush; the Ismaili Centre will be a break from that; gardens aren’t for anyone in a hurry.

The very idea of putting such a garden in land marooned by highways may seem inappropriate, even oxymoronic, but as an act of urban reclamation, it is unprecedented, magnificent. On the other hand, the site’s prominence comes from those same highways. It is a billboard, seen by millions, a sudden and dramatic intrusion of elegance into the usual landscape of Car City.

And let’s not forget, the centre has underground parking for 650 cars, another 150 at grade. That will have to do until the subway arrives.

Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca