Maison symphonique de Montréal (2013)

[VILLEMARIE]

Published in the Toronto Star on Friday, September 2, 2011

 

Montreal orchestra’s new home boring, boxy, and for some just right

 

Montreal's controversial new opera house is big, boxy and an architectural bore. Turns out, that's just how the musicians like it

 

MONTREAL – There’s the psychedelic, honeycomb glass skeleton of the Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall, or the impossibly space-age Guangzhou Opera House that made one critic want to “burst out in song,” the most recent examples of concert halls that have captured international renown, along with imaginations and emotion, as many are designed to do.

 

That’s not the case in Montreal, where the new home of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the “Adresse Symphonique,” is being given its final touches for an inaugural performance Sept. 7.

 

Mostly what this building has captured is a lot of depressing commentary.

 

Critics say it’s a building that is painfully unmemorable, a missed opportunity to give Montreal a new architectural spark. Some blame the process out of which it was born, a public-private partnership, for the uninspired result.

 

On the other hand, the acoustics are said to be stellar, a characteristic the building’s defenders argue is most important.

 

“I think we could have gone for a more, let’s say daring, proposal, something more in harmony with the creative spirit of Montreal,” said Georges Adamczyk, a professor of architecture at the Université de Montreal who consulted with the government at the proposal stage.

 

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a nice building, but it has to be interesting or surprising, and I don’t think we have that. It’s not bad building. It’s a good Diamond and Schmitt building. But it’s not their best.”

 

Diamond and Schmitt is the same Toronto firm that designed Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. There is a similarity at first glance, with the buildings in Toronto and Montreal both featuring glassy front foyers and stone walled sides.

 

Toronto’s opera house itself received some lukewarm reviews. Notably, the Toronto Star’s own architecture critic, Christopher Hume, named it one of the city’s new “worst” buildings, saying its facades delivered a “deadening effect” to the street.

 

Architect Matthew Lella, who worked on both buildings, allowed only that the “esthetic” was similar in Montreal but the design was a bit different.

 

“Like two Radiohead records,” he said in an interview. “Different sound but the same thread.”

 

Critics have not been kind. Lise Bissonnette, a heavyweight on Montreal’s cultural scene who oversaw the construction of the lauded, ultramodern provincial library and archives, told Radio-Canada she thought the new concert hall was a “missed opportunity.” It’s an “acceptable building,” she declared, “but not one that will be a signature for Montreal.”

 

Some point to the project being a public-private sector partnership as limiting the artistic vision from the start in favour of concerns over financing and management.

 

As it stands, a consortium led by construction firm SNC Lavalin will manage the building for 30 years. The cost to build and operate the hall over that time is estimated at $259 million. The government will rent the space.

 

The process meant that the decision on which team to choose was made behind closed doors, and was a “business case,” said André Bourassa, president of the Quebec Order of Architects. The public didn’t get to see the other proposals and thus debate the designs. In this way, Bourassa said, “the architecture is not the determining element.”

 

Lella, the project architect, says all the criticism is premature. “The building isn’t even open yet,” he said. “So nobody really knows if it’s audacious or not yet because nobody’s lived in it.”

 

“It’s not a fashion building, not one that’s ‘a la mode,’” ventured project director Michel Languedoc, of the Montreal firm Aedifica. “It’s a building that spends the money to make sure users will have a great experience.”

 

It respects taxpayers, Languedoc added, noting he’s done some calculations and found that Icelanders are paying about $1,000 per person for their new concert hall. Montrealers will pay about $15 each.

 

 

 

Adamczyk was more concerned about what it means for the city’s cultural prowess. “Montreal has the ambition to be a cultural metropolis. When we see our competitor Toronto put forward the idea of investing in culture. . . it seems that there, some people have said we are going to do something and they did it.

 

“In Montreal we have the feeling we talk a lot but have not done it.”

 

Retired teacher and orchestra-lover Alan Strand is simply happy the new concert hall is here. They’ve been talking about one for decades.

 

On Thursday, the Lachine resident took a walk in downtown Montreal to see it for himself.

 

His assessment? “Well, the glass part is kind of boring. It’s not the Sydney Opera House, or the Spanish Guggenheim,” he said. “Obviously they went with acoustics rather than architectural statement. It’d have been nice if they did both. But these are hard times.”

 

All that said, he was quick to qualify his impression.

 

“It looks okay.”

 

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1048166--famous-opera-houses?bn=1

[Invité]

Oh! Ils peuvent bien parler de banalité! Je les invite à regarder l'apparence de leur salle avant de dire que la nôtre est "boring" et "boxy"!!

[VILLEMARIE]

Adamczyk was more concerned about what it means for the city’s cultural prowess. “Montreal has the ambition to be a cultural metropolis. When we see our competitor Toronto put forward the idea of investing in culture. . . it seems that there, some people have said we are going to do something and they did it.

 

Um..hello? Montreal doesn't have to "put forward" the idea of investing in culture, like it's some sort of hobby "hum..we should invest in...CULTURE today". The pride, the heritage, the true meaning of culture is oozing out of MTL's pores. It's too bad when a city that has no foundational culture starts drumming up one.

 

AND...the OSM hall is awesome...understated elegance that will outlive any blazing star architecture that dazzles spectators then quickly loses its charm as trends shift.

[uqam+]

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Modifié 10 novembre 2011 par uqam+

[MtlMan]

. Je suis sûr, pourtant, que certains mélomanes de Québec doivent tiquer quand ils voient le Globe associer le groupe à Montréal, sans plus de précision.

 

haha. Régis doit virer mauve!

[jesseps]

Roy Thomson Hall looks so dated.

 

Image (link)

[IluvMTL]

Les liens des audio clips sont ici:

http://www.cbc.ca/cinqasix/music/2011/09/03/ladresse-symphonique-montreals-new-concert-hall/

 

Saturday September 3, 2011

 

Montreal's new concert hall, L'adresse symphonique, opens on Wednesday, September 7. Music lovers have been waiting for this day for over two decades.

 

But before we've had a chance to step inside and hear the music,people are talking about the design of the outside of the building.

 

Nathalie Petrowski is a cultural commentator for La Presse. She says the building lacks a "wow" factor.

 

Play Audio Clip

 

Jack Diamond, chief architect of the new concert hall, defends the design.

 

 

What do you think of the new concert hall? We would like to hear from you. You can comment on this story, or email us at cinqasix@cbc.ca.

 

Montreal Symphony Orchestra maestro Kent Nagano wants as many people as possible to step inside the new concert hall. There is an open house next Thursday through Saturday. Click here to see the schedule.

[Davidbourque]

Découverte dimanche prochain aura un reportage sur L'Adresse Symphonique.

[uqam+]

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Modifié 10 novembre 2011 par uqam+

[LindbergMTL]

Bons points Uqam+, mais je ne crois pas que la question est de savoir s'il faut choisir entre une architecture monumentale et une autre disons fonctionnelle.

 

Il faut parler de talent d'architecte. Les projets doivent permettre l'expression de leur talent. Pour qu'il y ait une telle expression, il faut que ce soit une priorité de la part du constructeur. La musique, l'OSM, déjà côte à côte, ces deux mots provoquent une certaine émotion chez moi, quelque chose de mémorable, de grand et harmonieux. L`architecte devrait normalement traduire des émotions dans son design à la hauteur de celui qui habitera sa maison. Ce n'est pas nécessairement une vision monumentale. Il aurait fallu voir une étincelle de génie, une grande inspiration.

 

 

Donc il faut d'abord choisir un architecte qui ait du talent, une vision, une inspiration, puis un contexte financier qui va supporter cette vision. Quelque chose entre les deux ici a manqué, mais malgré tout, le produit final reste au-dessus de mes attentes initiales. Je m'attendais à une autre Grande Bibliothèque, on a eu à un effort un peu plus grand.