Architecture
Designed by Peter Dickinson, the Sony Centre is a distinctive building and an example of a mid-twentieth century Modern performing arts venue. It is four stories high and is broken up into three main forms: the entrance block, auditorium and fly tower. The central form of the building is highly symmetrical with an open floor plan. Structurally, the Sony Centre is not overly complicated and uses steel trusses and concrete to hold the majority of the building together. In addition to the structure, the Sony Centre auditorium houses a very sophisticated acoustic system, which gives the audience the sense that the sound is surrounding them (Canadian Architect 18).
When it comes to materiality, the majority of the original materials are still in the building today. Materials used include: Alabama limestone, glazing, granite, copper, bronze, Carrara marble, carpet, cherry plywood panels and Brazilian Rosewood. The Sony Centre is very diverse with its range of materials and employs them in such a way that they are not overshadowed by the unique forms of the building. The interior also features a grand double-height foyer with coffered ceilings, a 30 metre wide mural by the famous Toronto-born artist R. York Wilson, cantilevering staircases that appear to be floating, bright bronze auditorium doors, and a fan-shaped auditorium with a huge curving balcony.
Read more about this topic: Sony Centre For The Performing Arts
Famous quotes containing the word architecture:
“They can do without architecture who have no olives nor wines in the cellar.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The two elements the traveler first captures in the big city are extrahuman architecture and furious rhythm. Geometry and anguish. At first glance, the rhythm may be confused with gaiety, but when you look more closely at the mechanism of social life and the painful slavery of both men and machines, you see that it is nothing but a kind of typical, empty anguish that makes even crime and gangs forgivable means of escape.”
—Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)
“In short, the building becomes a theatrical demonstration of its functional ideal. In this romanticism, High-Tech architecture is, of course, no different in spirit—if totally different in form—from all the romantic architecture of the past.”
—Dan Cruickshank (b. 1949)