I’ve visited McGregor Park Library numerous times, as I live near its Lawrence Avenue East and Birchmount location. However, my most recent trip to this branch was made with a blogger’s eye. (I like to carry a large plastic eyeball on a stick that I wave about in a technical manner). This way of experiencing a library requires activation of my detail-noticing antennae and a small notebook.
Before I entered the building, I spent a few minutes under the “cantilevered pedestrian canopy.” I really like this phrase, which I found in a website devoted to the City of Toronto’s Architecture and Urban Design Awards. In 2005, McGregor Park won Honourable Mention in the category of Building in Context for helping to “heal and mend a heavily stressed swatch of suburban fabric in Scarborough.” I had no idea my sample of suburban fabric was so stressed, but I am nevertheless glad for the successful 2004 reconstruction project which fused McGregor Park Library to a local community centre.
I advanced into the lobby, where I studied a display case to the right of the entrance. A colourful tapestry shouted SPRING in large quilted letters, and a purple and yellow butterfly hovered near some gardening books. Meanwhile, a purple bucket remained on standby for watering emergencies.
The seasonal theme continued in the children’s part of the library, where a librarian was helping a group of kids to decorate small flowerpots and fill them with real soil and seeds. It was a popular activity, and some kids waited more patiently than others for their gardening materials. One of the participants even went so far as to abandon the group altogether in favour of running and dancing on the wide window bench that wrapped itself around half of the large room. When I saw the windowseat, I understood the child’s choice. After all, the urge to jump on the windowseat was not a reflection of the merits of the flowerpot activity but rather a testimony to the irresistible appeal of high wooden expanses.
Even though they didn’t have flowerpots, the adults were equally happy to be in the library. Every last chair and table was spoken for, and the community room was also full. A film was in progress there as a supplement to the afternoon’s program: “The Aftermath of the Philippine Elections: Fiesta or Blues.” The Filipino connection to the local demographic was also reflected in the multilingual section, which offered Taglog as well as Tamil, Hindi, and Chinese.
After studying some of the beautiful scripts on the multilingual shelves, I looked up at the ceiling. I liked how it was higher and wider on the west side of the building, taking advantage of all the light pouring in from the walls of windows. The overhead space narrowed and lowered on the east side, sheltering the bookcases and tables there. The effect of the tapered ceiling was like being in the back of a scholarly cave, away from the wide sunny mouth of the opening. (For better or for worse, these are the kinds of analogies which flourish under the blogger’s eye treatment!)
you totally made that bit up about the eyeball on a stick.
Is the word pedestrian in “cantilevered pedestrian canopy” neutral or insulting?
I took pedestrian as neutral, but I suppose it could be read as insulting.