Reasons to Love Toronto Now: because our new library is a modern Agora
Just south of the Scarborough Civic Centre is the Toronto Public Library’s 100th branch—a capstone for the busiest urban library system in the world. Decidedly contemporary, the building’s roofs pitch at alternating angles, the better to show off the wild plantings that will eventually cover them.
Architects LGA and Phillip H. Carter saw the white horizontals of the Civic Centre as reminiscent of the Scarborough Bluffs, so the library, all strong diagonals, would become its shoreline. The interior, meanwhile, confronts a rapidly evolving information economy. Since some 15 per cent of Torontonians don’t have an Internet connection, the library is a precious source of digital connectivity, with iPads, MacBooks, cameras and two 3-D printers anyone can use after a free, 45-minute training session. And relax: there will be books. In English, Chinese, Gujarati and Tamil.
