Having easier access to my post archives lets me see what I was posting in the past. So for example, 10 years ago today:

> So, the British Library building is, um, inspired by Moriyama's Toronto Reference Library building?

Posting that, I was basing on the British Library building being completed more than 20 years after the TRL. Having checked on it some more now, it looks like both designs are products of the 1970s, with Toronto being perhaps a few years earlier.

Toronto Reference Library was designed by Raymond Moriyama with final plan in 1974 and completion in 1977. British Library was designed by MJ Long and Colin St John Wilson: it had begun planning in 1962, but on a different site, then a plan started around 1975 was approved in 1978 - substantially similar to what ended up being built, starting in 1980s and completed in 1998.

The design similarities are both outside, with red brick (to match existing nearby Victorian architecture) and single-slope roofs (because 1970s?), and inside, with a tiered central atrium and those curving hanging staircases.

Consider:
* exterior at main entrance: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toronto_Reference_Library,_exterior.jpg vs https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20191103_British_library.jpg
* interior: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toronto_Reference_Library_atrium_(36218188281).jpg vs https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_British_Library_Entrance_Hall,_London,_July_21,_2024.jpg

More about the TRL building:
* https://oaa.on.ca/whats-on/bloaag/bloaag-detail/Toronto-Reference-Library-1977 (2016)
* https://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/trl/2017/11/were-turning-40-and-we-look-good-.html (2017)

More about the British Library building:
* https://www.architectural-review.com/archive/from-the-archive-british-library-in-london-by-colin-st-john-wilson-and-mj-long (1978)
* https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1426345?section=official-list-entry (2015)

#architecture #RaymondMoriyama #Moriyama #BritishLibrary

So many feelings about this themes of this article…

#StationEleven will always be a touchpoint for me & reading how the #RaymondMoriyama designed #OntarioScienceCentre breathed magic into its creation is made all the more heartbreaking knowing the incredible #Brutalist building I was able to briefly work at is slated for destruction because the #Ontario government needs to justify the development private spa slated to replace another of the city's 1970s-era urban icons
https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/ontario-science-centre-station-eleven-severn-city-airport/

Dwight Williams (💉x 6) + 😷
In memory of #RaymondMoriyama #Architect

I was privileged to see him speak at an event in 2012.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwight_ew/albums/72157631621214663

I have just learnt that fellow Architect #RaymondMoriyama passed away yesterday. This for me is heartbreaking as he was a wonderful man, a visionary in Canadian Architecture and a co founder of #MoriyamaTeshima an architectural firm I had the pleasure of completing my mandatory hours with. Mr Moriyama was a mentor to me. He was the vision behind places like #OntarioScienceCentre and in Ottawa the #IsmailiImamatBuilding along with #WarMuseum.

He was definitely Canada's most important Architect.

"Raymond Moriyama, renowned Canadian architect behind iconic buildings, dies at 93"

https://www.cp24.com/news/raymond-moriyama-canadian-visionary-architect-behind-some-of-toronto-s-iconic-buildings-dies-1.6546014

Moriyama designed so many iconic community-focused buildings that were and are a big part of my life, including the Ontario Science Centre and the Toronto Reference Library. (The latter is one of the inspirations for Now Recharging's New North City library.) #RIP to a legend and master of his craft. 🙏

#RaymondMoriyama #architecture #OntarioScienceCentre #TorontoReferenceLibrary #Canada