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This exhibition seeks to dispel the myth that architectural excellence is available only to those with big budgets. Stealing Beauty makes it clear that some of the best projects are also some of the cheapest. Indeed, one is tempted to go even further and argue that limited budgets seem to inspire architects - or perhaps force them - to do their best work.
Examples are everywhere around us, downtown and in suburbia. Limited funds, after all, are universal. By extension, Stealing Beauty rejects the notion that architecture is strictly a technical and economic exercise. It is, and must be, more.
It may sound strange in an age that rarely looks beyond the bottom line, but architecture is a cultural as well as a commercial exercise.
If architects themselves can forget this, it's not surprising that many of their clients do, too. Many, but not all. Stealing Beauty celebrates the crucial role of the client, without whom excellence is not possible. Even more than budgets, clients are the critical factor in the building of beauty.
Beauty is one of those words, however, that has fallen on hard times recently. It exists; we are told, solely in the eyes of the beholder and all of us see differently.
That may be, but beauty shouldn't be confused with taste, which is personal. In the shorthand of this admittedly modest show, beauty stands for clarity, consistency, coherence and above all appropriateness.
Beautiful buildings are those that belong, that give back more than they take, that engage us and make the city a better place. That may be asking for a lot. But these projects prove it can be done - and inexpensively.
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| Sponsors: |
Media Sponsor: |
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Context
Developers Inc |
Toronto
Star |
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Supporters: |
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Farrow
Partnership Architects Inc |
Diamond
and Schmitt Architects |
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Halsall
Associates Limited |
Blackwell
Bowick Partnership Limited |
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Core
Architects |
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