99% Invisible - 99% Invisible-17- Concrete Furniture

Episode Date: February 25, 2011

The New City Hall, designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell, was the first modern, concrete, civic building in Toronto. When it opened in 1965, it stood out very prominently in the traditional Victorian fabric of the city. The striking concrete … Continue reading →

We get support from UC Davis, a globally ranked university, working to solve the world's most pressing problems in food, energy, health, education, and the environment. UC Davis researchers collaborate and innovate in California and around the globe to find transformational solutions. It's all part of the university's mission to promote quality of life for all living things. Find out more at 21centry.ucdavis.edu. This is 99% Invisible. I'm Roman Mars. It's a big majestic building on Nathan Phillips Square. And this is my friend Sean Cole in Toronto, Ontario. New City Hall.

It's formed totally of concrete. There are these two towers that sort of curve like hands, cupped around a clamshell. So this was a big deal. When it opened in 1965. The first modern concrete civic building for Toronto inserted very prominently into the Victorian fabric. Masha Kelman used to work in the city planning office

in the East Tower on floor 19. She was an architect. The building really explored and exploited the possibilities of concrete. Everything was about concrete in Toronto back then. The play of opacity versus transparency and everything. So the furniture really picked up on that. Yes, even the office furniture inside City Hall

was made in part of concrete. But let's back up. In the 50s, Toronto decided that it needed a new city hall. So there was an international competition and in 58 there was a design selected by Finnish architect Biliar Revelle. But he wasn't satisfied with simply designing one of the most prominent buildings the city had ever seen. No. Reavelle proposed that he was also going to design the furniture. He wanted to design the furniture. He had a vision, but it wasn't to be.

The decision that City Hall made was to commission the furniture through a second competition. So Ravelle was very disappointed. It was very dramatic. He called it the biggest disappointment of his life. And he subsequently passed away. City Hall felt bad, or at least. They felt the weight of the responsibility. So we're the competition to someone So they gave it to a company called Noll International.

And it was the only design that used concrete. Desks, coffee tables, cabinets, they all had concrete legs. The mayor's desk was this sleek concrete and polished wood statement. And all of this was really expensive. And the mayor's desk was this sleek concrete and polished wood statement, and all of this was really expensive. And there was immediate public outcry about this furniture, particularly from the people who were actually using it.

There were complaints that the desks were wobbly, and that when secretaries typed on them, they weren't sturdy. But the legs are concrete. how could it not be sturdy? It's hard to imagine, yeah. Toronto Star, furniture rouse on again. And we have, in our research file, many articles from that time, with all kinds of really interesting headlines. Globe and Mail, wobbly desks at City Hall spark new furniture controversy.

Various officials in City Hall were fighting over it. There was even one that talked about somebody quitting. Frosty George Bell went out as coordinator today after a blazing row with border control over Secretary's desk. This was the 60s and hemlines were starting to get shorter. And there was nothing to shield the Secretary's knees. Man the new desk said no drawers. Man they weren't big enough.

But Masha Kelman has sat at that furniture. She used to work at one of those desks, and it didn't wobble. When she said, it's hard to imagine, yeah, it was because some of the complaints make no sense to her. And she has a theory. One city hall was that perhaps it was quite uncomfortable for people to internalize that this is really what they had chosen. And perhaps there was a kind of anxiety about this new modernism and

this new concrete that we were inserting into our traditional city. So perhaps the furniture which was kind of memetic of the building. Memetic. Memetic. Relating to characteristic of or exhibiting mimicry. Okay, so perhaps the furniture which was memetic of the building. Um, really served as an outlet for that anxiety. And perhaps this is why the controversy didn't seem to me so much since.

Later the complaint was that it was difficult to move and so on. So of course, you know, as City Hall began to update itself over the years, the furniture since it was not valued, it was lost just simply through replacement. It was actually thrown away. But not all of it. It's kind of like a hunt in here, a treasure hunt, looking for them, but they are here.

In the late 80s, the city's director of urban design at the time saw what was happening. This is a very subtle one. And put the word out to the rest of City Hall. If you're replacing your concrete furniture, he said, send it up to floor 19. We like it. Which is why today, whatever does remain,

is still housed in the urban design offices, which are within the city planning department. There's a bit of it scattered elsewhere, too. The mayor still sits at a concrete desk. But mostly, floor 19 is the Florida of retired concrete furniture. You wouldn't notice the concrete unless you really squat down on the floor. The concrete legs are curved and smooth. The cabinetry is a little worse for wear. It's kind of furniture only an urban

designer could love. People like Robert Friedman who runs the urban planning office now. There are certain aspects of it that aren't that practical. It's really heavy. If you want to rearrange your office, you need to call a team of people in to help you do it. And I think most of the planners and urban designers written on 19th's, part of your training, right? You're exposed to the different eras of design. So I think there's an appreciation among our staff that may not exist among other divisions

in the scene. Look at the spinch. Yeah. Though I have to say, the furniture really grew on me. Wow. That is actually very pretty. And I found myself sort of rooting for its survival, which is exactly what Masha Kalman's wants me to do. So the hope is that it's actual value as a rather important piece of, you know, uniquely

Canadian furniture design will be recognized and that it will receive the restoration and the protection that it deserves. Do you miss it? No. This episode of 99% Invisible was produced by Sean Cole and me Roman Mars with support from Lunar making a difference with creativity. I think life is much bigger than my old office desk. To be honest. It's a project of KALW, the American Institute of Architects San Francisco and the Center

for Architecture and Design. It's a nice desk though. I agree. To find out more, go to 99%invisible.org. you