Toronto Festival Tower and tiff Bell Lightbox | 156.96m | 42s | Daniels | KPMB

interchange42 said:
The Gallery, and Atom Egoyan's 8 1/2 Screens is open until 10 PM. Cinema 5 with the soundtrack installation closes at different times on different days. If you can get down there by 8:30, or even earlier, so much the better, as your cinema will likely go in at 9. With essentially everything selling out, you want to leave enough time to get good seats. Here's hoping your film's a good one! The clear majority of mine this fall - 19 so far - have been terrific (and all very different).

42
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The Lightbox is indeed quite spectacular and I look forward to additional visits to really check the place out in detail.

But one thing bothers me... is the place actually finished? When I went to see the Friday film, they led us up some escalators to the second floor, we passed by purple wall upon which there were 3 posters (elevators were on this wall). The paint job on the wall was absolutely horrid. I wonder if that was on purpose or if they actually hadn't completed all the finishing touches yet.

The movie was in Cinema #2 and it was really nice. High quality seats, audio system, screen, everything.

How did you take pictures in the "Essential" gallery"? We tried to but the girl wouldn't let us - "they're all copyrighted so you can't take pics" - LOL.
 
The layout of the washrooms on that floor is odd, indicating that they couldn't accomplish the logical arrangement. The women's is on the same level whereas the men's, next to it, is up a flight of stairs. Two washrooms for the disabled, around a bend in the corridor, have no sign indicating their existence. In general, while I like the generous central atrium space, and the inclined walkway on the second floor bridge that suggests the Malaparte feature on the roof is a clever touch, the small film galleries tucked away around corners are easy to miss if you don't know they're there. I haven't been inside the theatres yet, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing films there.
 
The building wasn't quite ready in time for opening, little touches here and there like signage, painting, deficiencies, urinal partitions (presumably!), etc. have yet to be completed. I thought the walk-up to the men's restroom was odd too, not that it bothered me and I didn't see the disabled restrooms but figured, well they must be somewhere on this level. No complaints though, it's a stunning complex and a marvelous achievement.
 
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Coltaine79 said:
....
But one thing bothers me... is the place actually finished?
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I went to the free screening of Princess Bride which was the last film played before they close (so said the dude before the film). It sounded like they are closing for a few days then starting the Cinemateque/Art House Cinema viewings (apparently 2 first run films will be running along side Cinemateque films). I just presumed this is to finish up construction. The whole opening for this years tiff was a bit of a rush, but from what I saw it was pretty damn successful even with the building not being finished.
 
Coltaine79 said:
How did you take pictures in the "Essential" gallery"? We tried to but the girl wouldn't let us - "they're all copyrighted so you can't take pics" - LOL.
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UrbanToronto had a media pass for the opening of the building, and two tours beforehand (we have run very few of the construction shots of the Lightbox). All of our shots of the Essential Cinema gallery are long shots, none of which could be mistaken for the original artworks which make up small portions of each image.

Regarding your finishing touches questions, others were right: while the place was operational in time for the festival, not all finishes are complete. Shirley Blumberg of KPMB told me three days before the opening that they had a long list of deficiencies that still needed to be taken care of. We'll see how many have been completed by Thursday when the Lightbox opens for its regular programming. No doubt modifications will continue for a while. This week and next TIFFG is actually moving its offices into the building from 2 Carlton.

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Coltaine79 said:
why are urinal partitions necessary?

most washrooms don't have them AFAIK
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It's about 50/50, no?
Anyway, Torontovibe's brilliant Lightbox video tour shows why partitions are necessary with these urinal designs and spacing at 9:49 -

Torontovibe said:
. [video=youtube;_aow1RZ7aS8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aow1RZ7aS8[/video]
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