GLAMOROUS GLAMS: 6 STUNNING GLAM BUILDINGS

GLAM Guide | Evelyn Feldman

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For my final Musings post, I wanted to celebrate the beauty of some GLAM spaces. Whether big or small, modernist, classical, or brutalist, GLAM buildings often have stunning designs.

In these stressful final weeks of the semester (if you are a student), I hope this post can give you a thoughtful break through the appreciation of some extraordinary, glamorous GLAMs.

Niterói Contemporary Art Museum 

This museum in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, looks kind of like a UFO. It finished construction in 1996 and was designed by Oscar Niemeyer.

The beginnings of its construction were connected to political scandal.

Niterói Contemporary Art Museum in Brazil. Source (top). Source (bottom).

National Archives building of the BAnQ

The BAnQ (Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec) has several facilities throughout Quebec, and was created in a merging of Quebec's national archives and national library in 2006, making it an example of GLAM convergence.

While the Grande Bibliothèque in Downtown Montreal is pretty stunning too, I decided to show off the somewhat lesser-known national archives, which are located in the Gilles Hocquart Building in Montreal.

The interior design was done in part by the Provencher agency, who also designed the beautiful First Collector Sewer and Québécor Pavilion renovation in Montreal's Point-à-Callière Museum.

National Archives of the BAnQ, Montreal, Quebec. Source (top). Source (bottom left). Source (bottom right).

Anne of Green Gables Museum

Maybe you're not a glam kind of person, and cozy is more your style. Then the Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush, in Kensington, Prince Edward Island, might be the museum for you!

The building housing this museum was used as the setting for Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat.

Not to be confused with Green Gables House, another related heritage site.

The Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush in Kensington, Prince Edward Island. Source.

The Guggenheim 

Okay, this one is a classic, but also a personal favourite. Isn't there something kind of glamorous about that swirling white gallery wall? 

Whether or not you're a fan of the white gallery wall, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York is certainly extraordinary. Completed in 1959, the Frank Lloyd Wright design recalls a nautilus shell, with a continuous ramp spiralling towards the ceiling.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Source (top). Source (bottom).

Calgary Central Library

Lastly I have to squeeze in a couple of libraries! First is Calgary's new Central Library, which just opened in November 2018 and is all the talk of library land.

A section of the Calgary CTrain, a light rail transit system, runs right through the middle of the building. You can watch a time lapse of the library's construction here.

The New Central Library in Calgary. Source (top left). Source (top right). Source (bottom).

The Toronto Reference Library

Let's finish close to home, with the Toronto Reference Library. While it may look a bit like a boring brick on the outside, the Toronto Reference Library's interior is stunning.

Maybe you've already heard of this one, but did you know that the Reference Library features in The Weeknd's music video for Secrets? Or that its floors used to be lined with hanging plants, evoking imagery of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

The Toronto Reference Library. Source (top). Source (bottom).

Really, there were hundreds--thousands--of GLAMs I could have chosen for this post. Some runner-ups include the Biblioteca Sandro Penna in Perugia, Italy (another UFO!), the Tama Art University Library in Tokyo, Japan, the Erawan Museum in Samut Prakan Province, Thailand (the museum is inside a three-headed elephant), and the Vennesla Library and Culture House in Vennesla, Norway (isn't culture house a neat term for a library?)

I hope this list of glamorous GLAM buildings has given you a break from the stressful final weeks of your semester--or any other pressures of your day.