A necessary sign of the times
It’s bad enough to have to depend on the kindness of strangers, but then you’re expected to thank them.
That’s why the “ honour roll” has become such a prominent feature of so many new building projects, especially those that aren’t condos. Wander around the lobby of almost any institutional complex — educational, cultural or medical — and the first thing you notice is the donor list.
In the old days, that usually meant a brass plaque hanging somewhere off to one side. Now it’s more likely to be front and centre, part of the actual building and its architecture, hard to miss and impossible to ignore. When you think about it, this isn’t surprising; after all, we live in a time of deeply diminished public resources. Without private-sector donations, nothing outside of a condo would have been built in Toronto for 20 years or more.
“ The growth in donor rolls has been significant,” says Stuart Ash, co- founder of Toronto- based design firm Gottschalk + Ash International. “ It’s becoming a speciality. These institutions have to look beyond government funding; the more you have to go outside, the more important the honour roll becomes.”
Today, it’s not unusual for these acknowledgements to be incorporated into the actual structure of a building. Indeed, Ash talks about a growing number of instances in which the architecture takes it cues from the demands of donor recognition.
In particular, he refers to renovations underway at Mount Sinai Hospital. The plan calls for the lobby to be remade, along with the front of the building.
“ The façade of Mount Sinai is an extension of the donor wall,” Ash says. “ In fact, it will be a donor wall, and not just a sign to attract people’s attention, but a part of the branding process.” The key, Ash argues, is that the names must be prominent, not appear as an afterthought, something incidental. On the other hand, there must be room for the names of future donors.
“ The more something is engraved in stone, or some material, the better,” he notes. “ That’s what it’s all about.” Ash and his staff have worked on countless donor recognition programs — everything from the ( still unopened) Leslie Dan Pharmaceutical Building and the MaRS Discovery District to Ryerson University and the Design Exchange.
“ Recognition strategies need to address the specific requirements of individual and corporate donors,” adds G+ A’s marketing director, Justin Young, “ and we have found that design can contribute to the fundraising effort and attract new contributors.”
According to Young, it was the Schulich School of Business project at York University that marked a turning point in honour roll aesthetics and awareness. It consists of a series of coloured glass panels that hang vertically from the main wall of the lobby, more like an artwork than an exercise in public relations. That led to the Mount Sinai job, now in the works.
“ The idea of permanence is important,” Ash remarks. No kidding. Just ask Art Gallery of Ontario director Matthew Teitelbaum, who had to placate philanthropist Joey Tanenbaum after Tanenbaum learned that many of the galleries he sponsored would disappear in the Frank Gehry remake of the AGO, and went ballistic. Now, if only the gallery had paid more attention to its donor wall, perhaps the whole flap could have been avoided. Donors have needs, too. And besides, there aren’t enough of them to fill the growing vacuum left by the withdrawal of government.
In a society that can barely afford to take care of its citizens’ health, it’s no wonder we must look to the private sector to build hospitals, let alone museums, art galleries and opera houses. Despite their increased size, donor walls are a small price to pay.
What’s in a name, you ask? In our case, the future. Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@