Odd Building, Odd Logo

So, wow, the Art Gallery of Alberta building in Edmonton, Alberta is weird. I don’t mean to dumb down my critiques with such a thoughtful opening statement but sometimes you just have to go with your gut reactions. Since I’m not an architecture critic I may be missing something from this 41-year-old building designed by Don Bittorf, but the best I can equate it to is this is to Frank Gehry what Arial is to Helvetica. But I’ll better stick to identity criticism. Last week, the Art Gallery of Alberta announced a new logo designed by Edmonton based Vision Creative Inc. to accompany its new acronym, AGA, and the imminent re-opening of the gallery in January of 2010 as it finishes an ambitious, 85,000-square-foot renovation by Los Angeles based Randall Stout Architects.The new