Well, what I think is that Toronto is trying very hard to reinvent itself as a city of culture. That much is obvious. Alsop's OCAD building, an Op-Art composition perched high above the existing college buildings on colourful angled stilts, is just the first expression of a state-sponsored programme known as "Superbuild" in which this lakeshore city is making up for over a decade of neglect of its cultural patrimony - a neglect that was starting to show up on its balance sheet as tourist numbers began to drop.

So after Alsop you have these projects coming along, all big: the new home for the Canadian Opera Company (the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts) by Jack Diamond of Diamond and Schmitt Architects: a substantial reworking of the Art Gallery of Toronto by Frank Gehry; a similarly fundamental makeover of the Royal Ontario Museum by Daniel Libeskind; and the first ever permanent building for the celebrated Toronto International Film Festival, by Bruce Kuwabara of architects KPMB. There are other, smaller projects for dance and music venues and smaller museums.