Toronto Royal Ontario Museum | ?m | ?s | Daniel Libeskind

TonyV said:
I have heard some other folks refer to the additon as a carbuncle. It sort of fits, doesn't it?

Well, something else has occurred to me: we Canadians are once again showing our timid side. In the States, there would have been a lawsuit, and a fairly large one at that, with the ROM outcome.

Recall the inception, observe the things that happened along the way, and then see the final product. Kind of ridiculous, don't you think?

Who to punish? How to punish? I think we should send Thorsell back to Edmonton. That's far worse than a lawsuit.
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Then again, one can interpret that inversely, i.e. that our "timid side" is actually a virtue compared to excessive Yankee-style nuisance litigousness...
 
It doesn't seem to produce the best results in cladding though. Our culture shines through our architecture. It isn't just some frill of the wealthy as some social advocates or bureaucrats might tell you.
 
I don't understand all of the fuss about the crystal being voted one of the ugliest buildings. Any prominent building is going to draw a lot of attention and elicit a reaction of one kind or another. The cookie-cutter treeless McMansion farms that surround Toronto on all sides are ten times uglier than the ROM.
 
Oliver Tweed said:
I don't understand all of the fuss about the crystal being voted one of the ugliest buildings. Any prominent building is going to draw a lot of attention and elicit a reaction of one kind or another. The cookie-cutter treeless McMansion farms that surround Toronto on all sides are ten times uglier than the ROM.
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The media notices the ROM crystal because it is TV ugly, not ugly ugly. Those lists never include ugly ugly, only TV ugly.
 
I was in the ROM on Sunday and I find every time I'm there I fall more and more in love with the crystal.

It's a fantastic addition. When my wife and I start a family I'm going to be excited to share its joy with our children.
 
I really don't understand this widspread criticism of the ROM's crystal. When I first heard about it back in the day I assumed there would be a few detractors but of course there always is. I had no idea that so many people seem to despise it.

It makes the ROM 5x better in my opinion. Anyone remember what used to be there? No? Because it was that forgettable (I do, unfortunately, but only because I walked by it almost daily during university). The most exciciting thing at this corner used to be one of the few 2 storey Mcdonald's out there. Now, it's this beautiful addition that has transformed the museum and defines what a museum actually is. The old giving way to the new. The old building gives way to the new part.

If you want to find something ugly at this intersection look no further than the northest corner where a poor little church is getting eaten on three sides by an absolutely hideous, drab concrete monstrosity.
 
I love the ROM crystal- I think it is one of the best additions to the city, ever...."it's not a poodle, it's a building!"

pic by S.Y.L. at flickr....

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The most shocking thing with the ROM is for a building like that to get built at all in Toronto. Definitely a "New City Hall" moment.

AoD
 
Much like the Louvre Pyramid...

... the Crystal gets knocked by people who see pix. Getting in or out of the Louvre was a royal pain in the butt. The Pyramid and the underground spaces below it solved that with an interesting, modern entrance. The other alternatives would have been so 'faux', they would have been even uglier.

The Crystal has its issues (more Wonders needed in the Stair of Underwhelming, e.g.) but it does a great job for the dino bones and connecting the galleries and a great new entrance to the old lady. And, when you take someone who's never been to the ROM, they get wide eyes as soon as they see the crystal from the car/sidewalk. Dramatic impact!
 
That's a nice shot (above). There are a lot of nice shots of it around, actually. If it were truly ugly, it wouldn't be as photogenic as it is.



photo courtesy swisscan on flickr
 
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The crystal certainly is dramatic. It's eye-catching and gets people talking. It can be argued whether such a thing should have been built on a heritage building, but for me the real issue is how it was executed. It looks a bit flimsy, likes it's covered in leftover mismatched aluminum sheets that were on clearance at Home Depot. I think if the workmanship would have been at a higher quality, acceptable would be greater and come quicker.

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I like the extra windows on our crystal, but the cladding needs to be redone.
 
To each his own.

Sorry, I actually like the changes in colour of the cladding, particularly versus the boring rendering.

One of the other, less talked about, wins, is the black slate plaza. Really dramatic as you walk up.

Doesn't anyone remember the difficulties getting in the Avenue Road entrance, dropping your coat, and getting into the place? It was terrible!
 
Like ganjavih, I have a really hard time with the mismatched cladding. It doesn't look like it is intentional, indeed it would be hard to conclude that it was, but it really jars me. I wish it could be sandblasted or something else.
 
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