JasonParis
Moderator
Boys and girls, we are on the verge of coming to the realization that Canuck has an avatar (finally) that will define Urban Toronto for at least the next generation.
Enjoy the ride.
Enjoy the ride.
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Could this be the last ROM update? These are already old - from Sunday! That's two days ago already. I'm going by again this evening to see how things are progressing.
It had been a week or so since I'd been by - then, things were in full swing on the remaining bits of cladding. Now, the crystal is substantively complete, and the work crews outside have been replaced by event crews setting up scaffolding for the opening. (You can tell the difference: it's like soldier ants vs. worker ants. The event guys are about half the size of the people who actually built the crystal.)
I have to say, I almost got a little sniffly when I saw it finished - and my only contribution to this project has been to walk by it once every week or so for the past few years, and stare every time. They built a frigging crystal.
Front sign is up. Front entrance: still pretty rough!
"Archictecturally" complete
Philosopher's Walk will soon be ours again:
The central plaza, by the front entrance, has been paved, but they seem to have given up on the sides for now:
Stage going up:
Getting that big-city feeling:
This is from my last visit, just before the last crane left. Canuck is right: it's our new icon. Denver has a big pointy thing, but this - no doubt in part thanks to the ROM's relentless branding effort - has a shape: Toronto's crystal.
It had been a week or so since I'd been by - then, things were in full swing on the remaining bits of cladding. Now, the crystal is substantively complete, and the work crews outside have been replaced by event crews setting up scaffolding for the opening. (You can tell the difference: it's like soldier ants vs. worker ants. The event guys are about half the size of the people who actually built the crystal.)
I have to say, I almost got a little sniffly when I saw it finished - and my only contribution to this project has been to walk by it once every week or so for the past few years, and stare every time. They built a frigging crystal.
Front sign is up. Front entrance: still pretty rough!
"Archictecturally" complete
Philosopher's Walk will soon be ours again:
The central plaza, by the front entrance, has been paved, but they seem to have given up on the sides for now:
Stage going up:
Getting that big-city feeling:
This is from my last visit, just before the last crane left. Canuck is right: it's our new icon. Denver has a big pointy thing, but this - no doubt in part thanks to the ROM's relentless branding effort - has a shape: Toronto's crystal.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Thorsell is rumoured to be singing Feelings at the opening ...
Blixtein
Active Member
I love the building, but for some reason I'm having a hard time getting used to the different shades of the cladding.
Mongo
Senior Member
Agreed. It is an amazing architectural concept, marred by very poor quality control at the very end -- you CANNOT tell me that aluminium finishes can't be controlled to far tighter tolerences than shown on the cladding.
Bill
Bill
urbandreamer
recession proof
maybe?
The cladding was meant to be spotty? Has anyone bothered calling Studio Libeskand to be certain?
Anyhow, with time--snow rain and wind it will get dirty. Leaves getting stuck between the panels? Ya never know. I won't be at the opening--I'm not that into small town society events
The cladding was meant to be spotty? Has anyone bothered calling Studio Libeskand to be certain?
Anyhow, with time--snow rain and wind it will get dirty. Leaves getting stuck between the panels? Ya never know. I won't be at the opening--I'm not that into small town society events
goodboys
New Member
ROM lump of coal
Agreed. The cladding is horrible. And the fact that the window frames or whatever you want to call them are not flush with the aluminum siding also ruins the building.
Was it a question of not enough money? Compare our lump of coal with the Denver Art Museum cladding which is unique, almost quilt-like (almost Gehry-like). And that only cost $95M U.S. (at least according to some of the articles I read when I googled it). Go to their website to compare the difference - http://www.denverartmuseum.org/home
Agreed. The cladding is horrible. And the fact that the window frames or whatever you want to call them are not flush with the aluminum siding also ruins the building.
Was it a question of not enough money? Compare our lump of coal with the Denver Art Museum cladding which is unique, almost quilt-like (almost Gehry-like). And that only cost $95M U.S. (at least according to some of the articles I read when I googled it). Go to their website to compare the difference - http://www.denverartmuseum.org/home
salvius
Active Member
Why is the cladding horrible?
Why? For what reason would that ruin the building?
I like the ROM better: it is anchored within a context the Denver museum will unfortunately never have. The difference in material to me looks as just that: a difference in materials; it has made the project different. It's not like this is school portable aluminum. Did you want the same project twice?
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
goodboys:
I don't think puffy titanium would work well as a material due to geometrical imperfections. Besides, the cladding system used by DAM is completely different from the ROM - basically, titanium on membrane covered sheetroc vs. aluminium cladding on unitized subcladding.
If one wanted an example of tonally varied crystalline structures, try etched iron meteorites.
AoD
I don't think puffy titanium would work well as a material due to geometrical imperfections. Besides, the cladding system used by DAM is completely different from the ROM - basically, titanium on membrane covered sheetroc vs. aluminium cladding on unitized subcladding.
If one wanted an example of tonally varied crystalline structures, try etched iron meteorites.
AoD
yyzer
Senior Member
I'll put my vote in that this project is absolutely sensational, and will help to re-define the urban experience of Toronto.
I actually am beginning to like the shadings in the cladding, especially from a distance; from the webcam it looks great.
No other project here even comes close.
I actually am beginning to like the shadings in the cladding, especially from a distance; from the webcam it looks great.
No other project here even comes close.
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
AoD: good point. Which raises the question: why why WHY wasn't the ROM clad in etched iron meteorites? Is Toronto too cheap for a crystal covered in meteorites?
salvius
Active Member
^ I'm afraid this burg just is not progressive enough for meteorite cladding. World class my foot!
MetroMan
Senior Member
There still seems so much to be done, specially regarding the paving... I wonder if they're gonna meet the deadline!
H
Hydrogen
Guest
Meteorites are kinda rare on earth, and apparently the ROM folks did not like the price of going out into space to save on material costs. That would have made the building out-of-this-world class, dammit!
ganjavih
Senior Member
Yeah, the mismatched cladding is very unfortunate. I wonder how such a thing could happen. I also wonder why even when we manage to get starchitects for major projects, it doesn't go quite right. OCAD went from a ceramic exterior to corrugated metal, our Foster hardly resembles a Foster and the ROM, while looking great overall, is marred by this colour issue. I wonder if AGO will run into any problems.