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

I was inside for the first time last night.
Are those metal, screw-exposed panels going to remain as is? HORRIBLE. I cant believe that there isnt something to cover them.
The floor grates arent as bad as I envisioned them.
The Stair of Wonders isnt as bad as I envisioned it either. It was much larger than expected.
The Museum Store is nice. I was told by someone that you get a sense of clausterphobia when in there. I didnt think so at all. I thought it was the best part of the museum (sadly) as it seemed to be the most finished off.
I was disappointed that the cut out windows overlooking the Crystal Court from the elevator landings are now adorned with make-shift wire to stop people from climing up on them (and falling several floors down). I am guessing that glass will soon fill this space? Or some kind of polished metal railing?
There is still a lot of work to be done. I hope that a better, dirt resistant paint (read: semi-gloss or high gloss) will be applied throughout. As is, all the walls are marked up and dirty.
I wanted to ask the staff a few questions while there, but thought better of it. They likely dont know the details of what is to be worked on. I did hear someone ask, and a reply was given, that the building wont be completed until about 2010. Lets hope that that means MUCH MUCH more will be done to the inside.


What I want to see:
1. high gloss paint applied to all interior walls so that dust, dirt and marks can be "washed away" keeping the crisp white walls.... crisp and white.
2. the screw-exposed metal panels that cover the railing in the stair of wonders should be covered in something else. There is hope here... the lip on the trim between wall and panel sticks out a bit. Possibly there will be another "skin" to be applied to the metal?? I could even see a plastic sticker being applied showing images of current exhibits in the museum.
3. Some kind of panel or cover for the light tracks. From a distance they look OK, but up close you see way too much. A simple white, metal cover would work well. This is especially needed for those lighting tracks that creep down walls.
4. A GIANT dinosaur, or series of dinosaurs erected in the Crystal Court. There needs to be something BIG in the centre to fill up some space.
5. Doors - they arent painted right now.... but when they do I would like to see them stand out from the white wallks.... like in a blood red colour (not fire engine red... that would be wrong).
6. More lighting in non-light sensivie galleries. The museum store looks great all lit up, while I find the rest of the crystal a little gloomy. I would also like to see the brick wall in the Crystal Court bathed in light. It should glow.
7. Better signage. When I entred I couldnt locate where the stairs or elevator was. It seemed a little inconspicuous.
8. there is a model of the crystal inside the crystal. It shows 3 long light boxes cut into the pavement outside the crystal. I would have liked to have seen that added to the Museum Plaza. Instead we only have cement, black granite and a few small round lights.
9. Interior walls/floors/support columns etc that are visible through the windows from outside should be painted black. That would make them less visible from the street.
 
The Crystal Court is an event space. I think people would be terrified to glance up from their rubber chicken to see a T. rex that hasn't eaten in seventy million years glaring down at them.
 
I disagree. Most (all) of the major museum's I've visited around the world have some sort of feature piece in the atrium/court. A large dino would work well here and I'm sure it's in the plans for the space. It looks too empty right now.
 
Perhaps more suited for an art gallery, but I would love to see a GIGANTIC Dale Chiluey glass sculpture hanging from the ceiling. When I say GIGANTIC, I mean bigger than anything he has ever done. It may just go well with the "crystal" theme.
 
There are already two huge crystal shaped light wells that jut down from the ceiling, sending dramatic shards of light onto the floor of the Crystal Court below.

You can stand beneath them and voila ...
 
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I think Chihuly's stuff is too exuberant for that space. A larger version of the angular chandelier that Libeskind has designed for the top of one of the staircases would play well in the interior court however.

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Yah, where's that chandelier? I haven't seen it and I go there pretty often. I took some friend's from Brazil there today and the court yard is coming along. The grass was being laid today and all the courtyard floor has been installed. The benches seem to have been put in as well but they're covered with wood boxes.

The spirt room is improving also. They seem to have painted the grate floors with a more resistant paint. The previous paint scratched with foot scuffs very easily. Also in the spirit room is a new display case with blue lighting. It's looking nice.

The T-Rex is now completely installed and more dinos are on the floor waiting to be unboxed. The textile gallery is also buzzing with installation activity.

Can't wait to see lots of stuff installed in the fall.
 
Does the interior remind anyone else of Startrek:TNG? The outside looks like Superman's fortress of solitude too, ya? Not a criticism, just an observation. Although I do think the entrance seems a little small for the scale of the museum.
That said, the building seems to be very photogenic. Especially with the Dino's. The new PhotoDiary is great:
http://www.rom.on.ca/photodiary/
I love this shot:
 

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That view ought to scare the piss out of the little kids who watched too many dino movies.




Or Barney cartoons.



Whatever happened to Barney? Did his meteor finally come in?
 
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Harrowing images to be projected on Crystal

by Bruce DeMara
September 08, 2007

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/253925


The Film Fest and the Royal Ontario Museum are teaming up to make the plight of the western Sudanese crystal clear.

"Darfur/Darfur" is a unique photo exhibit that projects more than 150 images of the men, women and children struggling in the Darfur region onto the ROM's Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. The photos, taken by seven international photojournalists and one U.S. Marine, will be visible at night at the ROM's Bloor St. Plaza and will be on display beginning today until Sept. 17.

Tonight at 8, band Konyokonyo Musica performs a free concert of southern Sudanese African music at the Bloor St. Plaza. The exhibit is presented in association with TIFF's Future Projections art initiative.

For more information, go to darfurdarfur.org.
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Has the plaza been finished for the film fest? Is it managing to draw people as a public space? Haven't heard much about it at all.
 
Yah, mostly. Lots of benches are in and the grass is down, as well as the granite (which, quite cutely, lines up with the profile of the Crystal if you look up). Lots of people are milling about, sitting down, taking pictures, etc. etc. I'm not crazy about the very awkward sign for C5 toward the west end, but I have to admit the following: after being unsure for awhile, I think the new ROM is absolutely fantastic. Despite some of the interior issues...the street presence, jutting out over Bloor all at angles to the rest of the city and jumping out at everyone, is really something else. It's a lot more fun than some more polite TO-style modernism (which I do love, but we're getting plenty of it). It's going to be a real landmark.

I have not been in the museum since June and then was unsure what to think about the interior, without exhibits in most of the Crystal. But the restored historic galleries are gobsmacking, largely thanks to what we should all remember is an amazing colllection.
 
Perhaps just experience the unique gallery spaces while you can, before the emphasis changes to what's installed in them - much as we watched the exterior evolve during construction. Your description, "fun", says it nicely.

A month from now the Sigmund Samuel Canadiana Gallery, the big Canada Collects show, and an exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal art will open. And there's a traffic jam of dinosaurs being uncrated on the second floor.
 

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