Irishmonk
Senior Member
I have to admit, the interiors certainly do shock and awe. If James Bond ever finds himself in Toronto this would be a perfect place for a rumble.
alklay
Senior Member
I saw the inside today (they were just giving away tickets to anyone in line to get in. I feel sorry for those who had to line up yesterday to only line up with those of us without tickets today).
The exhibition spaces are amazing and fantastic. I think they will work well for almost any concievable exhibit. They certainly worked as empty rooms.
I was less impressed with the detailing. The grates are permanent...and are ugly as sin. Not only do they make a heck of a lot of noise, but they are cheap and industrial looking and did much to ruin the architecture. They are needed for air circulation and mechanical reasons, but they couldn't get the architect to design decent grates? They had to order the lowest cost industrial grade materials? The cheap floors are bad enough but the grates in the connecting corridors, and throughout the crystal, are a near travesty.
The ugly blast doors, the poor workmanship when it came to the fit and finish of the plaster and the metal wall sidings (yes, with ugly revits) did much to dampen the thrill for me. Rouchon writes that it appeared to be "an aesthetic defined by a lack of decorative grace or warmth, where walls are always painted white and there's poured epoxy on the floors because terrazzo was too expensive. It's hard to know why we're treated to exposed screw heads on thin drywall." She is bang-on. There is a lack of refinement and warmth in the details, which is regretable (and I am not talking about the fact that they clearly need another 5 months of drywall work).
In constrast, the new exhibit spaces are great. The warm wood floors, the hidden ductwork (the ducts are the thinnly laced baseboards) and the beautiful stonework between the rooms, was in sharp contrast to the weaknesses of the crystal.
The exhibition spaces are amazing and fantastic. I think they will work well for almost any concievable exhibit. They certainly worked as empty rooms.
I was less impressed with the detailing. The grates are permanent...and are ugly as sin. Not only do they make a heck of a lot of noise, but they are cheap and industrial looking and did much to ruin the architecture. They are needed for air circulation and mechanical reasons, but they couldn't get the architect to design decent grates? They had to order the lowest cost industrial grade materials? The cheap floors are bad enough but the grates in the connecting corridors, and throughout the crystal, are a near travesty.
The ugly blast doors, the poor workmanship when it came to the fit and finish of the plaster and the metal wall sidings (yes, with ugly revits) did much to dampen the thrill for me. Rouchon writes that it appeared to be "an aesthetic defined by a lack of decorative grace or warmth, where walls are always painted white and there's poured epoxy on the floors because terrazzo was too expensive. It's hard to know why we're treated to exposed screw heads on thin drywall." She is bang-on. There is a lack of refinement and warmth in the details, which is regretable (and I am not talking about the fact that they clearly need another 5 months of drywall work).
In constrast, the new exhibit spaces are great. The warm wood floors, the hidden ductwork (the ducts are the thinnly laced baseboards) and the beautiful stonework between the rooms, was in sharp contrast to the weaknesses of the crystal.
Fad225
Active Member
I was there at 3:00 am with 100000000 other people!! of all ages and walks of life! all interested in architecture, all shocked and proud of their city!!
It was an amazing expirence and an amazing building!! I couldn't beilive my eyes!! It was really really fantastic inside and out!
LuminaTO was amazing this weekend! the pulse, energy and vibe of the city was soo great! the weather I'm sure helped to bring the people out, but the way the city felt last night was truly remarkable!
good job T.O!
It was an amazing expirence and an amazing building!! I couldn't beilive my eyes!! It was really really fantastic inside and out!
LuminaTO was amazing this weekend! the pulse, energy and vibe of the city was soo great! the weather I'm sure helped to bring the people out, but the way the city felt last night was truly remarkable!
good job T.O!
raptor
Senior Member
Look what I found:
http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/pro.html?ID=54
I'm a bit disappointed right now...our ROM is not that 'unique' anymore
But I do have to mention that I love it!
http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/pro.html?ID=54
I'm a bit disappointed right now...our ROM is not that 'unique' anymore
But I do have to mention that I love it!
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Having visited the Jewish Museum, I certainly recognize a lot of this. That large space is certainly impressive. I'm sad I haven't yet had a chance to visit.
jmacmillan
Active Member
It was neat to see the crowds playfully exploring the building. "Hey, look at this!" The white walls weren't white for long. I was there from about 1:15 am to 2:30 a.m. There's a LOT of space inside. To me, the most interesting aspect of the building are the walkways, lookouts between floors, and main angular staircase. Wild! Notice too the sprinklers on the walls.The lack of glass is disappointing. You would think they could have provided more windows and protected the exhibits by frosting the glass. The floor beside the windows also looked curiously unfinished. I'm looking forward to a return visit when the exhibits are installed.
On a side note, it was fun to get on CityTV as the guy standing beside the guy being interviewed, while lining up for tickets in the afternoon.
On a side note, it was fun to get on CityTV as the guy standing beside the guy being interviewed, while lining up for tickets in the afternoon.
ShonTron
Moderator
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You'll still be able to. It will be open all week until 9:45 - you just have to pay regular admission.
I might go back this week.
I might go back this week.
adma
Superstar
Sticking (but verrrry benignly) to the Miller issue, was there a municipal proxy for Miller? Kyle Rae, whomever? I'd presume (and without meaning to "politicize" the issue at all) that's the usual procedure when a leader cannot be at hand for whatever reason...
ShonTron
Moderator
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Not wanting to go into the politics (please, use the politics forum for debating the 1 cent GST, or Miller's competance), there was no municipal proxy. Adam Vaughan was there, on the guest list, but didn't speak.
It was, as I said,
Thorsell
Jean
McGuinty
Oda
Lee-Chin
It was, as I said,
Thorsell
Jean
McGuinty
Oda
Lee-Chin
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
Well, it is the Royal Ontario Museum...
ShonTron
Moderator
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And Michaëlle Jean because it is the Royal Ontario Museum
MetroMan
Senior Member
And Thorsell because it is the Royal Ontario Museum
wyliepoon
Senior Member
Photos and videos by yours truly... the first in line to get tickets to the Architectural Opening!
Crowd entering the official "mosh pit" of the free concert... something I would rather not be in.
The crowd was in a state of hysteria when they saw this on the Crystal
Illuminations of the Crystal
Libeskind video projected onto the Crystal
Two views of the Royal Conservatory of Music
Let's head inside...
Videos
Grand Illumination of the Crystal (the part with the fireworks)
Crystals lit up after the concert
Stepping into the Crystal for the first time
Comments
First about the event. I thought the choice of entertainment was excellent. The skit about time was very appropriate (even though I don't entirely agree with the philosophy behind it), and the music selection was great. However, like what Sean and others had said, crowd control was awful. Communication and coordination between police, security and ROM staff was almost non-existent, and when there was communication, it was often the broken telephone type of communication. Also, the sidewalk patios on the north side of Bloor caused major bottlenecks for pedestrians. The organizers should find themselves very lucky that no major incidents like stampedes occured during the event.
Now for the architecture. I definitely like the Crystal both inside and out, even though I don't entirely appreciate the architectural style or design of Libeskind. The Crystal is certainly a technological and engineering marvel of Toronto - there is no way that the Crystal could be built without sophisticated computer-aided design and construction. It is no doubt a building that attracts people whether they like the design or not.
I really like the interior of the Crystal. Libeskind designed a building that seems to be a museum building and not to be a museum building at the same time.
I think it works as a museum. It has large and comfortable gallery spaces. The walls are mostly bare, so that they do not compete with the items on display for attention. Best of all, it has endless galleries, corridors and paths that make the ROM feel like a much larger museum than what it really is. Visitors will easily get lost in this building. I commented to Sean at about 12:55am that even though I was in the Crystal for 15-20 minutes, it felt like I was wandering inside the Crystal for at least an hour. To me, the Crystal feels very much like a funhouse. Having been to museums that were built symmetrically and/or with a designated path for visitors all my life, experiencing the new ROM will be entirely different from any previous museum experiences that I've ever had.
However in some ways it does not work well as a museum building. For example I found the "Stair of Wonders" to be a huge waste of space. It's an interesting piece of design, but it is oversized for its simple function of moving people up and down the Crystal. Similarly there are numerous architectural features, corridors and odd corners that are overbuilt and seem to add little to the museum experience, though not the architectural experience.
Aside from the oddly placed grates on the floor, and problems caused by rushed work to complete the building for the architectural opening (such as stains on the walls and elevator doors, and wood paneling with grey paint put in some places where metal or drywall should belong), one problem I found with the new ROM is the discontinuity between the new and the old. Whereas the old entrance to the Egyptian gallery was imposing with its obelisks and the replica of the Rosetta Stone, now the entrance is only a pair of ordinary aluminum-framed glass doors. The entrance to the Bat Cave (which has been saved!) is now just a simple hole in the wall. A hole was punched through the wall across from the medieval armour exhibit (where, if I remember correctly, were the displays for Art Deco furniture) for a doorway and steps leading up to the Crystal. I don't mind the discontinuity at minor areas like the Bat Cave, but the Egyptian gallery is one of the most important exhibits at the ROM, so I hope that the ROM will provide a better entrance to it.
I hope architects in Toronto will take note of what is going on inside the ROM and borrow from it lessons on how to create great interior spaces. In Hong Kong (where, as Raptor reported, the City University over there will be getting its own Libeskind Crystals) a lot of malls (like Festival Walk and Langham Place) have made great interior spaces, with few right angles, cool nooks, crannies and odd corridors, commonplace in the city. While I don't think any native Toronto architectural practice can duplicate the Libeskind crystals, I do think that any decent architect is capable of creating interesting interior spaces similar to those we find in the ROM. I'd like to see ROM-like interior spaces for buildings like shopping malls (PATH or otherwise), convention centres, hotel lobbies, and even subway stations.
I've enjoyed my ROM experience so much that I plan to make one more trip to see the Crystals more thoroughly sometime this week. I'm also thinking about becoming a member.
Crowd entering the official "mosh pit" of the free concert... something I would rather not be in.
The crowd was in a state of hysteria when they saw this on the Crystal
Illuminations of the Crystal
Libeskind video projected onto the Crystal
Two views of the Royal Conservatory of Music
Let's head inside...
Videos
Grand Illumination of the Crystal (the part with the fireworks)
Crystals lit up after the concert
Stepping into the Crystal for the first time
Comments
First about the event. I thought the choice of entertainment was excellent. The skit about time was very appropriate (even though I don't entirely agree with the philosophy behind it), and the music selection was great. However, like what Sean and others had said, crowd control was awful. Communication and coordination between police, security and ROM staff was almost non-existent, and when there was communication, it was often the broken telephone type of communication. Also, the sidewalk patios on the north side of Bloor caused major bottlenecks for pedestrians. The organizers should find themselves very lucky that no major incidents like stampedes occured during the event.
Now for the architecture. I definitely like the Crystal both inside and out, even though I don't entirely appreciate the architectural style or design of Libeskind. The Crystal is certainly a technological and engineering marvel of Toronto - there is no way that the Crystal could be built without sophisticated computer-aided design and construction. It is no doubt a building that attracts people whether they like the design or not.
I really like the interior of the Crystal. Libeskind designed a building that seems to be a museum building and not to be a museum building at the same time.
I think it works as a museum. It has large and comfortable gallery spaces. The walls are mostly bare, so that they do not compete with the items on display for attention. Best of all, it has endless galleries, corridors and paths that make the ROM feel like a much larger museum than what it really is. Visitors will easily get lost in this building. I commented to Sean at about 12:55am that even though I was in the Crystal for 15-20 minutes, it felt like I was wandering inside the Crystal for at least an hour. To me, the Crystal feels very much like a funhouse. Having been to museums that were built symmetrically and/or with a designated path for visitors all my life, experiencing the new ROM will be entirely different from any previous museum experiences that I've ever had.
However in some ways it does not work well as a museum building. For example I found the "Stair of Wonders" to be a huge waste of space. It's an interesting piece of design, but it is oversized for its simple function of moving people up and down the Crystal. Similarly there are numerous architectural features, corridors and odd corners that are overbuilt and seem to add little to the museum experience, though not the architectural experience.
Aside from the oddly placed grates on the floor, and problems caused by rushed work to complete the building for the architectural opening (such as stains on the walls and elevator doors, and wood paneling with grey paint put in some places where metal or drywall should belong), one problem I found with the new ROM is the discontinuity between the new and the old. Whereas the old entrance to the Egyptian gallery was imposing with its obelisks and the replica of the Rosetta Stone, now the entrance is only a pair of ordinary aluminum-framed glass doors. The entrance to the Bat Cave (which has been saved!) is now just a simple hole in the wall. A hole was punched through the wall across from the medieval armour exhibit (where, if I remember correctly, were the displays for Art Deco furniture) for a doorway and steps leading up to the Crystal. I don't mind the discontinuity at minor areas like the Bat Cave, but the Egyptian gallery is one of the most important exhibits at the ROM, so I hope that the ROM will provide a better entrance to it.
I hope architects in Toronto will take note of what is going on inside the ROM and borrow from it lessons on how to create great interior spaces. In Hong Kong (where, as Raptor reported, the City University over there will be getting its own Libeskind Crystals) a lot of malls (like Festival Walk and Langham Place) have made great interior spaces, with few right angles, cool nooks, crannies and odd corridors, commonplace in the city. While I don't think any native Toronto architectural practice can duplicate the Libeskind crystals, I do think that any decent architect is capable of creating interesting interior spaces similar to those we find in the ROM. I'd like to see ROM-like interior spaces for buildings like shopping malls (PATH or otherwise), convention centres, hotel lobbies, and even subway stations.
I've enjoyed my ROM experience so much that I plan to make one more trip to see the Crystals more thoroughly sometime this week. I'm also thinking about becoming a member.
migtree
New Member
Excellent! Truly world class architecture.
yyzer
Senior Member
absolutely fantastic pics, wylie...