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

Photos on 2006.07.22

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View across Varsity Stadium and RCM under construction...and yes, there is glazing on Crystal 5.

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Context shot.

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Closer look at the glazing - if the rest of the buidling uses this type of glass, it will look really quite good.

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Building mass from the west.

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Closer look at the framing for the west crystal.

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And the entrance crystal.

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They're lifting a boxful of *something* today. Cladding, perhaps?

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Subframe for the cladding.

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Intersection of west and entrance crystal.

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Massing shot from the east.

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Closeup of sub-cladding on street-level.

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Closeup of future entrance.

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East crystal is already more or less completely covered.

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Another look - the windows looked larger than expected.

AoD
 
If they were to leave the Michael Lee Crystal clad in the sub-cladding it would already look amazing. The finished product, with its metallic cladding will make this building an absolute jewel. Stunning!
 
I just drove by in a taxi and saw another huge crane on the site. It appears the main crane is being dismantled.
 
...but that's got to to be the biggest crane-on-wheels I've ever seen, in its place.

The wooden hoarding is gone too, btw, and with it the fabulous stick-man graffiti, and the dinosaur who saw a stick man behind one of his compatriots, and called out in warning: "Look out! He's right behind you!"

Fondly remembered.
 
From CBC.ca:

ROM Italian exhibit postponed by construction delays
Last Updated Fri, 28 Jul 2006 16:32:54 EDT
CBC Arts

Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum has postponed the opening and changed the location of an exhibit designed to showcase its $200-million renovation, blaming delays in construction.

The ROM is facing problems getting construction materials for the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, the huge extension designed by architect Daniel Libeskind that looms over neighbouring Bloor Street.

The layers of foam insulation covered in foil that are to waterproof the Crystal are being made in Poland, says Francisco Alvarez, ROM's director of communications.

The waterproof cladding has to be in place before a final aluminum layer is added, he said, but work is being pushed back until the materials are delivered.

"The work is very complex and ambitious, and we want to get it right," ROM spokeswoman Marilynne Friedmann said. "Unfortunately we need more time."

Italian Arts & Design: The 20th Century, an exhibit of more than 350 Italian works of art and industrial design, will now open Oct. 28, a week later than anticipated.

And it won't be in the 17,000-square-foot Garfield Weston Exhibit Hall, the largest space in the gallery redesign in the lower level of the museum.

Instead, it will be in a new exhibit area being called the Centre Block on the third floor of the museum that used to house the Rome Gallery and the Gallery of Islam, as well as other smaller spaces.

The Italian exhibit was to have opened the Garfield Weston hall, but work on the huge space cannot go ahead until waterproofing is in place, Alvarez said.

Instead, the ROM has stepped up work on the Centre Block to open a space in time for the show, which goes on to a museum in Italy after it ends in Toronto in January 2007.

Work on the Crystal, scheduled to be completed in August, is one to two months behind schedule.

But the ROM is still anticipating the full renovation of the building will be completed by June 2007.

AoD
 
I would've like the Crystal with more glass, but it still looks really cool!
 
All the displays have been removed from the third floor of the Centre Block.

With the Italian Art & Design exhibition occupying the space intended for the new Galleries of Rome, Byzantium and 20th Century design until January, I suppose their opening will also be pushed back by several months.
 
In the image where you can see the glazing- that is not the final skin on the outside is it? It looks a lot like it- however i was told that the actual skin is behind schedule and will not be installed until a later date..can someone confirm/explain if they know?

p5
 
p5:

The facets with the glazing have NOT received the final cladding yet. It's the same panels for the sub-cladding as seen in the other pics.

No official word on when the final aluminium cladding will be applied as yet.

AoD
 
AoD- thanks for the clarification.

Also, thanks for lifting the p5 embargo :) - much appreciated!


p5
 
So far Im way more impressed with the engineering than the potential aesthetics.
 
Pictures of the crane (which my friend took at the demonstration in support of Lebanon this past Saturday):



 
They are still adding items to the display cases, and adding labels, in the Chinese galleries. Quite often, when I visit, there is something new to see. They also appear to be rotating light sensitive items: the yellow embroidered robe that was on display near the tomb complex has been removed. The temporary exhibition about Korea, in the Levy gallery, also has a few new items added.

Love that huge window in the Crystal restaurant overlooking Philosopher's Walk!
 
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