Tewder
Senior Member
Happily it was 'spectacle' for its time then.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
I wouldn't say that. If anything, the 1933 wing has been criticised for being rather timidly institutional-academic in an age when deco and the machine age aesthetic expressed what the design avant garde were doing. So I think it's more an example of showcasing Ontario materials, employing unemployed labourers to excavate the site by hand using shovels and wheelbarrows, and hiring artists to provide work for stonemasons. The result is pleasantly reassuring, and hardly the shock of the new.
jks
Continuous Lurker
I have a lot more pictures of the ROM in my General Photo Thread.
adma
Superstar
Maybe more left unspoken than actively criticized...but then again, how many such institutions of that time *weren't*, uh, "timid" like that? Said avant-gardeism was even more exceptional then than the starchitect impulse is today--under the circumstances, such criticism might have been its era's version of today's criticism of Jack Diamond's 4SC for "not going far enough".
Then again, I can't say that the 1931 wing was truly "rediscovered" for its architecture until the advent of postmodernism and scholarship on figures like John Lyle rehabilitated interest in this mode of design...
Riverdale Rink Rat
Senior Member
Member Bio
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- Apr 29, 2008
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- Back to East York... Alas!
Book of the Dead + ongoing improvements
Hit the ROM on Saturday to see the Book of the Dead. A very cool, if relatively small, exhibit. I don't think I've seen the Egyptian section that crowded in a long time.
The ROMites have put temporary paper signs above some of the doors to experiment with better signage to get people from place to place. Very good idea -- made it much more obvious where the door from the Egyptian section into the Crystal would lead.
Also, in the textile gallery, they've solved the 'why don't we climb on the cool sloping walls' issue with some projected slides. Not bad -- people don't climb on a movie screen.
The ROMites seem to be slowly getting more comfortable with their new addition.
Hit the ROM on Saturday to see the Book of the Dead. A very cool, if relatively small, exhibit. I don't think I've seen the Egyptian section that crowded in a long time.
The ROMites have put temporary paper signs above some of the doors to experiment with better signage to get people from place to place. Very good idea -- made it much more obvious where the door from the Egyptian section into the Crystal would lead.
Also, in the textile gallery, they've solved the 'why don't we climb on the cool sloping walls' issue with some projected slides. Not bad -- people don't climb on a movie screen.
The ROMites seem to be slowly getting more comfortable with their new addition.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
The slideshow has been running since that gallery opened.
Let them climb the cool sloping walls if they want, say I - a lick of paint on the scuff marks now and then is a simple enough solution. I can't believe they didn't anticipate that a building shaped like that would engage small people - Libeskind's similarly angular steel chairs downstairs certainly do.
Let them climb the cool sloping walls if they want, say I - a lick of paint on the scuff marks now and then is a simple enough solution. I can't believe they didn't anticipate that a building shaped like that would engage small people - Libeskind's similarly angular steel chairs downstairs certainly do.
TKTKTK
Senior Member
I wish they'd just bite the bullet and recover it like this:
Mercabarna-Flor
Designer: Willy Muller Architects
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Mercabarna-Flor
Designer: Willy Muller Architects
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Oh possum, you've just given me a wonderful idea - I need some new blinds in my place; perhaps I could get Hunter-Douglas to assemble something like that? Condo board Gaulieters hold no sway policing our street, so there's no limit to the amount of spectacle that's possible!
TKTKTK
Senior Member
You can still buy those classic 3" wide aluminum louver blinds, with the good old fabric draws, from Home Depot for a lot less than you'd imagine. Bet they'd hold onto some high-gloss spray paint really really well...
adma
Superstar
I wish they'd just bite the bullet and recover it like this:
Mercabarna-Flor
Designer: Willy Muller Architects
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Actually, that looks more like a solution for the Convention Centre/Royal Bank ensemble along Front...
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Well it's certainly not a solution to the carbon footprint quandry, because it's a huge cut-flower and plant market strategically situated next to an airport. Go green indeed.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
But I do like how that large sloped surface - which dials back the multicoloured representation of fields of flowers seen from the air on the rest of the building, and translates it into grey and black - also draws attention to a painted pavement that might otherwise be taken for granted. A nice example of how grey can be both subtle and strong at the same time.
Benc7
Active Member
Schad Gallery of Biodiversity Opens at the ROM
I went to see the new Schad Gallery of Biodiversity at the ROM, the last of the new galleries to open. I was (again) more interested in how the space works rather than in what the space contains (lots of dead and replicas of dead animals, with a few live specimens thrown in). The ROM is still an awkward place to get around. This gallery does communicate with the Dinosaur gallery in the Crystal but none of it feels like a natural progression. At least not yet and not to me.
I think The "Crystal" and the old ROM are like two roommates sharing an apartment to save on rent; they have little in common and have nothing to say to one another.
http://www.rom.on.ca/schad/index.php
I went to see the new Schad Gallery of Biodiversity at the ROM, the last of the new galleries to open. I was (again) more interested in how the space works rather than in what the space contains (lots of dead and replicas of dead animals, with a few live specimens thrown in). The ROM is still an awkward place to get around. This gallery does communicate with the Dinosaur gallery in the Crystal but none of it feels like a natural progression. At least not yet and not to me.
I think The "Crystal" and the old ROM are like two roommates sharing an apartment to save on rent; they have little in common and have nothing to say to one another.
http://www.rom.on.ca/schad/index.php
MetroMan
Senior Member
I went today also. I loved it!
I'm happy to see the old ROM buildings being renovated as well. A cynic would think they'd focus only on the new building. It's also nice to see the renovations moving away from the tacky displays and towards a focus on the objects themselves.
The Schad gallery was beautifully designed and very transparent, easy to get around. The ROM staff were also very helpful. I had a near half hour conversation with a gentleman who really knew his stuff. He never seem to tire of my questions.
On another note, the ramp in the Mammals gallery is finished. It works so much better than the iron steps and wheelchair-elevator.
Things are coming along nicely I think. Once all the galleries are open and the renovations complete, I think we'll see Thorsell revisit things that didn't work out so well such as the "Stair of Wonders" and perhaps the cladding (fat chance: expensive proposition).
I'm happy to see the old ROM buildings being renovated as well. A cynic would think they'd focus only on the new building. It's also nice to see the renovations moving away from the tacky displays and towards a focus on the objects themselves.
The Schad gallery was beautifully designed and very transparent, easy to get around. The ROM staff were also very helpful. I had a near half hour conversation with a gentleman who really knew his stuff. He never seem to tire of my questions.
On another note, the ramp in the Mammals gallery is finished. It works so much better than the iron steps and wheelchair-elevator.
Things are coming along nicely I think. Once all the galleries are open and the renovations complete, I think we'll see Thorsell revisit things that didn't work out so well such as the "Stair of Wonders" and perhaps the cladding (fat chance: expensive proposition).
DavidJamesTO
Active Member
I was there on Tuesday (Free Student Day!) and it was almost impossible to get from one side of the ROM to the other. The Stair of Wonders is indeed a big obstacle (and one that looks incomplete at that), and needs to flow much more with the rest of the galleries.
I wonder when the original-wing galleries will get spruced up. They're nice and all, but they need a bit more variety to make them fresher.
As for cladding, if the money's ever there, they should clad the 'Crystal' with Vitrolite. That's the only way it will ever actually look like a crystal.
I wonder when the original-wing galleries will get spruced up. They're nice and all, but they need a bit more variety to make them fresher.
As for cladding, if the money's ever there, they should clad the 'Crystal' with Vitrolite. That's the only way it will ever actually look like a crystal.