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

This building is designed to be all the vulgar, charming, adolescent, populist things Fiendish despises - in order to hold the masses in thrall and draw them inside in their gazillions. The gods of cultural-institution-underfunding created starchitecture for that very purpose.
 
It might draw kids and kids-at-heart inside, but they'll more than likely kill any soul the ROM once had, and the only people that will ever return will look like this:
180px-Dieter_mit_kyle_mclaglen.jpg
 
Urban Shocker said:
This building is designed to be all the vulgar, charming, adolescent, populist things Fiendish despises - in order to hold the masses in thrall and draw them inside in their gazillions. The gods of cultural-institution-underfunding created starchitecture for that very purpose.
Click to expand...

They might have done better attracting the masses in their gazillions if they hadn't decided to replace all the interactive exhibits with a single vase on a pedestal with a spotlight in a large empty room with white ceilings, white walls, and white floors.

You're completely right, though. That's exactly what starchitecture has become.
 
Interactive exhibits (plus dark, cul-de-sac gallery arrangements) itself is a leftover trend from the 60s-early 90s period, so if anything, it was the very thing that killed the ROM's "soul".

While the statue in a white pedestal/white room comment is bit of a hyperbole, that minimalist model certainly doesn't appear to have dampened public interest in the ROM. If one wanted animatronics, there is always the Science Centre.

AoD
 
^ And your Science Centre comment isn't hyperbole? 'Interactive' doesn't have to mean simulator rides, it can be as simple as mosaics on the wall.
 
scarberian:

Just how is the statement that animatronics can be found at OSC if one wanted them constitute an "exaggeration"?

There will indeed be mosaics on the wall at the ROM - in the form of the old rotunda, as well as the Tanenbaum Byzantine collection slated for the 3rd floor mid-block.

AoD
 
Speaking of the ROM, more details about the opening from the website:

The Crystal Age
Free Concert Event – A World of Possibilities

Saturday, June 2
A World of Possibilities is a 75-minute live concert event with star performances on three stages. The event features top Canadian and international artists from a variety of musical and performance genres including: pop, classical, jazz, rock n’ roll, opera, ballet, folk, gospel and oratory. Performers include David Foster, Deborah Cox, Isabel Bayrakdarian, David Suzuki and more. The concert culminates in a dramatic light show against the backdrop of the Lee-Chin Crystal and the official dedication of the building.

Important Details

When: Public entry to the event area starts at 8:00 pm on Saturday, June 2 on a first come, first served basis. A World of Possibilities, the live concert event, will start at approximately 9:30 pm.

Where: A World of Possibilities takes place on the ROM Plaza, directly in-front of the Lee-Chin Crystal on Bloor Street. This concert event is standing room only along Bloor Street. A 30 ft. high screen located near Bloor St. West and Philosophers' Walk will broadcast the show. Additional standing room is available in this area.

Free: A World of Possibilities is free. No tickets or reservations are required.

Parking & Transit: Street closures will be in effect in the immediate area. Please plan your driving route and parking in advance or take the TTC.

Weather: The event will take place, rain or shine.

Architectural Opening of the ROM’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal

Sunday June 3
As a thank you to the city and to celebrate the Lee-Chin Crystal, the ROM will open its doors for free access after the concert event, throughout the night and the following day. Free admission is sponsored by CIBC, Inaugural Season Sponsor of the Lee-Chin Crystal.

Important Details

When: The Architectural Opening takes place from 12:00 midnight to 6:00 pm on Sunday, June 3. From 8:30 am to 6:00 pm ROM guides will be stationed in select locations around the Lee-Chin Crystal to provide information on the architecture.

Where: Entry to the Lee-Chin Crystal and the rest of the ROM will be through the ROM’s new entrance on Bloor Street.

Free Ticketed Event: The Architectural Opening is a free ticketed event. Tickets are required and must be picked up in advance on a first come, first served basis. There is no charge for these tickets; limit of 2 per person. Tickets can be picked up starting at 12:00 noon on Saturday, June 2 at the Loblaws entrance, located at the south end of the ROM.

ROM Exposed Architectural Preview

June 4 – 10, Extended Weekday Hours
Regular Admission Rates Apply

The ROM Exposed Architectural Preview is your only chance to see Toronto’s newest landmark, completely bare. From June 4 to 10, visitors will have access to all of the interior spaces of the Lee-Chin Crystal before gallery installation begins.

Important Details

What: The ROM Exposed Architectural Preview is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the interior of the new building unadorned, and truly appreciate the innovation and beauty of Daniel Libeskind’s stunning design in its purest form. Included with your ROM admission this week is an Architectural Tour with one of our guides. Architectural Tours cannot be pre-booked and are on a first come, first served basis. However, your admission to the ROM can be booked in advance and will allow you to jump the entry queue.
Tickets

When: Architectural Tours last approximately 45 minutes and are scheduled as follows:

Monday, June 4 - Friday June 8
Extended ROM Hours, for 5 days only: 10:00 am to 9:30 pm
Tours start each hour from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. Last tour is at 7:00 pm.

Saturday, June 9 & Sunday, June 10
ROM Hours: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Tours start each hour from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Last tour is at 4:00 pm.

AoD

PS: Babel/Urbanshocker - have you heard what kind of arrangements will be offered for members? There is this vague mentioning of priority booking for tickets...
 
The new spaces will permit the museum to display considerably more of their permanent collection.

As a benefit of that, items in storage will be rotated through the new spaces. One example of that process can already be seen in the new Japanese Gallery: the painted screens that were put on display when it first opened have been put back in storage to "rest", away from the light, and have been replaced by other screens from their large collection.

What we see on display is just the tip of the iceberg of the ROM's huge collection. More display space means we get to see more of it rotated through the galleries. This will be true of the new textile gallery, for instance. It has been decades since there was a textile gallery at the ROM.
 
I have yet to go see the cladded exterior to comment on the ROM's new Bloor street presence. A point to keep in mind is that we (most of us) are unaware of how the interior spaces feel. These interior spaces could be spectacular. So while we may pass judgement on the buildings Bloor Street treatment it is too early to pronounce the project a failure or success given that looking cool from the outside is important but not the primary objective.
 
Isabel Bayrakdarian will also sing at the Luminato gala at Roy Thomson Hall.

The tonal variations of the cladding are, I understand, within an acceptable range and will become less noticeable as the building ages. I don't have a publication date for the book about the ROM's architectural history, but I assume it'll be tied to the opening.

Alvin: I'm passing on the pre-opening Big Bang Party where drunken people in fancy clothes shriek around empty galleries, will leave town for a couple of weeks the next day, and will miss the architectural opening for the common folk - and Luminato. I don't know how the membership priority ticketing works. Mostly, following TrickyRicky's approach, I'm looking forward to the galleries being installed over the next couple of years, and what will be on display in them. Kinda like my attitude to the opera house, where the quality of what happens inside is the Main Thing. Though that isn't to say I haven't spent time hanging around the construction site as this spectacular and charming structure has gone up over the past few years. The construction process is a unique transition for a building, a sort of birth process, to be savoured while it happens, but the real business of the ROM is what happens inside when all the work is done.
 
"I have yet to go see the cladded exterior to comment on the ROM's new Bloor street presence."

I took a walkaround it yesterday and got my first good look at the cladding in about a month. I have to say this looks pretty good despite my earlier concerns abut the pewter finish. I chatted briefly with one of the workers as well and apparently it is quite spectaular inside.

Yesterday I trekked up past the mundane Four Seasons centre- the concrete and glass boxes of university Ave and the incredibly banal Foster effort, which (from foster) was so conspicuously reserved that it warranted a chuckle. What does this guy think of Toronto anyway- surely he must have consulted with Jack diamond? I have to say it was finally very refreshing to come across some Libeskind exuberance. It is what it is- and I quite like it.
 
Foster's Dan Pharmacy building is underwhelming during the day, but everyone who goes by at night seems to really appreciate the the glowing pods. What with it, the LEDs on the Arcade building on Yonge, and the promise of a nighttime show on the exterior of BA, we need all of these new Toronto landmarks, like the ROM, to be lit interestingly in the evening, during our most sociable hours. Hopefully the ROM's first night lightshow will not be its last, and that a lot thought has been given about how to make the most of this building's dramatic angles when the sun is down. I expect it has, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

42
 
We have a lot to learn from the Parisians about how to light buildings effectively and dramatically. The Toronto practice of using large sodium floodlights looks really shabby in comparison.
 
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