AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
If so, it will probably need to get sandblasted like Gehry's Disney Hall in LA.
AoD
AoD
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
It seems they will be getting Libeskind designed Swarovski Chandelier as well - from ROM News:
ROM Announces Swarovski Chandelier
Libeskind designs chandelier for Michael Lee-Chin Crystal
The ROM’s new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal is getting a crystal of its own, when a new chandelier designed by architect Daniel Libeskind and donated by Swarovski, is installed over the grand staircase on the Lee-Chin Crystal’s fourth floor. Libeskind was on hand today at the ROM, to announce this new project and unveil his latest creation, the Spirit House Chair (see release titled “ROM Unveils Spirit House Chair,” issued May 9, 2007).
“We are so pleased to be working with a firm like Swarovski, internationally recognized for their use of light and crystal in the areas of fashion and design” said William Thorsell, Director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum. “This project creates a wonderful link between our galleries on the fourth floor dedicated to contemporary culture, fashion and design, and C5, the most exciting new dining destination in Toronto”
The inspiration for the dramatic, 29-foot long Libeskind-designed chandelier is the complex, structural steel skeleton that is now hidden under the glass and aluminium skin of the Lee-Chin Crystal. The intricate configuration of this one-of-a-kind lighting fixture is an inverted wireframe model reinterpreting the edges of the building’s architecture, which will stretch across the ceiling to emphasize the oblique corners of the contemporary Libeskind design.
Made from aluminium tubing, the chandelier will sparkle with approximately 130,000 encrusted Swarovski crystals. The crystals will be lit from underneath by fiber-optic lighting technology, creating a delicate, glowing lace. The chandelier will be installed on the staircase between the Level 4 Institute for Contemporary Culture gallery and the Level 5 Crystal Five (C5) Restaurant Lounge.
"We are delighted to commission Daniel Libeskind to create this unprecedented work, which integrates Mr. Libeskind's compelling artistic view with the distinctive architecure of the new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal building,” said Nadja Swarovski, Vice President of International Communications for Swarovski. “It is an honor for Swarovski to donate this chandelier to the Royal Ontario Museum, one of Canada's great cultural treasures."
The ROM plans to unveil the installed chandelier in Fall 2007.
For more than a hundred years Swarovski, the Austrian family company based in Wattens in the Tyrol, has been the world's leading brand for cut crystal. Crystal jewellery stones and crystalline semi-finished goods for the fashion, jewellery and lighting industries are as much a part of the company's product range as gift articles, home accessories, and collectibles fashioned from faceted crystal. Swarovski's artistic and design abilities are evident in Daniel Swarovski Paris and Swarovski Jewellery, the company's accessory and jewellery ranges. Since 1995 visitors have been able to enjoy the ultimate crystal experience at the Swarovski Crystal Worlds. The Swarovski group also includes Tyrolit, which produces grinding tools and abrasives, and Swarovski Optik, the company's optics division, with its precision optics for hunting and nature observation. In 2005 Swarovski achieved group sales of Euro 2.14 billion with a total of approximately 17.000 employees. Discover the magic of crystal online at www.swarovski.com.
On June 2, 2007, the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, the centrepiece of the Renaissance ROM expansion project, opens to the public. The 175,000 square-foot, aluminium-and-glass-covered Lee-Chin Crystal will house seven permanent galleries overlooking Bloor Street West, a new main entrance and lobby, the ROM Museum Store, Crystal Five (C5) Restaurant Lounge and special events facilities, as well as Canada’s largest space for international exhibitions.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
To keep things in perspective, the piece "Joie" at the Top of the Rock has 40,000 pieces of crystal.
AoD
ROM Announces Swarovski Chandelier
Libeskind designs chandelier for Michael Lee-Chin Crystal
The ROM’s new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal is getting a crystal of its own, when a new chandelier designed by architect Daniel Libeskind and donated by Swarovski, is installed over the grand staircase on the Lee-Chin Crystal’s fourth floor. Libeskind was on hand today at the ROM, to announce this new project and unveil his latest creation, the Spirit House Chair (see release titled “ROM Unveils Spirit House Chair,” issued May 9, 2007).
“We are so pleased to be working with a firm like Swarovski, internationally recognized for their use of light and crystal in the areas of fashion and design” said William Thorsell, Director and CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum. “This project creates a wonderful link between our galleries on the fourth floor dedicated to contemporary culture, fashion and design, and C5, the most exciting new dining destination in Toronto”
The inspiration for the dramatic, 29-foot long Libeskind-designed chandelier is the complex, structural steel skeleton that is now hidden under the glass and aluminium skin of the Lee-Chin Crystal. The intricate configuration of this one-of-a-kind lighting fixture is an inverted wireframe model reinterpreting the edges of the building’s architecture, which will stretch across the ceiling to emphasize the oblique corners of the contemporary Libeskind design.
Made from aluminium tubing, the chandelier will sparkle with approximately 130,000 encrusted Swarovski crystals. The crystals will be lit from underneath by fiber-optic lighting technology, creating a delicate, glowing lace. The chandelier will be installed on the staircase between the Level 4 Institute for Contemporary Culture gallery and the Level 5 Crystal Five (C5) Restaurant Lounge.
"We are delighted to commission Daniel Libeskind to create this unprecedented work, which integrates Mr. Libeskind's compelling artistic view with the distinctive architecure of the new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal building,” said Nadja Swarovski, Vice President of International Communications for Swarovski. “It is an honor for Swarovski to donate this chandelier to the Royal Ontario Museum, one of Canada's great cultural treasures."
The ROM plans to unveil the installed chandelier in Fall 2007.
For more than a hundred years Swarovski, the Austrian family company based in Wattens in the Tyrol, has been the world's leading brand for cut crystal. Crystal jewellery stones and crystalline semi-finished goods for the fashion, jewellery and lighting industries are as much a part of the company's product range as gift articles, home accessories, and collectibles fashioned from faceted crystal. Swarovski's artistic and design abilities are evident in Daniel Swarovski Paris and Swarovski Jewellery, the company's accessory and jewellery ranges. Since 1995 visitors have been able to enjoy the ultimate crystal experience at the Swarovski Crystal Worlds. The Swarovski group also includes Tyrolit, which produces grinding tools and abrasives, and Swarovski Optik, the company's optics division, with its precision optics for hunting and nature observation. In 2005 Swarovski achieved group sales of Euro 2.14 billion with a total of approximately 17.000 employees. Discover the magic of crystal online at www.swarovski.com.
On June 2, 2007, the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, the centrepiece of the Renaissance ROM expansion project, opens to the public. The 175,000 square-foot, aluminium-and-glass-covered Lee-Chin Crystal will house seven permanent galleries overlooking Bloor Street West, a new main entrance and lobby, the ROM Museum Store, Crystal Five (C5) Restaurant Lounge and special events facilities, as well as Canada’s largest space for international exhibitions.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
To keep things in perspective, the piece "Joie" at the Top of the Rock has 40,000 pieces of crystal.
AoD
Tuscani01
Senior Member
Great... whats next? Libeskind designed urinals for the mens washroom?
CDL.TO
Moderator
Swarovski has seemed so incredibly cheesy to me since I visited Innsbruck and learned that they have a theme park there. Seriously... a theme park. They were cheesy before that, now they've gained the "incredible".
I'm really quite turned off by this idea. It doesn't seem at all appropiate for such an unapologetically modern building as the ROM. I suspect that this is simply nothing more than the first visible step in corporate sponsorships for every aspect of the new building (as is seen with any new institutional building built in the past 10 years). Never mind Libeskind designed urinals... expect the "Galen and Hillary Weston Loblaws Group of Companies Inc Washroom Facilities".
I'm really quite turned off by this idea. It doesn't seem at all appropiate for such an unapologetically modern building as the ROM. I suspect that this is simply nothing more than the first visible step in corporate sponsorships for every aspect of the new building (as is seen with any new institutional building built in the past 10 years). Never mind Libeskind designed urinals... expect the "Galen and Hillary Weston Loblaws Group of Companies Inc Washroom Facilities".
canarob
Senior Member
One pees carefully into a shard-shaped urinal.
adma
Superstar
Then again, think of Disney vis-a-vis Gehry in LA...
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
From the Post:
Race to finish ROM at breakneck speed
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, National Post
Published: Thursday, May 10, 2007
Yesterday at 9:10 a.m., a cordless electric drill sailed off the roof of the new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum. The drill fell about 40 metres, gathering speed, and narrowly missed cars and cyclists before smashing into two pieces on Bloor Street.
The orange battery pack, about the weight of a brick, stayed in the middle of the street; the yellow drill itself, with a bit about 15 cm long, bounced and came to rest at the door of the Park Hyatt Hotel.
"Wow," said an architect I was chatting with, who also saw the drill fall. "Those things should be tied off. He'll get a reprimand for that."
It's lucky no one was hurt; at the same time I am not surprised a worker dropped a drill. Almost every worker I've spoken to on the job here tells me they are working seven days a week, up to 12 hours a day. Bleary-eyed, clutching coffee cups, they are struggling to complete perhaps the most challenging job in Toronto: architect Daniel Libeskind's flight of fancy called "the Michael Lee Chin Crystal."
"I've never worked overtime for any other company like this," Brian McLean, an ironworker, told me, while smoking cigarettes outside McDonald's across from the ROM. "Like, I've worked overtime, but this just has been ridiculous here."
Mr. McLean has been on this job for two years, since the completion of the building's
steel frame. Since October, he has worked seven days a week, 10 hours a day. Still, he is not complaining: His regular wage is $32.50 an hour; the other 30 hours a week his boss, subcontractor Perma-Steelisa, pays him $65 an hour.
At yesterday's unveiling of Libeskind's new chair for the ROM, William Thorsell, the museum's chief executive, told me the building will be "95% complete" for its gala opening on June 2 with the Premier and the Governor-General. "Like all buildings we will tune it up over the next couple of years." He also said the renovations will cost $270-million, $20-million more than the ROM said the project would cost in a news release April 30.
I asked workers whether they'd be done on June 2.
"It depends on what you call finished," one replied.
Today, big parts of the roof on the easternmost "crystal" remain without aluminum cladding. The work resembles rock-climbing: about two dozen workers, wearing harnesses tied to ropes, rappel up and down the cliff-like sides of the structure, more than 30 metres in the air, bolting the aluminum panels into place. Others work on blue "zoom booms," which are like extended cherry picker trucks.
Tuesday night, C.W. Smith drove away its mammoth orange Grove crane, which had been useful to lift supplies to the roof. The crane had to go so workers could begin landscaping the plaza in front of the Crystal. Now, the ironworkers have rigged a kind of clothesline along which they slide pieces of aluminum from the roof of the old ROM to the roof of the Crystal.
"Everything looks good on computer, but to get the guys up there and working all these weird places, the guys will do it but it takes longer," Mr. McLean said. Leaks in the roof slowed the job too, he said.
Trevor, a carpenter, is working six days a week, 10 hours a day. Right now he's putting hardware on the doors. Steve Greenhorn, an apprentice elevator mechanic, said that so far his company, Fujitec Elevator, has completed three of six new elevators (although one of those was having problems yesterday) and has three more to complete, one of them the freight elevator.
"We have worked some days until two in the morning," he told me.
And is the project on budget? The guys on the job broke into laughter when I asked that one.
That ROM news release 10 days ago called "Renaissance ROM" a "$250-million expansion and renovation project." Yesterday Mr. Thorsell said that in 2001, the ROM budgeted the job at $200-million. Today the budget is $240-million. "It's about a 20% increase over six years, which I think is pretty good," he said. However, the ROM has another $30-million bill for "fundraising and financing costs and fit out of retail and restaurants," Mr. Thorsell said. "We have now raised $225- million and we have to get to $270-million," he said.
Has all this cash and sweat been worth it? Everyone's got an opinion, and I'll share some of them in tomorrow's column.
Pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2007
AoD
Race to finish ROM at breakneck speed
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, National Post
Published: Thursday, May 10, 2007
Yesterday at 9:10 a.m., a cordless electric drill sailed off the roof of the new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum. The drill fell about 40 metres, gathering speed, and narrowly missed cars and cyclists before smashing into two pieces on Bloor Street.
The orange battery pack, about the weight of a brick, stayed in the middle of the street; the yellow drill itself, with a bit about 15 cm long, bounced and came to rest at the door of the Park Hyatt Hotel.
"Wow," said an architect I was chatting with, who also saw the drill fall. "Those things should be tied off. He'll get a reprimand for that."
It's lucky no one was hurt; at the same time I am not surprised a worker dropped a drill. Almost every worker I've spoken to on the job here tells me they are working seven days a week, up to 12 hours a day. Bleary-eyed, clutching coffee cups, they are struggling to complete perhaps the most challenging job in Toronto: architect Daniel Libeskind's flight of fancy called "the Michael Lee Chin Crystal."
"I've never worked overtime for any other company like this," Brian McLean, an ironworker, told me, while smoking cigarettes outside McDonald's across from the ROM. "Like, I've worked overtime, but this just has been ridiculous here."
Mr. McLean has been on this job for two years, since the completion of the building's
steel frame. Since October, he has worked seven days a week, 10 hours a day. Still, he is not complaining: His regular wage is $32.50 an hour; the other 30 hours a week his boss, subcontractor Perma-Steelisa, pays him $65 an hour.
At yesterday's unveiling of Libeskind's new chair for the ROM, William Thorsell, the museum's chief executive, told me the building will be "95% complete" for its gala opening on June 2 with the Premier and the Governor-General. "Like all buildings we will tune it up over the next couple of years." He also said the renovations will cost $270-million, $20-million more than the ROM said the project would cost in a news release April 30.
I asked workers whether they'd be done on June 2.
"It depends on what you call finished," one replied.
Today, big parts of the roof on the easternmost "crystal" remain without aluminum cladding. The work resembles rock-climbing: about two dozen workers, wearing harnesses tied to ropes, rappel up and down the cliff-like sides of the structure, more than 30 metres in the air, bolting the aluminum panels into place. Others work on blue "zoom booms," which are like extended cherry picker trucks.
Tuesday night, C.W. Smith drove away its mammoth orange Grove crane, which had been useful to lift supplies to the roof. The crane had to go so workers could begin landscaping the plaza in front of the Crystal. Now, the ironworkers have rigged a kind of clothesline along which they slide pieces of aluminum from the roof of the old ROM to the roof of the Crystal.
"Everything looks good on computer, but to get the guys up there and working all these weird places, the guys will do it but it takes longer," Mr. McLean said. Leaks in the roof slowed the job too, he said.
Trevor, a carpenter, is working six days a week, 10 hours a day. Right now he's putting hardware on the doors. Steve Greenhorn, an apprentice elevator mechanic, said that so far his company, Fujitec Elevator, has completed three of six new elevators (although one of those was having problems yesterday) and has three more to complete, one of them the freight elevator.
"We have worked some days until two in the morning," he told me.
And is the project on budget? The guys on the job broke into laughter when I asked that one.
That ROM news release 10 days ago called "Renaissance ROM" a "$250-million expansion and renovation project." Yesterday Mr. Thorsell said that in 2001, the ROM budgeted the job at $200-million. Today the budget is $240-million. "It's about a 20% increase over six years, which I think is pretty good," he said. However, the ROM has another $30-million bill for "fundraising and financing costs and fit out of retail and restaurants," Mr. Thorsell said. "We have now raised $225- million and we have to get to $270-million," he said.
Has all this cash and sweat been worth it? Everyone's got an opinion, and I'll share some of them in tomorrow's column.
Pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2007
AoD
urbanvillageboy
New Member
renaissance rom-swarovski chandelier
What we forget as we wax eloquent about building design etc. is that these institutional expansions in many cases are dual purpose- they increase exhibition space, but they are also intended as entertainment venues to raise money. That chandelier is for the benefit of those who will be able to afford to eat at the new restaurant and those that have been invited to social and corporate events in the Crystal. The vast interior of the Crystal is intended in part to accommodate and wow private party crowds. The chandelier will increase its "wow" power especially for the cultural illiterati partying below. You may also have noticed that the old entrance hall has been vastly increased in size. The museum tells the public that it is intended as a place to "orient yourself" as you enter the building (although why you need that after having just been inside the Crystal, I don't know) but meanwhile it has been incessantly flogging it for private events. It's obvious from its size that that's what it's intended for. In the same vein, an entire floor of the Gehry expansion on the back of the AGO is intended for the same purpose.
This is another debate that's probably worth getting into at some point- should public money be going to create these spaces and should our cultural institutions be sufficiently funded so that they don't have to resort to such measures.
What we forget as we wax eloquent about building design etc. is that these institutional expansions in many cases are dual purpose- they increase exhibition space, but they are also intended as entertainment venues to raise money. That chandelier is for the benefit of those who will be able to afford to eat at the new restaurant and those that have been invited to social and corporate events in the Crystal. The vast interior of the Crystal is intended in part to accommodate and wow private party crowds. The chandelier will increase its "wow" power especially for the cultural illiterati partying below. You may also have noticed that the old entrance hall has been vastly increased in size. The museum tells the public that it is intended as a place to "orient yourself" as you enter the building (although why you need that after having just been inside the Crystal, I don't know) but meanwhile it has been incessantly flogging it for private events. It's obvious from its size that that's what it's intended for. In the same vein, an entire floor of the Gehry expansion on the back of the AGO is intended for the same purpose.
This is another debate that's probably worth getting into at some point- should public money be going to create these spaces and should our cultural institutions be sufficiently funded so that they don't have to resort to such measures.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
It could be said, uncharitably, that the Gardiner expansion has created a restaurant with a museum attached. It would be interesting to know what percentage of the diners take the time to look at the collections on display. The entrance lobby there is also used for events, and the new contemporary ceramic gallery - located to one side - is about the same size as the gift shop.
The ROM expansion - filling in the north end of the H wings and creating significant "lounge" space for the public - is the realization of a model set out in the 1950's by former ROM Director Theodore Heinrich who boosted attendance in those days by promoting well designed exhibitions with populist appeal. Even in the 1960's, government funding cutbacks were an issue at the ROM.
The ROM expansion - filling in the north end of the H wings and creating significant "lounge" space for the public - is the realization of a model set out in the 1950's by former ROM Director Theodore Heinrich who boosted attendance in those days by promoting well designed exhibitions with populist appeal. Even in the 1960's, government funding cutbacks were an issue at the ROM.
AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
Is there a museum in the world that doesn't gain revenue by renting event space? The Metropolitan, the best muesum on the continent, has so many parties at the Temple of Dendur alone people used to jokingly call it "Club Met".
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
The more of Kuitenbrouwer's work I read, the more I like it. Just sayin'.
Pep'rJack
Active Member
There are SO many, that I've literally never been able to stroll about the temple, and I've been to the Met well over a half-dozen times. It's ridiculous.
And yes, the Met is indeed the continent's best museum, and my personal fave in the world. It's what happens when enormous sums of $ combine with impeccable taste and excellent editing.
H
Hydrogen
Guest
This is how one gets leaky roofs a la Denver.
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
I was talking to an architect who, while not involved with the project, was confounded at the prospect of how they'd ever find a leak in the crystal should one emerge.
Once leaks do have to be dealt with, the ROM could take a lesson from the name and the inspiration for the building's design, and go mineral: apply some powdered elements, and let encourage stalactites to grow from the ceiling in affected spots.
Aren't I helpful?
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Aren't I helpful?
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