Bogtrotter
Senior Member
That would solve where the water enters the room but not necessarily where the water entered the building...? With all hose slopes, layers and facets one would think it would be quite challenging.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
From the Post, Arts section:
Whoomp, chair it is
ROM architect Daniel Libeskind tries his hand at interior decorating
Vanessa Farquharson, National Post
Published: Thursday, May 10, 2007
William Thorsell strapped on a hard hat and steel-toe boots, walked into the middle of the enormous Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition to the Royal Ontario Museum set to open June 2, and felt conflicted: The spiritual side of the museum's director was awestruck by the vaulted silence of the interior; the practical side of him said, "We need some chairs in here."
He decided to ask Toronto furniture designer Klaus Nienkamper for help. But Nienkamper's response was that any chair he came up with would be overwhelmed by the space -- the only person who could design one would be the architect.
And so it was that Daniel Libeskind was asked to bring his vision for the ROM's exterior to its interior, too, by creating something in which weary museum-goers could sit --oh, and if he didn't have any plans for Friday night, maybe a chandelier, as well.
The result is the Spirit House chair, a compact, brushed stainless- steel structure that resembles an opened origami fortune teller, and a neon, Swarovski crystal chandelier in the shape of one of Libeskind's trademark scribbles, which will be installed in the grand staircase over the coming months and revealed at a later date.
"I was kind of shocked by it," said Thorsell of the new chair at a media conference yesterday, "because it's completely out of this world. I thought, 'Surely that's going to be uncomfortable,' but then I sat in it and it's not. ?You know, architects' chairs, some of them survive over centuries and I think this is going to be one of them."
Weighing 180 lbs. with five possible positions --it can also be used as a desk -- the chair takes about 40 hours to manufacture. There will be 13 of them placed on the ground level of the Spirit House and another three at the front entrance (Thorsell can't stand even numbers), and will be available to purchase as of June 3 at Nienkamper's store on King Street West in Toronto.
"I think every architect likes to do a chair," said the furniture designer, who turned Libeskind's drawings into a threedimensional shape. "We've had some very well-known architects approach us and say their chair is more important than any building, but the simple things are often the most difficult to do, and there's something inherently complex about chairs."
Nienkamper acknowledged that due to the high traffic of bottoms that will end up on the Spirit House chairs every day, some fingerprints, scratches and perhaps the occasional wads of chewing gum will adhere to the structures. But he insists this will only add to their charm, and they're easy to clean and polish if need be.
Although the designer was mostly concerned that the chairs were comfortable and durable, the architect seemed focused more on form, viewing them as works of art.
"At first I thought, 'Who needs another chair?' There are thousands of nice chairs," said Libeskind. "But then I realized it's not just an object, it's part of something greater. It's been relegated to the functional [realm], but the sitting position has an incredible history. The chair itself, it brings the world into a certain picture, lets you meditate, reflect.
"I started with a cube," he went on to explain, "then cut off a pyramidal angle and from there got into symmetry and asymmetry and cut it from the inside out and thought about what sitting really means compared to standing or walking. ... It's as difficult to design a chair as it is a whole city. A chair in its microcosmic structure embodies so many functions and ideas."
But as Nienkamper points out, what's arguably most important for ROM visitors is if they can sit on them without sliding off or getting back pain.
"We were going to put cushions on, but Daniel didn't want that," he said. "You can sit in them comfortably, though, for quite some time."
Vfarquharson@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2007
AoD
Whoomp, chair it is
ROM architect Daniel Libeskind tries his hand at interior decorating
Vanessa Farquharson, National Post
Published: Thursday, May 10, 2007
William Thorsell strapped on a hard hat and steel-toe boots, walked into the middle of the enormous Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition to the Royal Ontario Museum set to open June 2, and felt conflicted: The spiritual side of the museum's director was awestruck by the vaulted silence of the interior; the practical side of him said, "We need some chairs in here."
He decided to ask Toronto furniture designer Klaus Nienkamper for help. But Nienkamper's response was that any chair he came up with would be overwhelmed by the space -- the only person who could design one would be the architect.
And so it was that Daniel Libeskind was asked to bring his vision for the ROM's exterior to its interior, too, by creating something in which weary museum-goers could sit --oh, and if he didn't have any plans for Friday night, maybe a chandelier, as well.
The result is the Spirit House chair, a compact, brushed stainless- steel structure that resembles an opened origami fortune teller, and a neon, Swarovski crystal chandelier in the shape of one of Libeskind's trademark scribbles, which will be installed in the grand staircase over the coming months and revealed at a later date.
"I was kind of shocked by it," said Thorsell of the new chair at a media conference yesterday, "because it's completely out of this world. I thought, 'Surely that's going to be uncomfortable,' but then I sat in it and it's not. ?You know, architects' chairs, some of them survive over centuries and I think this is going to be one of them."
Weighing 180 lbs. with five possible positions --it can also be used as a desk -- the chair takes about 40 hours to manufacture. There will be 13 of them placed on the ground level of the Spirit House and another three at the front entrance (Thorsell can't stand even numbers), and will be available to purchase as of June 3 at Nienkamper's store on King Street West in Toronto.
"I think every architect likes to do a chair," said the furniture designer, who turned Libeskind's drawings into a threedimensional shape. "We've had some very well-known architects approach us and say their chair is more important than any building, but the simple things are often the most difficult to do, and there's something inherently complex about chairs."
Nienkamper acknowledged that due to the high traffic of bottoms that will end up on the Spirit House chairs every day, some fingerprints, scratches and perhaps the occasional wads of chewing gum will adhere to the structures. But he insists this will only add to their charm, and they're easy to clean and polish if need be.
Although the designer was mostly concerned that the chairs were comfortable and durable, the architect seemed focused more on form, viewing them as works of art.
"At first I thought, 'Who needs another chair?' There are thousands of nice chairs," said Libeskind. "But then I realized it's not just an object, it's part of something greater. It's been relegated to the functional [realm], but the sitting position has an incredible history. The chair itself, it brings the world into a certain picture, lets you meditate, reflect.
"I started with a cube," he went on to explain, "then cut off a pyramidal angle and from there got into symmetry and asymmetry and cut it from the inside out and thought about what sitting really means compared to standing or walking. ... It's as difficult to design a chair as it is a whole city. A chair in its microcosmic structure embodies so many functions and ideas."
But as Nienkamper points out, what's arguably most important for ROM visitors is if they can sit on them without sliding off or getting back pain.
"We were going to put cushions on, but Daniel didn't want that," he said. "You can sit in them comfortably, though, for quite some time."
Vfarquharson@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2007
AoD
yyzer
Senior Member
Swarovski did a pretty good job with their crystal Christmas tree in the Eaton Centre....it generated quite a buzz with shoppers, at least the few times I was there, there were literally dozens taking pictures of it this past Christmas.
Although it remains to be seen, the odds are pretty good the chandelier will be topnotch. A rendering would be helpful though.
Although it remains to be seen, the odds are pretty good the chandelier will be topnotch. A rendering would be helpful though.
mysteryman
Active Member
... would look fine in some eurotrash boutique hotel, but what does that have to do with the ROM?
alklay
Senior Member
Much of the ROM collection is about design from all ages and perspectives. The space is suitable for a grand light fixture so why not something designed by the architect and representative of our era and civilization. It appears to be entirely consistent.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
From the Post:
'unusual' ROM crystal divides public, critics
Libeskind-designed structure puts museum in limelight
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, National Post
Published: Friday, May 11, 2007
So I'm standing on Bloor Street, staring up at the Michael Lee Chin Crystal, and a crew from Toronto Life comes up and polls me on what I think.
Question 1: "Do you like the new ROM addition?" I answer, "No."
The Crystal, as covered with matt-finish aluminum panels, is an interesting shape with an ugly outer skin. The panels don't match up at the corners, are of varying shades of grey and look altogether improvised.
"To be perfectly frank, I think it's a disaster," one architect, who took a detour on his bike ride to the office to look at the Crystal, tells me. (He later asks I leave out his name.) "I've been waiting a long time for the cladding to go on and now I don't know what the wait was for."
Daniel Libeskind, the wide-grinning, fast-talking New York architect with groovy glasses, has achieved something remarkable in Toronto: He has created a building that has people staring -- and talking.
On the corner I meet a couple of transplanted Berliners as they snap pictures of the Crystal (which opens on June 2), when another man storms up and asks, "OK, which one of you is the journalist?"
George Kasey, he turns out to be: a comedian with a very serious opinion about the Crystal.
"This definitely doesn't work. With those boards [he means the aluminum panels that now cover most of the Crystal] it looks like a shantytown," he says. "Mr. Libeskind should cover it with a thin layer of glass. Then it would look like a crystal."
Learning that Mr. Libeskind plans a press conference inside the Royal Ontario Museum a few minutes later, Mr. Kasey follows me inside, goes up to Mr. Libeskind and tells him his idea. I can't hear the conversation, but it must have mollified Mr. Kasey, because now he's asking someone to take his picture with the architect.
Later, I ask Mr. Libeskind about the vari-hued aluminum panels, and he has a quick reply. "It's a building. It's not a poodle," he says. "A building has to deal with materiality. It's not about creating some illusory facade. Look, the Romans made buildings from different marble, whatever they could get. Anyway, in time the composition will become more oxidized and even.
"My intention was never to create some illusory crystal. That would be moronic. It has developed from the inside out, not outside in.
"I think it's going to be fantastic. Of course people will talk. Architecture is not some anodyne, some drug to put people to sleep. It's a dynamic civic experience. And many aspects in this building are unprecedented. I've created a plaza, a major new public space on Bloor Street, which never existed yet. And it doesn't have a preferred elevation. It looks good from the windows of all those condos going up around it."
I talk to Mark Street, owner of Stretch Fitness across from the ROM on Bloor Street, who stares at the Crystal every day. He is not impressed. "We're thinking some trees here to block the view," he says. "One of my clients said it's a good thing she's losing her eyesight.
"But it's like New City Hall. Probably everyone hated it in the 1960s, and now we all love it."
No matter what you think of the Crystal, the ROM, Canada's biggest museum, having survived the Depression, two World Wars and even the advent of video games, will survive this, too. On the 11 a.m. tour, which I share with two couples from Yorkshire, I'm wowed as volunteer Rosemary Seston shows us Chinese tapestry, the 24.5-metre totem pole, and a birchbark freighter canoe capable of transporting four tonnes and 10 paddlers. Plus the new Rotunda Cafe is serving chorizo and portabello tart, $14.
By the way, the Berliners, Uwe Kroger and Matthias Trinks, love the Crystal, "because it's an unusual shape and it's totally new."
Pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2007
AoD
'unusual' ROM crystal divides public, critics
Libeskind-designed structure puts museum in limelight
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, National Post
Published: Friday, May 11, 2007
So I'm standing on Bloor Street, staring up at the Michael Lee Chin Crystal, and a crew from Toronto Life comes up and polls me on what I think.
Question 1: "Do you like the new ROM addition?" I answer, "No."
The Crystal, as covered with matt-finish aluminum panels, is an interesting shape with an ugly outer skin. The panels don't match up at the corners, are of varying shades of grey and look altogether improvised.
"To be perfectly frank, I think it's a disaster," one architect, who took a detour on his bike ride to the office to look at the Crystal, tells me. (He later asks I leave out his name.) "I've been waiting a long time for the cladding to go on and now I don't know what the wait was for."
Daniel Libeskind, the wide-grinning, fast-talking New York architect with groovy glasses, has achieved something remarkable in Toronto: He has created a building that has people staring -- and talking.
On the corner I meet a couple of transplanted Berliners as they snap pictures of the Crystal (which opens on June 2), when another man storms up and asks, "OK, which one of you is the journalist?"
George Kasey, he turns out to be: a comedian with a very serious opinion about the Crystal.
"This definitely doesn't work. With those boards [he means the aluminum panels that now cover most of the Crystal] it looks like a shantytown," he says. "Mr. Libeskind should cover it with a thin layer of glass. Then it would look like a crystal."
Learning that Mr. Libeskind plans a press conference inside the Royal Ontario Museum a few minutes later, Mr. Kasey follows me inside, goes up to Mr. Libeskind and tells him his idea. I can't hear the conversation, but it must have mollified Mr. Kasey, because now he's asking someone to take his picture with the architect.
Later, I ask Mr. Libeskind about the vari-hued aluminum panels, and he has a quick reply. "It's a building. It's not a poodle," he says. "A building has to deal with materiality. It's not about creating some illusory facade. Look, the Romans made buildings from different marble, whatever they could get. Anyway, in time the composition will become more oxidized and even.
"My intention was never to create some illusory crystal. That would be moronic. It has developed from the inside out, not outside in.
"I think it's going to be fantastic. Of course people will talk. Architecture is not some anodyne, some drug to put people to sleep. It's a dynamic civic experience. And many aspects in this building are unprecedented. I've created a plaza, a major new public space on Bloor Street, which never existed yet. And it doesn't have a preferred elevation. It looks good from the windows of all those condos going up around it."
I talk to Mark Street, owner of Stretch Fitness across from the ROM on Bloor Street, who stares at the Crystal every day. He is not impressed. "We're thinking some trees here to block the view," he says. "One of my clients said it's a good thing she's losing her eyesight.
"But it's like New City Hall. Probably everyone hated it in the 1960s, and now we all love it."
No matter what you think of the Crystal, the ROM, Canada's biggest museum, having survived the Depression, two World Wars and even the advent of video games, will survive this, too. On the 11 a.m. tour, which I share with two couples from Yorkshire, I'm wowed as volunteer Rosemary Seston shows us Chinese tapestry, the 24.5-metre totem pole, and a birchbark freighter canoe capable of transporting four tonnes and 10 paddlers. Plus the new Rotunda Cafe is serving chorizo and portabello tart, $14.
By the way, the Berliners, Uwe Kroger and Matthias Trinks, love the Crystal, "because it's an unusual shape and it's totally new."
Pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2007
AoD
Bogtrotter
Senior Member
Yes I was one of them. I thought it was quite stunning, it certainly beat out the coloured balls and over-sized ribbons that you usually see. I think the chandelier idea for the Crystal is a good one, but of course it all really depends on how appropriately it is designed.
yyzer
Senior Member
Best.Quote.Ever!!!
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
The chandelier is angular, an echo of the building itself, and the crystals are attached to an armature of intersecting lines that suggest different enclosed volumes.
Yesterday, I got an invitation from the Museum:
Gwen Harvey, Chair of the Currelly Society Executive Committee, invites you and a guest to attend a special Currelly Society lecture.
William Thorsell will share his insights about the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. The lecture will be followed by a guided tour of the Lee-Chin Crystal - nude!
Unfortunately I will be out of town on June 5th, otherwise I'd be there in a shot.
Yesterday, I got an invitation from the Museum:
Gwen Harvey, Chair of the Currelly Society Executive Committee, invites you and a guest to attend a special Currelly Society lecture.
William Thorsell will share his insights about the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. The lecture will be followed by a guided tour of the Lee-Chin Crystal - nude!
Unfortunately I will be out of town on June 5th, otherwise I'd be there in a shot.
yin_yang
Active Member
this definitly needs some creative light beams under the cladding. then it could legitimately be called a crystal, and appeal to more people that think it looks dull, which seems to be the problem . it does look sleek, but too much like my hardwood floors. put some lights under the cladding, and replace a good chunk of it with transparent glass shards with abstract designs on it.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
... and hide most of the exhibits from the resulting sunlight - closing down the dinosaur and textile galleries, for instance.
yin_yang
Active Member
there wouldn't be any more sunlight going into the galleries than there is with the current design...the outside would just bring more attention to itself.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
If you replace a good chunk of the cladding with transparent glass, as you suggest, there will be plenty more sunlight flooding into the galleries. I think the strength of the design lies in the peek-a-boo nature of the windows, offering glimpses into the building and the displays. The dramatic shape of the Crystal, with neutral grey cladding, is a pretty strong statement as it is.
Venti de Milo
Banned
Yes, their tree in the EC created lots of buzz and photo taking. But that doesn't mean it's a nice tree. I find the green ornaments on a gree tree is just plain. I missed the big circle lights thing and the Santa Clause riding through it, and the big Santa Clause castle etc. Those were better than one lame boring tree.
Venti de Milo
Banned
Yup. I went into the museum last summer to see the China/Asia section. I didn't like it, cause it's too dark, very dim and kinda depressing.