Urban Shocker
Doyenne
I say we rename Sussex Drive as that.
rdaner
Senior Member
How did the Crystal handle the snow?
H
Hydrogen
Guest
Oh, I second that!
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Another hit on the ROM
DAVID MACFARLANE
Special to The Globe and Mail
November 24, 2007
There must be people in Toronto who like the new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum. It's just that none of them ever sits across from me at a dinner party. For a while, it was a useful icebreaker, though. All you had to do was say "Libeskind" - then just sit back and dodge the spittle.
But I've decided that this uniformly negative view is becoming conversationally tiresome. And so, in an effort to liven up dinner-table repartee, I set myself the task of finding a way to like the ROM.
Getting the LSD was not as difficult as I expected it to be. Not only was Captain Trip still at his old address, he was unfazed by the decades that had passed since I last parted his beaded curtains. Time is an illusion, according to the good captain. He should know. His personal recommendation was the white lightning.
One forgets how powerful LSD is - at least, one does until one starts to peak on Philosopher's Walk. If you've forgotten, let me put it this way. Getting off on a hit of acid makes a bottle of Glenmorangie, a joint and a mirror full of coke seem like functional grace, structural rationality and architectural coherence. Or, to put it another way: It can make the ROM appear to be the only building on Bloor Street that makes any sense.
Much has been said about the banal, mall-like entrance to the new addition. People say it makes them feel squeamish. All I can say is: Try it on acid.
First of all, it took forever to get across the weirdly unpopulated Bloor Street piazza. I kept wondering: Is that Omar Sharif on a camel on the wavering horizon? And then, once through the doors, I realized that feeling squeamish is only the first step. Peyote visions, so I recalled from Carlos Castaneda, always begin with nausea. And Daniel Libeskind got that right. Once you're inside, everything about the new ROM - the dinosaur posters, the seared black cod, the piles of Brian Mulroney's autobiography - tumble around you like a Cubist painting. Everything seems very Nude Descending a Whole Lot of White Drywall. But I thought it would pass.
Ascending the Stair of Wonders, you can't help but wonder about mollusks and toy soldiers, but if anything is going to help you make the connection between the two, it's probably a massive dose of an illegal and extremely dangerous hallucinogen. Just don't have lunch first. The really little regiment in sombreros and sunglasses didn't help. I wasn't sure if they were invertebrates. And by then I knew I was in trouble. Alas, my descent was too rapid to take in the clams and Beefeaters properly. Luckily, I found the bathroom in time.
You see, the thing is: It's a prism. That's what I was chanting in the Spirit House before the security guards were called. It is us. And we are it. And if you keep asking, "What kind of crystal is made of aluminum siding?" I'll tell you one thing: You're not stoned enough. You're too hung up on things being right. Angles, for instance. Do you really think the universe wasn't designed on a napkin?
DAVID MACFARLANE
Special to The Globe and Mail
November 24, 2007
There must be people in Toronto who like the new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum. It's just that none of them ever sits across from me at a dinner party. For a while, it was a useful icebreaker, though. All you had to do was say "Libeskind" - then just sit back and dodge the spittle.
But I've decided that this uniformly negative view is becoming conversationally tiresome. And so, in an effort to liven up dinner-table repartee, I set myself the task of finding a way to like the ROM.
Getting the LSD was not as difficult as I expected it to be. Not only was Captain Trip still at his old address, he was unfazed by the decades that had passed since I last parted his beaded curtains. Time is an illusion, according to the good captain. He should know. His personal recommendation was the white lightning.
One forgets how powerful LSD is - at least, one does until one starts to peak on Philosopher's Walk. If you've forgotten, let me put it this way. Getting off on a hit of acid makes a bottle of Glenmorangie, a joint and a mirror full of coke seem like functional grace, structural rationality and architectural coherence. Or, to put it another way: It can make the ROM appear to be the only building on Bloor Street that makes any sense.
Much has been said about the banal, mall-like entrance to the new addition. People say it makes them feel squeamish. All I can say is: Try it on acid.
First of all, it took forever to get across the weirdly unpopulated Bloor Street piazza. I kept wondering: Is that Omar Sharif on a camel on the wavering horizon? And then, once through the doors, I realized that feeling squeamish is only the first step. Peyote visions, so I recalled from Carlos Castaneda, always begin with nausea. And Daniel Libeskind got that right. Once you're inside, everything about the new ROM - the dinosaur posters, the seared black cod, the piles of Brian Mulroney's autobiography - tumble around you like a Cubist painting. Everything seems very Nude Descending a Whole Lot of White Drywall. But I thought it would pass.
Ascending the Stair of Wonders, you can't help but wonder about mollusks and toy soldiers, but if anything is going to help you make the connection between the two, it's probably a massive dose of an illegal and extremely dangerous hallucinogen. Just don't have lunch first. The really little regiment in sombreros and sunglasses didn't help. I wasn't sure if they were invertebrates. And by then I knew I was in trouble. Alas, my descent was too rapid to take in the clams and Beefeaters properly. Luckily, I found the bathroom in time.
You see, the thing is: It's a prism. That's what I was chanting in the Spirit House before the security guards were called. It is us. And we are it. And if you keep asking, "What kind of crystal is made of aluminum siding?" I'll tell you one thing: You're not stoned enough. You're too hung up on things being right. Angles, for instance. Do you really think the universe wasn't designed on a napkin?
H
Hydrogen
Guest
There is this tendency to try and spend as little as possible when investing in the expansion of our public institutions, and to then complain about them as much as possible.
Zephyr
Active Member
Sad but true. When buildings like this go up, they will be here for a long time, and that fact is usually only realised after construction is over.
Still an intriguing structure, regardless of how controversial it is in Toronto.
Still an intriguing structure, regardless of how controversial it is in Toronto.
MetroMan
Senior Member
I think some of its shortcomings can be addressed in the future. The unfortunate choice of cladding sounded good on paper but ended up making the structure look like a heap of tin. Opaque glass would have looked great I think. I previously mentioned red opaque glass, like the kind used as the entrance marker and I've fallen in love with the concept.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
The Dinosaurs open on the 15th. They'll be connected to the Earth and Early Life gallery in the original east wing in 2009. And, via the Mammals gallery ( also in the Crystal ), they'll be connected to the Birds and the Discovery galleries in the original west wing. So the collection display and visitor circulation problems created when the Terrace Galleries were built in the early 1980's are being resolved by Libeskind's design solution.
TrickyRicky
Senior Member
The new addition will continue to be absorbed into the city and evolve. So those complaining about the design need not worry, soon it will not be a spike in their face but comfortable like an old pair of brown shoes. I predict this addition will be torn down in our life-times. This is not because it is bad or good but because it doesn't matter. What really matters is the strength of the institution, the architecture will fulfil its duty and reach its service life in time.
Tear this down? Not a chance. Modifications, sure.
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Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Why would they want to, since the whole purpose of building it was to correct the problems created by the previous structure, which it does.
Irishmonk
Senior Member
A long time ago I stated somewhere in this thread that this would become Toronto's most detested building. As much as I hate people who say "I told you so," I have to say, "I. Told. You. So." Even brand new this ill conceived scrap heap is pig-ugly and it's only going to get worse with time. When things start breaking down, and the ROM can't afford basic repairs because they're still trying to pay down the construction costs, Libeskind's name will be mud in this town (as it already is in many other cities.) William Thorsell is stuck with a major headache of his own doing and it might be wise for him to sneak out of town before the debt monster and an irate citizenry begin looking for some payback. In the meantime it's nice to have writers like MacFarlane adding levity to a dire situation, and calling out the Emperor when he has no clothes.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
I disagree. This building, while flawed, will likely grow on people over time. It will become a landmark, and an accepted part of the urban landscape. Forty or so years from now, it may well be celebrated as Toronto's Libeskind, just as we celebrate the TD Centre as Toronto's Mies. It may not be perfect, or as good as the Seagram Building, but it's ours.
Well, just to be the tepid water trapped between the fire and the ice here, it would appear that this building will remain controversial. It's foolish to declare that all will detest it, or that all will come to love it. The thing is right now that the building's innards are not complete, and we have not yet seen how they will look built-out.
Sure, the exterior is complete and some people who hate it now may hate it always, some who love it now may love it always. There is the possibility that some will change their minds, and there's also the possibility that there are lots of people who don't hold such polarized views of it.
Inside - while the finishes unveiled at June's architectural opening looked unfinished - the spaces themselves were quite fantastic. If the display designers figure out how to use these oddly shaped rooms to their best advantage, we will end up with something to be cherished.
The opening for the first permanent crystal galleries is only a couple of weeks away, and we'll get our first taste of how imaginatively laid out the rooms are then.
No epitaphs yet, ye prophets of the architectural apocalypse!
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Sure, the exterior is complete and some people who hate it now may hate it always, some who love it now may love it always. There is the possibility that some will change their minds, and there's also the possibility that there are lots of people who don't hold such polarized views of it.
Inside - while the finishes unveiled at June's architectural opening looked unfinished - the spaces themselves were quite fantastic. If the display designers figure out how to use these oddly shaped rooms to their best advantage, we will end up with something to be cherished.
The opening for the first permanent crystal galleries is only a couple of weeks away, and we'll get our first taste of how imaginatively laid out the rooms are then.
No epitaphs yet, ye prophets of the architectural apocalypse!
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Urban Shocker
Doyenne
At the superficial level - an important level for any public institution that needs to grab attention and draw masses of visitors in off the street - I think the building works well as a camera-friendly "take my picture" 3D logo for the museum. And the sculptural, angular exterior shapes are duplicated by the galleries within, so there's an honesty to what the building promises. If the galleries were square, we'd all feel misled.
I'm encouraged by how well the ICC gallery space has been used for the two exhibitions we've seen so far. I don't think the gallery itself has in any way stolen the thunder of either exhibition. Some of the objects on display in those two shows have been quite small, but were not overpowered by their setting.
The Costume and Textile gallery, next to the ICC, has a similar cathedral-like ceiling and is a gorgeous, unique space. In fact, I find the uniqueness of each gallery space - and the Spirit House, with those criss-crossing walkways, and the Stair of Wonders with surprising angles that unfold as you walk down it - to be one of the strengths of the Crystal.
I'm encouraged by how well the ICC gallery space has been used for the two exhibitions we've seen so far. I don't think the gallery itself has in any way stolen the thunder of either exhibition. Some of the objects on display in those two shows have been quite small, but were not overpowered by their setting.
The Costume and Textile gallery, next to the ICC, has a similar cathedral-like ceiling and is a gorgeous, unique space. In fact, I find the uniqueness of each gallery space - and the Spirit House, with those criss-crossing walkways, and the Stair of Wonders with surprising angles that unfold as you walk down it - to be one of the strengths of the Crystal.