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

The cladding really is quite drab and the museum suffers because of it. I think somehow, though, when I look at the building and let my eyes blur, that I can kind of see maybe what his intentions were- the cladding I think, was to look like brushed steel from farther back- it doesn't work however- whether far away or up close...

I am sure this has been discussed, but I still do not understand why Libeskind chose black brackets for the glazing?

I don't know, I still have mixed feelings to this day about the project- It may be silly of me to say, but I tend to agree with what some critics of Libeskind have said of this and other projects- that he is inexperienced at building, lacks certain foresight (contingent materials etc.) and fails to capture the essence of details in his projects. Now, that is not to say that I think he is a poor architect, but I do think he has a lot more experience drawing on napkins.

p5
 
Don't know if anyone else noticed but last night I saw that the ROM Crystal construction offices which were situated in front of the planetarium are now gone. You can finally see the planetarium structure in its entirety.
 
With the space now free, hopefully they will soon be moving Lawyers' portables into the plaza in front of the Planetarium so that the ROM can get underway with suing the fabricator of the cladding.

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Why I oughtta sue you for saying that 3D!

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Seriously, suing the fabricator of the cladding would be a positive step.
 
Has anyone from the ROM or Libeskind's office (God forbid) ever said anything publicly about the cladding? Intentions? Quality? Public criticism? I'm guessing their spin doctors coached them to avoid the subject...
 
Thorsell actually did say that it would even out as it ages, which sounds very spin-doctored to me. Why didn't he call for value for money? If the cladding is not up to spec, it should not have been paid for, and should be replaced!

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Poodles are among the most intelligent canines on the planet. Daniel's response... not so much.

Even Honda stands behind their paint job on economy cars. Why not a museum paying a few hundred million for a new front door.
 
If I sat on the BoD of the ROM, I would definitely be making my voice heard. The cladding supplier was supposed to be Europe's best metal cladding manufacturer. They didn't deliver. They should be sued.

I would still love to see each panel replaced with a semi opaque red glass panel like the entrance marker on Bloor.
 
You would want the whole crystal blood red? Eeeeeee!!! It's great as an accent, but to cover the whole building I'd like to see a consistently toned and polished aluminum that reflects the ambient light - one that looks blue on blue sky days, white when it's cloudy, silvery in shadows.

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The latest ROM magazine has a couple of interesting articles about how they've "posed" the dinosaurs differently, based on new research. For instance, when the Corythosaurus was mounted in 1932 at the entrance to the dinosaur gallery ( the building was designed to accommodate it ) it stood on its hind legs with its head almost touching the ceiling. Back in those days, to get some of the dinosaurs into upright poses, the original mounters had to break and dislocate the tail vertebrae!
 
Value for money?

No, no! We have to be stingy with our public institutions, otherwise what would he have to complain about afterwards?
 
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