The Crystal unfolds
Wild on the outside, calm on the inside, the controversial new wing of Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum finally opened last night. Maria Cook takes a peek
Maria Cook
The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, June 03, 2007
As the jagged silhouette of the Crystal wing at the Royal Ontario Museum took shape over the past few years, Torontonians expressed their opinions in the local newspapers.
"A dagger to the heart of an old lady," lamented one writer. "An ugly cheap-looking monstrosity," said another. "I now call the ROM, the WOM -- the Weird-looking Ontario Museum," wrote one young girl.
Others loved the idiosyncratic creation of Daniel Libeskind, one of the world's most famous architects. "The ROM addition is a knockout," said one letter-writer.
Now critics and fans can weigh in on the Crystal's interior as well. The $135-million aluminum-and-glass-covered structure on Bloor Street West was opened last night by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean with Premier Dalton McGuinty in attendance. Then, the public was treated to a free outdoor concert and tours of the empty wing.
Animated and wildly expressionistic on the outside, the Crystal is minimal, subtle and surprisingly calm inside. The spatial pleasures given by its slopes and folds evoke the cosiness of attic spaces combined with high ceilings and framed views of the city. The gallery spaces are refined, serene and generous.
"I have no problem with people being upset with the building," ROM director and CEO William Thorsell said earlier in the week. "It's art. Real art always pushes the boundaries. It often confuses and disorients people."
Surrounded by the stone, yellow brick and arches of the museum's 1914 and 1933 buildings, the Crystal, some argue, is an aggressive thing that collides with and disregards the heritage buildings.
But one can make the case that it is surprisingly contextual. There is a quirky gothicness about the Crystal and a similar sense of rocky enclosure and toughness to it as the old museum.
In 2001, when Thorsell launched the $270-million Renaissance ROM campaign, the goal was to reverse the museum's decline in visitors, staff and money. He wanted a "powerful, visual, emotional, psychological image" for the 90-year-old institution he believed had become "musty, intimidating and fortress-like."
Finally, visitors will be able to judge for themselves whether Thorsell and Libeskind have succeeded. "It's certainly got people talking about architecture," says Toronto architect Peter Berton. "It should be a successful tourist attraction. It certainly makes its presence known on the street."
A visitor arrives now from Bloor Street, a commercial hub of intense pedestrian activity, as opposed to the previous entrance on Queen's Park Crescent, a leafy academic boulevard. The physical re-orientation is part of a new way of thinking about the role of museums.
"Museums for a long time were sanctuaries, away from life in the city," says Thorsell. "The new museum should be part of the city. It should be visible, transparent. You should be able to come in and see great galleries, have a great lunch or hear music. It should be much more of a social common ground."
In recent years, the ROM was criticized as a glorified day-care centre, marketed toward families and school outings. Now, the elegant white interior spaces reinstate the museum's dignity. It is a now a more adult place, which in no way reduces its appeal to children. They will respond well to its spaces, the nooks and crannies that awaken a sense of discovery, and opportunities to glimpse family and friends at surprising angles from above and below.
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The sloping walls create sheer spatial enjoyment, as well as provide intimacy and a sense of enclosure. The diagonal pattern of windows gives unexpected views of the Toronto skyline and reveals the sun's movement through the sky in a play of natural light and shadow on floors and surfaces.
Libeskind first sketched the Crystal on a napkin after visiting the ROM's vast minerals collection. Construction began in 2003. To scale the sloped walls and angles, workers had to train in rappelling, like mountain climbers.
"I think it will change with the seasons," Libeskind said. "It will have different atmospheres. You need to take the time to walk through it. There's a range of spaces between very intimate spaces, very private moments, but also grand volumes."
The building is 25 per cent glass, the rest is covered in brushed aluminum of a warm silver colour. "I call it the Rolls Royce of cladding," says Libeskind.
The building has no right angles. It is comprised of five interlocking self-supporting structures of different shapes. The tip of the Crystal reaches 37 metres, or 10 storeys.
"The combination of the linearity of the metal planks and the raised black ribbon windows is reminiscent of the black weblike growth that overtakes Spider-Man in the latest movie, Spider-Man 3," says Berton. "It's almost eerie. It's got some very dark moments to it."
Marco Polo, associate professor of architecture at Ryerson University, said that some people are disappointed that the building isn't more transparent and delicate. "It's more of an iceberg than a crystal."
A walk through the crystal
The 175,000-square-foot building houses eight spacious new galleries, a new entrance on Bloor Street, a 7,000-square-foot shop, a high-end restaurant, and Canada's largest exhibition hall with 18,000 square feet of space for temporary blockbuster shows.
New galleries opening in the coming months include: Dinosaurs, Africa, Americas and Asia-Pacific, Textiles and Costume, South Asia, Mammals, the Middle East and the Institute for Contemporary Culture.
The visitor arrives in a large central space, designed to meet the needs of large groups of people milling about, buying tickets and checking coats. Beside the lobby is a large three-storey atrium for special events. This is a courtyard with an urban feel to it, framed on one side by the exposed outside wall of the historic building.
To reach the upper levels of the Crystal, visitors may climb the Stair of Wonders, which presents more than 1,000 curiosities such as seashells, antlers, toy solders and insects. This proves somewhat disappointing -- one had somehow imagined an unrestrained cornucopia of treasures cascading along the stairs. Instead, the objects are displayed on the landings in polite cases like jeweller's windows. The one eye-catching exception is a metal grid affixed with all manner of antlers.
One of the greatest draws of the museum has always been the dinosaur collection, which visitors will find right away on the second level. The gallery, which opens next winter, features 18-foot ceilings to accommodate the ROM's largest specimens, including 18 skeletons. The north wall slopes outward with large windows overlooking Bloor Street -- from the street, passersby can look up and see dinosaurs.
As one moves up the levels, the architecture becomes part of the experience. On the third level, the South Asian gallery is located in a triangular space featuring high ceilings, natural light and dramatically angled walls. On the fourth floor, the textiles and costume gallery occupies a cathedral-like space with angular walls rising more than 40 feet and windows that offer angled views down to Bloor Street.
The display cases respond to the angular geometries of the building. They function as part of the architecture, rather than merely as furniture.
On Level 5, the Crystal Five Restaurant Lounge is tucked into the peak of the crystal. It offers views of the CN Tower, soft white leather seating and the yet-to-be-developed Rom-tini cocktail.
A key space within the Crystal is a vertical void, called the Spirit House, that extends from the top to the bottom of the Crystal. It is criss-crossed by bridges linking the east and west galleries, and will be filled with sounds ranging from wind to the singing of birds and people. By naming it the Spirit House it creates an expectation of a tangible constructed place. But it is an absence. Thorsell imagines it as a contemplative space. One could think of it as a clearing in the forest.
"This is the building that everyone has loved to hate," says Nelda Rodger, editor of Azure, a design magazine. "It's architecture as event, deliberately created to have an effect. I was quite surprised and delighted by what I saw on the inside."
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The architectural preview continues until June 10, when the building closes for installation of exhibits.