Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum has unveiled plans for a renovation of its Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal expansion, which opened in 2008. Led by Canadian firm Hariri Pontarini Architects, the OpenROM project is being enacted to expand its public offerings to an anticipated 1.4 million visitors annually.
The brief calls for a reconfiguration of its main floor, plus the addition of upper-level gallery spaces and the reimagining of an existing entrance on Bloor Street. A new water feature will be added to the heritage facade surrounding the building on Bloor Street and Queen’s Park, punctuated by a cantilevered bronze canopy. A total of 4,000 square feet of programmable public spaces will be added through the overall design.
Also part of the project is the addition of a four-story atrium called The Hennick Commons. The atrium will be serviced by a multi-level adjacent lily pad feature staircase replete with viewing platforms and additional exhibition areas. Another 2,400-square-foot forum space is included in the atrium, with room for special performances and a small café.
The Museum says the project was catalyzed by a "visionary" CAD $50 million (USD $37 million) donation from the Hennick Family Foundation — the largest cash gift in the institution's history. The Globe and Mail puts the project's overall cost at CAD $130 million (USD $96 million).
"OpenROM is more than a physical transformation; it is a major leap forward in the Museum’s ongoing evolution to becoming an even more welcoming and accessible space," Director Josh Basseches promised. "This is an opportunity to truly throw the doors of the Museum open, both literally and figuratively, and invite more people in to experience all ROM has to offer."
Siamak Hariri is listed as the Partner-in-Charge for the project. Construction is set to begin this month and will be completed in 2027.
14 Comments
Poor, poor ROM.
ughhh
This project is an unenviable task for anyone who takes it on.
I do think Libeskind's entrance does warrant some improvement.
It's puzzling that the designer of such as fiercely overdone building would use the same aluminum sliding doors you see on a discount stores everywhere.
Few things say "I hate you. You are not welcome here." like an entrance designed by Daniel Libeskind.
Perhaps I'm an outlier here but I actually like Lieb's ROM addition and the fuck you agressive street facade. I mean, it is Toronto afterall and other that OCAD just down the street, there is little in this dull concrete city that is interesting. With that said, other than the atrium, the gallery design sucks balls.
lol NS. My home in Toronto is just down the street from the ROM and I really like the design...except for the entrance, which is strikingly under-cooked for a design as blunt as this one is. On first look the revision doesn't play very nice w ith the original, but it does look like it will function better.
There's a great moment in the YouTube, around 1:50, when the terra cotta visitors (I like this decision) view the terra cotta warriors of China.
Only a wrecking ball can properly undo the deliberate damage and architectural vandalism that Daniel Libeskind was allowed to inflict not just on the ROM, but on Bloor Street and on downtown Toronto. This half-hearted attempt to humanize Libeskind’s crass and unworkable architectural fiasco is just throwing good money after bad. The offensive eyesore is still there, still ruining the city, still proclaiming the ROM’s mistake hiring an egotistical hack instead of a capable, talented and sophisticated architect as the project called for and as Toronto deserved.
Settle down there. Toronto is bland and boring. The ROM adds something to the endless blah of the streets.
Agreed. Toronto is exceedingly bland. The original ROM was one of the few hints that civilisation had ever touched the city. And then Daniel Libeskind came along and left his mark …. in the attention getting way a dog leaves his mark up against a lamppost. (You know he’s been there, but you wish he hadn’t.) Libeskind’s sick idea of “adding something to the endless blah of the streets”, is the architectural equivalent of adding some pole dancing sluts to jizz up the endless blah of a dignitary’s lengthy funeral ceremony.
I'd totally love to attend that funeral. Hold my beer, I have to made an edit to my will to have stripper poles next to the urn.
Nice try, but it's like putting lipstick on a pig.
Libeskind's unbelievably offensive desecration of the ROM is too far gone to be saved with a shiny canopy and reflecting pool. It's time for the ROM leadership to swallow hard, admit they made a mistake in hiring a clown like Libeskind, and start fundraising for a demolition campaign. Any money spent trying to gussy up this abomination is money that would be better spent hiring a demolition contractor.
This is an instance where we actually could use Steven Holl or DS&R, who each have no problem completely demolishing other people's work.
Clearly, the Board of the ROM are finally admitting that Daniel Libeskind’s capricious formal posturing is not only not functional, but it is repellant to the public. Why should they bear the cost of righting this egregious architectural mess? Like many, I wonder why ROM is not suing Libeskind for the costs of undoing his self-indulgent disaster.
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