[adma]

When I saw these pictures, I couldn't get Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon out of my head. That's the first thing that came to mind upon seeing these photos, jarring collisions of Picassoian pussy.

Nothing I have seen and read here changes my opinion of this place. The fire-exit segues between wings, the Kafkaesque corridors, the incongruity, the depressing contrast between the diginity of the old wings and the cheap exhibitionism of the new, and, AND, the incompetence of the organizers to boot! No, if anything, my pre-existing opinion is even stronger now than it was before. The place seems steeped in misery and grit-your-teeth-and-like-it grimness. I don't believe it will do anything but cheapen and degrade whatever is put in it. In its pushiness and contempt of history, grace, proportion and context, it is the ultimate Boomer building: tasteless, classless, arrogant and hopelessly self-absorbed. Someone, somewhere, was grievously conned.

Feh.

 

[Yorked]

well, change is never easy. and this is a big one. the contrast of the new addition from the old building has been noted here - many times - and it goes without saying that it is, indeed, overwhelming at times.

will it stand the test of time? I don't really care right now. what I do know is that the addition is world class thought provoking in the present; and, really, how many building in toronto can say that?

if anything, I like the inside better than I do the outside. it's quite calming to me for some reason. the many pot lights, the angles...I guess it's just easy to hide oneself in there. (as has been proven with pictures already.)

the addition is spectacular. I don't think anyone can disagree with that. whether it's spectacularly good or bad...well that's the fun part. I'm just glad we have something like this to discuss here in this city.

 

[MetroMan]

Thorsell + Libeskind... if you're listening, let me list some improvements that the Lee-Chin Crystal is in crucial need of:

Connections to the Historical wings:

That complicated staircase + wheelchair elevator could have been dealt with an angular ramp jutting out into this wing. The useless room beyond that door (not pictured) must serve some purpose other than a fire escape buffer right?... right?

Notice the contrast between the genius idea of encasing a piece of the historical ROM in a display with the utter lack of foresight of integrating the fire-hoses cases into the actual building wall. I mean, planting this box here goes contrary to the entire philosophy of the new Crystal.

Concrete plaza?? $300M (over)budget project and you can't afford at least interlocking stones? Granite maybe? This is entrance to your new smorgasbord museum and you can't pretty it up at little bit?

This Spirit room is so dark and industrial, it's not contemplative as intended. Add some soft coloured lights projecting against the walls or something.. This place is depressing.

Seriously.. har har.. you can put the glass doors back.. har..har.. that was a good joke. You got me... wait? You mean you meant to put fire escape doors as a transition between galleries?
Teehee... you're such a joker, you really almost got me there.. ... ...

 

[alklay]

And the steel grating floor (worthy of a sidewalk maybe) is horrid as well. It is in every space and it makes the cheap flooring look even worse than it should (and in contrast, the wood flooring in the restored spaces looks amazing and warm). As I already posted, couldn't they have had the architect design a nice pattern for the grates (or pick a better grate from the stock grates out there)? God is in the details, Mr. Thorsell.

 

[MetroMan]

A lot of the details in the Crystal feel glaringly rushed and/or temporary.

The siding most used within the building (anodized aluminum) is poorly executed in that the seams often don't match and the rivets holding them are damaged and/or poorly applied.

 

[MetroMan]

... I would estimate that the Crystal has around $10,000,000 worth of "fix ups" to do.... who wants to own the naming rights to the doors, floor grating or fire hose cases?

Anyone? ... Anyone? ... Bueller?... Bueller...?

 

[yyzer]

weren't there piles of granite slabs destined for the Bloor St. sidewalk? I think a lot of the features are not finished yet...

 

[MetroMan]

The Bloor sidewalk has parts of granite slabs cut into the cement sidewalk but the vast majority of the Michael-Lee Chin Crystal plaza is dull cement.

 

[Hydrogen]

I liked what I saw. I would agree that some of the places where the new building linked with the old appeared awkward. As for fire escapes appearing in certain areas, I believe their placement is regulated to a degree, and appear in certain areas because they have to. It is clear that there are still a number of finishing touches to be added in many places.

Otherwise, I like the Crystal. Is it jarring when compared to the old museum building? Yes, but that was the point, wasn't it?

Can't wait to see it with the displays installed.

 

[MetroMan]

Now, it would be irresponsible to criticize features that fall short without offering solutions because there must be a logical reason for them to exist as they do... financial, regulatory or otherwise.

Issue: Transition from the Crystal to the Historical wings is jumbled and poorly thrown together. Unfortunately, the floor height of the old wings and the crystal's don't match up. This is why you see these awkward connections.
Solution: Use Libeskindesque ramps to replace steps/wheelchair elevators.

Issue: Fire hose cases. Perhaps fire regulations require them to be set up right... Libeskind forgot to include them in his original drawings?
Solution: If they MUST stay within their current locations, a very simple solution would be to clad them in the wood used for the display cases. Since these are square anyway, the fire hose cases would at least match up and not stick out like a sore thumb.

Issue: Fire Exit style doors could be there to isolate each gallery from each other in the case of fire in the museum.
Solution: Heavy doors that are equally as fire protective but that are custom designed to look beautiful and could feature slits of fire retardant glass to allow light to permeate.

Issue: Ugly grates. The grates within the galleries are a clever method of climate control without the blight of overhead shafts. Regarding the grates in the spirit room: Pure speculation, but these were probably used to keep galleries clean (basically an extensive front door floor mat)... Ok, forget that, my speculation is comically far fetched.
Solution: Alklay already offered the solution. Have Libeskind or somebody else design a custom grate pattern.

 

[syn]

Now, it would be irresponsible to criticize features that fall short without offering solutions because there must be a logical reason for them to exist as they do... financial, regulatory or otherwise.

Issue: Transition from the Crystal to the Historical wings is jumbled and poorly thrown together. Unfortunately, the floor height of the old wings and the crystal's don't match up. This is why you see these awkward connections.
Solution: Use Libeskindesque ramps to replace steps/wheelchair elevators.

Issue: Fire hose cases. Perhaps fire regulations require them to be set up right... Libeskind forgot to include them in his original drawings?
Solution: If they MUST stay within their current locations, a very simple solution would be to clad them in the wood used for the display cases. Since these are square anyway, the fire hose cases would at least match up and not stick out like a sore thumb.

Issue: Fire Exit style doors could be there to isolate each gallery from each other in the case of fire in the museum.
Solution: Heavy doors that are equally as fire protective but that are custom designed to look beautiful and could feature slits of fire retardant glass to allow light to permeate.

Issue: Ugly grates. The grates within the galleries are a clever method of climate control without the blight of overhead shafts. Regarding the grates in the spirit room: Pure speculation, but these were probably used to keep galleries clean (basically an extensive front door floor mat)... Ok, forget that, my speculation is comically far fetched.
Solution: Alklay already offered the solution. Have Libeskind or somebody else design a custom grate pattern.

I get a very strong feeling the fire related things you mentioned are the way they are due to building codes.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Public enthusiasm for an empty building doesn't automatically guarantee public enthusiasm for a building full of installed exhibits. But the ROM is a major Toronto cultural institution, and free admission on some days and reasonably priced family memberships mean that it cannot be classed as a preserve of the rich ( as some here claim ), so I think the starchitecture will do the trick. The wonderful collections are the beating heart of the building. Only 5% of the collection was able to be displayed before the renovations. Now more of it can. There is a huge gallery for temporary exhibitions. People will be drawn here in large numbers once everything is properly installed. The aim is to boost attendance from 1 million to 1.6 million.

 

[urbandreamer]

The UrbanToronto granite walk@the ROM?

We each donate $10k towards the entrance plaza and have our names (engraved "photos" of each of us?) on each block of granite. I've got my pen and chequebook opened....

 

[scarberiankhatru]

The aim is to boost attendance from 1 million to 1.6 million.

Given the spectacular decline in school field trips that I noticed in a few short years - and I doubt they've gone back up since I left elementary/high school - I think the ROM people will need to work hard to get that many people through the door once the buzz of the new opening wears off. Maybe that's why many are defending the Crystal so aggressively, to boost the shock value...

Or maybe they won't need to work hard...the ROM's collection is spectacular, after all.

 

[wyliepoon]

On the topic of attendance, here's a Denver Post article on the attendance at the Denver Art Museum post-Libeskind...

Link

Filling the Hamilton harder than expected
LIBESKIND'S VISION STILL HOLDS PROMISE
By Kyle MacMillan Denver Post Fine Arts Critic
Article Last Updated: 05/27/2007 12:09:51 AM MDT


Attendance lagged behind the vaunted first-year projection of 1 million visitors after the opening of the Denver Art Museum's unorthodox, Daniel Libeskind-designed Hamilton Building.

There was a $2.5 million cut in the museum's original 2007 fiscal year budget of $25.5 million. Thirty employees took buyouts, and another eight were laid off - a 14 percent reduction overall in staff.

These facts lead to a thorny question: Have the setbacks since the $110 million expansion's much-touted opening in October given the museum a black eye at the very time it is trying to capitalize on its new building to boost its national and even international profile?

Marc Wilson, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., which is poised to open its own major addition by another acclaimed architect, Steven Holl, doesn't believe so.

"I don't think it's a black eye," he said. "It's nothing that's fatal. It's more in the category of 'silly boys.' It doesn't in any way diminish my feelings for Denver or my esteem for the institution."

Tyler Green, a Washington, D.C., writer and editor who oversees the Modern Art Notes blog on Artsjournal.com., agrees, although he acknowledges raised eyebrows over the cuts and the stated reasons behind them.

"I don't think art people around the world sit around going, 'Oh, Denver is only going to draw 800,000 people this year and not a million. That means Denver must be a boring, sleepy place.' I don't think people think that.

"If anything, Denver serves as a reminder that you can't just build a building and have people show up and continue to show up, that building a museum is more than building a building."

Wilson sees the predictions of 1 million visitors and the accompanying claims of tourism increases as a simple case of boosterism. He said it was probably even necessary to secure passage of a $62.5 million bond issue that provided key

"That happens all across the country," he said. "That happens not only with art museums but other kinds of museums and attractions, particularly when you're trying to sell the project and its funding to voters or to city fathers or city mothers.

"So, the phenomenon of - I would call it exuberant predictions and estimations of its impact - is not unique to Denver at all."

He believes the staff cuts resulted from the museum buying too much into its own inflated expectations, as it enlarged its staff from about 200 before the Hamilton opening to more than 260.

"That means there was too much dependency on earned income," Wilson said. "Everybody wants to believe those rosy projections, because it means that the institution and its activities can be more self-sustaining than if you don't believe in them."

Such predictions might have been overexuberant, but other museum leaders say Denver's ability to draw an opening-year visitorship of 750,000 people - the now-revised estimate - is still quite impressive.

"Amazing" attendance

Dean Sobel, director of Denver's Clyfford Still Museum, calls it nothing short of extraordinary. The Milwaukee Art Museum, where Sobel once served as chief curator, drew 500,000 visitors during the first year after the 2001 opening of a $121 million addition by Santiago Calatrava.

"I just feel like that number is kind of amazing," Sobel said of Denver's potential attendance. "Milwaukee would never get a number close to that."

The projected visitorship of 750,000 also far exceeds the 2006 fiscal year attendance of 319,000 at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. That period roughly encompasses the first year following the 2005 opening of a 177,000-square-foot expansion by Renzo Piano.

The Seattle Art Museum is projecting a first-year attendance of 550,000 for its downtown facility, which opened earlier this month. And the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has estimated opening-year turnout for its new building will be 650,000.

Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, director and chief curator of the Aspen Art Museum, said that whatever missteps might have occurred over the past seven months should not be allowed to overshadow Denver's overall success.

"I think when you aim really high, sometimes you stub your toe a little bit," Jacobson said. "But I don't think that should detract, really, from the incredible achievements that they have done. I mean 750,000 or 800,000 people - that's a lot of people."

Whatever differences of opinion might exist over the aftermath of the Hamilton Building's debut, everyone seems to agree that it's time to move on and focus on the future.

"Get over it, guys," Wilson said. "You have what you have. You've made great progress. So, let's stop crying over spilled milk."