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Sept. 26 - Oct. 3, 2004 |
Renowned architect takes on Toronto
Libeskind's glass house openly invites stone throwers to the Royal Ontario Museum
By Gil Kezwer
Originally Published: 2003-07-20
Hoardings went up in early June for architect Daniel Libeskind's massive addition to the Royal Ontario Museum - a soaring deconstructivist phantasia that promises to be the most eye-stopping building in Toronto since Viljo Revell's New City Hall opened in 1965.
The venerable ROM, today the fifth largest museum in North America, wasn't built in a day. Since opening in 1914, the H-shaped cultural giant has undergone a series of renovations and additions - the latest of which was completed in 1982. The current plan is to demolish the north wing to make room for an ambitious new main entrance facing Bloor Street West - a landmark jagged crystalline structure which together with renovations of existing galleries is being touted as the $200-million Renaissance ROM.
The buzz is about Libeskind, 57, the Berlin-based architectural superstar who became an international celebrity in February when chosen with much fanfare by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to reconstruct Ground Zero. Studio Daniel Libeskind is leading the ROM design team in a joint venture with Toronto's Bregman + Hamann Architects. Together they're adding 40,000 square feet in six major new galleries. Construction is set to begin in October with a projected completion date in December 2005.
Great architecture doesn't come cheap. The Crystal will cost $70 million. In March 2002, Queen's Park, through the SuperBuild initiative, earmarked $30 million for the project. In May 2002, a matching $30 million commitment was made by the feds through the Canada-Ontario Infrastructure Program. A campaign, chaired by former Lieutenant-Governor Hilary Weston and launched May 28, is seeking to raise the balance. Two months before that launch, the ROM announced a lead gift of $30 million from Toronto mutual fund maven Michael A. Lee-Chin - whose honour the Crystal will be named after. As well, the four-storey atrium will be called the Hyacinth Gloria Chen Crystal Court, in honour of Lee-Chin's mother. Weston has announced pledges of $24 million, bringing the total to $114 million so far. Her billionaire husband Galen Weston has yet to make a pledge from his family foundation.
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