Wowing at the new ROM

Today's Star has a story about the extension, known as "The Crystal", of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, announcing the completion of the steel structure which is now to be covered with glass in the coming year. The new ROM is due to open in December 2006.

Anyone who has been in downtown Toronto and passed by the ROM has seen the monstrous extension by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind taking shape. I've heard people express their dislike for the final design, and it indeed it looks like the old ROM, with its quiet, traditional architecture, somehow developed an unnatural, uncontrollable growth that finally burst out of the inside in an unhesitant, messy ostentation that threatens to engulf the remaining building around it.

I haven't generally been impressed by Libeskind's other work, especially his design for Freedom Tower for the WTC redevelopment in New York. But I do like his vision for the ROM. Besides being an excellent example of modern architecture, it's a fitting metaphor for modernity, and just what Toronto needs to regenerate itself into a world class city.

Love it or hate it, it definitely looks like it's going to be, as the Star calls it, the wow centre of Toronto.


A rendering of the Crystal from Bloor Street, from Daniel Libeskind's web site.