Renovation of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, an extension of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (2007, Daniel Libeskind). It's called the Crystal because it's spiky. Here's a view of its spikiness:
1.bp.blogspot.com/-0b-qIauvHHw/VR9FGbIX1tI/AAAAAAAAMOM/l7KUswx8rec/s1600/ROM%2BCristal%2BMichael%2BLee-Chin%2BCrystal1.JPG
Widely reviled by Torontonians, it nevertheless appeals to tourists. Tourism is a big industry here, so it's got that going for it.
Despite my general admiration of Libeskind's work, I think he missed the target here. In particular, even the building's admirers admit it is impractical as part of a museum.
The Washington
Post chose this building as the worst of its decade. On the other hand, it has its supporters. Christopher Hume of the Toronto
Star, for example contended that it "seemed to express a desire to bring not just the museum, not just the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road, but the whole city, into the 21st century without diminishing the past". Which is as may be, but it seems to me that whether it has achieved that desire is still an open question (to be fair, Hume seems to think so, too).
I think it looks better with the scaffolding (seriously, the rectangles create tension with the less regular geometry of the building). Maybe the ROM could be persuaded to leave it up.
20 comments
Sarah P. said:
Sarah P. replied to Sarah P.:
brokeassstuart.com/sf/2017/10/18/the-salesforce-tower-looks-like-a-giant-butt-plug
rdhinmn said:
John FitzGerald replied to rdhinmn:
John FitzGerald replied to Sarah P.:
Ulrich John said:
John FitzGerald replied to Ulrich John:
Sarah P. replied to John FitzGerald:
I see you used your (older?) camera for this shot. How are you liking your new one? (The SONY ILCE-6000?)
Keith Burton said:
I can see why the locals aren't keen on it and I think you're right about the scaffolding being an improvement!
A cracking image John!
John FitzGerald replied to Keith Burton:
John FitzGerald replied to Sarah P.:
I used the RX100for this one because I had things to do yesterday at which carrying around a bigger camera would have been inconvenient.
John FitzGerald replied to John FitzGerald:
Keith Burton replied to John FitzGerald:
William Sutherland said:
Admired in:
www.ipernity.com/group/tolerance
John FitzGerald replied to Keith Burton: