ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM Toronto, Canada
DATEJan 1, 2007
STATUSCompleted
CLIENT
Royal Ontario Museum
BUILDING SIZE182,000 sq.ft / 17,280 sqm
DESCRIPTION
The extension to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), now named the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, is situated at one of the most prominent intersections in downtown Toronto. It is the largest Museum in Canada and attracts more than a million visitors a year.
Its new name is derived from the building’s five intersecting metal-clad volumes, which are reminiscent of crystals—inspired by the crystalline forms in the ROM’s mineralogy galleries. Libeskind created a structure of organically interlocking prismatic forms turning this important corner of Toronto, and the entire museum complex, into a luminous beacon. The design succeeds at inviting glimpses up, down, and into galleries, from its interior bridges and from the street. The large entrance atrium, the Gloria Hyacinth Chen Court, separates the old historic building from the new, providing a nearly complete view of the restored façades of the historic buildings. The Chen Court also serves as a venue space for all kinds of public events. The entire ground level is unified into a seamless space with clarity of circulation and transparency.
With the expansion, a new group entrance on Queen’s Park was created where visitors enter a spectacular atrium in which the two themes of the Museum, nature and culture, are distinctly showcased through intertwining staircases leading to the exhibitions above.
The Crystal presented a unique challenge to build and was among the most complicated construction projects in North America. There are no right angles and only one vertical wall in the structure—the five crystals are designed as interlocking self-supported structures. The design teams and general contractors developed innovative strategies with existing technologies to regularize construction and reduce costs.
Opened in June 2007, the extension provides 100,000 square feet of new exhibition space, a new entrance and lobby, a street level retail shop and three new restaurants. Studio Libeskind also renovated ten galleries in the existing historical building as part of the project. The Crystal generated a 44% increase in visitors in its first year and transformed the ROM’s fortress-like character, turning it into an inspired atmosphere dedicated to the resurgence of the Museum as the dynamic center of Toronto.
“Libeskind has also managed to bring a sense of urbanity to the interior of the Crystal, which reads like a series of spaces joined by walkways, bridges, vantage points and windows. Clearly, the building was designed to provide maximum pleasure to visitors, to be an artifact in its own right, not simply a receptacle, the ‘black box’ that obsessed curators for far too long.”
—Christopher Hume, Toronto Star, May 2007
现名为迈克尔·李秦水晶宫的皇家安大略博物馆扩建工程位于多伦多市中心最显著的十字路口之一。扩建项目于2007年6 月揭幕，共新增100 000 平方英尺（9290.30m2）展览空间、一个新入口和大厅、一个街边零售店和三个新餐厅。里伯斯金工作室还更新了原有历史建筑内的10 个画廊作为项目的一部分。
迈克尔·李秦水晶宫的名字源于建筑五个互相交叉的体量，令人不由自主地联想到水晶。其中两个晶体为专属的新画廊空间，两者相互交叉，形成一个名为“精神家园”的空白空间。
巨大的中庭从首层直通四层，各个楼层都有桥体通道纵横交错，旨在将“精神家园”打造成为供游客们沉思的场所。第四个晶体为“奇妙楼梯”，既作为垂直流线之用，同时充当楼梯平台处的玻璃展览橱窗。第五个水晶体内容纳着主要的新餐厅。
迈克尔·李秦水晶宫相互交错的空间设计在不同楼层上创造了一系列的中庭，保证了在博物馆内部欣赏画廊内景和其他空间的视野。其中一个被称为歌莉娅·海尔辛斯·陈庭院的大型中庭将新建筑与皇家安大略博物馆现有的传统建筑分离开来，使人们几乎可以观赏修复后的传统立面的全景。
