Royal Ontario Museum and Daniel Libeskind
Tue, 8 May 2007Hello Kim,
I came across your blog and have some information about a project I know you and your readers will find very interesting.
The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is currently completing a $250 million expansion project. The museum extension has been designed by the famed architect Daniel Libeskind and will be called the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal.
As part of the project, Mr. Libeskind has also created his very first ever furniture piece, a chair that will sit in the in the centre of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. This chair, called the Spirit House Chair, is intended to complement and echo the Crystal design and will be also available for purchase.
I’m including a media advisory for the unveiling of the Spirit House Chair which will take place tomorrow, Wednesday May 9 2007 at 2 pm EST.
Thank you.
Lauren Schneider
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I wish I lived in Toronto so I could check this out. But Lauren has promised to send me some photos tomorrow so stay tuned. (If anyone out there is interested email me and I'll send you the PDF she sent.) Thanks Lauren!!
Reader Comments (6)
Kim I'm so interested!
Honestly though, I think the new addition is a monstrosity, I don't like it at all. I know they were trying something new blending the traditional building with a new modern edge but I think it takes away from the actually architecture of the building as it was which was fine to begin with. But this chair I would love to see.
Now you have me totally intrigued jlee. Hopefully Lauren will send pics of both the chair and the new addition.
I live in Toronto and I also think this addition is monstrosity that clashes with the building itself as well as the neighbourhood. I love modern architecture but when it's environment is taken into account.
There was a lot of public outcry when the winning design was announced (there were no public input despite the fact that it's a public institution), especially since there were a lot of great designs presented. I hope the chair is more elegant than the addition in which it will be housed.
Yikes! Well, it's a shame you TO folks feel that way. Now I'm dying of curiosity.
Funny - I got the same email, smart to just post in the blog as is, I'll do the same to help support the event. I'm all curious now to see what the architecture is like. The old and the new? ... I think there is a beauty in finding and combining the contrast. The famed "Louvre" a glass pyramid by I.M.PEI or the Brooklyn Art Museum. It really is hard to say what people will accept these days when it comes to aesthetics. I think we also need to consider that things change just as technology does and if we are to progress in architecture and design ... integrating new means of architecture is what reflects the present. I have a pet peeve for buildings that try to build as if they are 100 years old but are poorly executed. Or the hundreds of character houses I see over new modern ones. Cookie cutter make shift ... gosh - I haven't even seen the building yet and I'm already all worked up. Very curious to see what it looks like that the public is not liking so much.
I agree Gaile. There is always such controversy when a modern extention is juxtaposed with an historic building but often when the space is experienced the critics are won over. Buildings should be an evolving thing. They should have a life of their own.