Architecture Design, the Royal Ontario Museum

The museum is currently undergoing a major renovation and expansion project, dubbed Renaissance ROM, located at the corner of Bloor Street and Avenue Road, northerly of Queens Park and on the east side of Philosophers Walk in the University of Toronto. The centrepiece is the recently-opened Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind and Bregman + Hamann Architects installation of exhibits in the addition will continue over a period of months. Existing galleries and creates are also being modified. Renovated galleries in the historic buildings will reopen in stages, and all work is scheduled to be completed by 2010. The final cost of the project will be $270 million CAD.The Libeskind design, selected from among 50 entrants in an supranational competition, saw the award winning Terrace Galleries torn down and replaced with a Deconstructivist crystalline-form clad in 25 percent glass and 75 percent aluminium. The building is named after Michael Lee-Chin, who don ated $30 million towards its construction. It houses the new main entrance to the museum, a gift shop, a restaurant (C5 Restaurant and Lounge), a cafeteria (Food Studio), seven additional galleries and Canadas largest temporary exhibition hall in the lower level.The Crystals canted walls do not touch the sides of the existing heritage buildings, save for where humdrum crossing occurs and to close the envelope between the new form and the existing walls. Although designed to conform to existing height restrictions and maintain sight lines along Bloor Street, the Crystal, at certain points, cantilevers over the setback and into the street allowance.The buildings design is similar to some of Libeskinds other works, notably the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the capital of the United Kingdom Metropolitan University Graduate Centre, and the Fredric C. Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum. The steel framework was manufactured and assembled by Walters Inc. of Hamilton, Ontario. The extrud ed anodized aluminium cladding was fabricated by Josef Gartner in Germany, the only company in the world that can produce the material. The company also provided the titanium cladding for Frank Gehrys Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.