DANIEL LIBESKIND

ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM

DANIEL LIBESKIND
Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is
a PolishAmerican architect, artist, profes
sor and set designer. Libeskind founded
Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his
wife, Nina, and is its principal design
architect.
Libeskind began his career as an
architectural theorist and professor,
holding positions at various institutions
around the world. His practical
architectural career began in Milan in
the late 1980s, where he submitted to
architectural competitions and also
founded and directed Architecture
Intermundium, Institute for Architecture
& Urbanism. Libeskind completed his first
building at the age of 52, with the
opening of the Felix Nussbaum Haus in
1998
DANIEL LIBESKIND
Libeskind is perhaps most
famous for being selected
by the Lower Manhattan
Development
Corporation to oversee
the rebuilding of the
World Trade CenterCritics
charge that it reflects a
limited architectural
vocabulary of jagged
edges, sharp angles and
tortured
geometries,[30] that can
fall into cliche, and that it
ignores location and
context.
ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM
 ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM
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
central 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.
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 entire ground level is unified into a seamless space with clarity of circulation
and transparency. The Crystal transforms the ROM’s fortress-like character, turning
it into an inspired atmosphere dedicated to the resurgence of the Museum as the
dynamic centre of Toronto.
ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM
The design succeeds in inviting glimpses up, down, into galleries and even
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.
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 Daniel Libeskind also renovated ten galleries in
the existing historical building as part of the project.
AWARDS
2009 – XVII Concorso Internazionale – “Sistema d’autore Metra”, 2007 –
Ontario Steel Design Awards – Canada Institute of Steel Construction
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PLAN FLOOR PLAN SIDE ELEVATION

ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM (INTERIOR)