AR 2001 Layout_Final - Royal Ontario Museum

On June 20th, the ROM’s Board of Trustees granted financial approval in principle for the $200-
million Renaissance ROM Project, and authority to proceed with phase one. Approval for phase
two costs will be sought no later than June 2004. In recognition of the great potential of this vision, in March
2002, the Province of Ontario committed $30 million in SuperBuild funding; this grant was matched
by the federal government’s Canada-Ontario Infrastructure Program in May 2002. Together, these
grants raised $60 million of the $150 million budget of phase one, demonstrating both governments’
confidence in the Museum as an important leader in Ontario and in Canada. These investments will
be leveraged many times over in private-sector investment and associated economic benefits.
The ROM’s transformation will concentrate on the significant potential of its rich collections
and our commitment to preserve, research, display and educate. Renaissance ROM will produce an
exciting new architectural structure, to help bring more of our collections out for the public to view.
The new Museum will have the ability to accommodate 1.3 to 1.6 million visitors a year, including
215,000 students—doubling the capacity of its current facility. Daniel Libeskind’s striking architectural
design was selected after an international search involving more than 50 expressions of interest
from architects in nine countries. Seven architectural firms were invited to submit design concepts;
of those, three were shortlisted. The diverse range of the architectural firms considered was
presented to the public in two back-to-back exhibits in November 2001 and February 2002—
Renaissance ROM: Architects’ Sketchbooks and Views of Our Future: Architectural Finalists. Both
exhibits generated an array of thoughtful comments from our visitors, in addition to extensive
coverage by the media.
The three finalists, Architetto Andrea Bruno (Italy), Bing Thom Architects (Canada) and Studio
Daniel Libeskind (Germany), were asked to complete the competition with more detailed drawings
and models, and a public presentation. More than 2500 people attended the three-day open-lecture
series in February 2002—an incredible display of public attention, even set against the competition
of Olympic hockey. That same month, the Honourable Tim Hudak, then Minister of Tourism,
Culture and Recreation, announced Studio Daniel Libeskind (Berlin, Germany), in association with
Bregman + Hamann Architects, as lead architect for Renaissance ROM.
Libeskind’s brilliant concept, entitled The Crystal, proposes a structure of organically interlocking
prismatic forms overlooking Bloor Street, transforming one of the most important corners in
Toronto into a luminous showcase of people, events and objects. The boldness of the design successfully
blends and preserves the Museum’s historical architecture with the crystal-like, contemporary
geometric form. A major reconception of the ROM’s galleries, programs and buildings will
effectively reverse many current limitations, re-creating an
attraction that will capture audiences worldwide.
The ROM’s transformation is being led by a distinguished
Project Team, composed of the head architects, the
construction manager and the exhibit designer. Vanbots
Construction Corporation was selected from a field of five
shortlisted firms in January 2002, as the primary
Construction Manager for Renaissance ROM, because of
their extensive experience in heritage construction and
complex building
10 February 2002—Daniel Libeskind presents The Crystal design.