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