By Robin MacLennan<\/p>\n
Ontario Construction Report staff writer<\/p>\n
A sweeping architectural transformation has been announced for the main floor of the Royal Ontario Museum, along with a redesigned Bloor Street entrance.<\/p>\n
Construction will begin in early 2024 and last about three-years.<\/p>\n
The project, dubbed OpenRom, will add about 550 sq. m. of gallery space and overhaul 8,000 sq. m\u00a0 of the first floor but largely retain the building’s famous \u2014 and controversial \u2014 geometric glass, metal and brick design.<\/p>\n
Toronto-based architect Siamak Hariri led the redesign project.<\/p>\n
OpenROM, a multi-faceted initiative that will dramatically open the museum up even more to the public, creating a thriving cultural and civic hub in the heart of the city,\u201d said ROM director and CEO Josh Basseches.<\/p>\n
Funded by private philanthropy, the revitalization project has been catalyzed by a $50-million donation from the Hennick Family Foundation \u2013 the single largest cash gift in ROM\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Once construction is completed, OpenROM will introduce ongoing free access to the museum\u2019s main floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpenROM is more than a physical transformation; it is a major leap forward in the museum\u2019s ongoing evolution to becoming an even more welcoming and accessible space,\u201d said Josh Basseches, ROM Director and CEO. \u201cThis is an opportunity to truly throw the doors of the museum open, both literally and figuratively, and invite more people in to experience all ROM has to offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people from down the block and around the world to feel like this is a place for them, where they are inspired and belong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Siamak Hariri, of the\u00a0 Toronto-based firm Hariri Pontarini Architects, leads the design. Building on the Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, OpenROM will transform 86,000 sq. ft. on the main floor and create 6,000 sq. ft. of new gallery space on the second and third levels, deepening the visitor experience with the Crystal and providing greater access to ROM\u2019s world-class collection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to re-introduce ROM to Toronto with a design that, in effect, turns the museum inside out,\u201d says Siamak Hariri. \u201cWe\u2019re going to bring daylight and views deep inside and create new connections with Bloor Street, within the ground floor public spaces and the galleries themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to reimagining the core of the museum, the project includes enhancements to the exterior spaces. Animating one of the most notable intersections in Toronto, a new showcase water feature will wrap around the heritage fa\u00e7ade at the corner of Bloor Street and Queen\u2019s Park. This fountain will evolve with the seasons, changing from burbling water in the summer to cracked ice in the winter, in a nod to frozen Canadian landscapes.<\/p>\n
Anchoring the exterior will be a newly designed and fully accessible Bloor Street entrance, sheltered by an expansive bronze canopy. The seamless floor-to-ceiling glass entryway \u2013 the future Hennick Entrance \u2013 will offer pedestrians direct sightlines into the building, creating a porous connection between the museum and the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
The foyer will lead into the new heart of the museum: Hennick Commons, a soaring, sunlit four-storey atrium capped with a sweeping, high-performance diagrid glass ceiling and a 2,400-sq. ft. forum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Robin MacLennan Ontario Construction Report staff writer A sweeping architectural transformation has been announced for the main floor of the Royal Ontario Museum, along with a redesigned Bloor Street entrance. Construction will begin in early 2024 and last about three-years. The project, dubbed OpenRom, will add about 550 sq. m. of gallery space and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":13266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,116,120,89],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-architecture","8":"category-around-the-province","9":"category-greater-toronto-area","10":"category-projectsopportunities"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13265"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13276,"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13265\/revisions\/13276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ontarioconstructionreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}