It’s probably one of the most talked about structures in Toronto and the Washington Post recently declared it the worst piece of architecture erected in the last decade.
Writer Philip Kennicott describes the $270 million Michael Lee-Chin crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum as both “ugly and useless”.
“Sure, there were a lot of Wal-Marts thrown up in the Aughts, but Daniel Libeskind's addition to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto surpasses the ugliness of bland functional buildings by being both ugly and useless,” he wrote.
While the aluminum and glass addition is described as “dramatic” from the sidewalk, once inside, the writer suggests the area is “baffling” and “irrational” and full of dead space.
The Washington Posts’ critique comes a month after the travel site VirtualTourist.com included the ROM’s crystal on its list of the world’s top 10 ugly buildings. It came in eighth place.
Reviews haven't been all bad. Last year magazine Conde Nast Traveler named the crystal one of its New Seven Wonders of the World.
Washington Post