Led by KPMB Partner Mitchell Hall, this one-hour walking tour explores the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) Expansion and Arts Court Redevelopment as a case study in cultural placemaking, adaptive reuse, and urban intensification.

For decades, the OAG operated within the historic Arts Court complex with limited visibility from the street. Its expansion offered an opportunity to establish a distinct civic identity while strengthening connections to an established community of artists and cultural organizations. Working within a constrained downtown site, KPMB introduced a contemporary gallery alongside the historic Arts Court, bringing together new and existing cultural spaces within a revitalized city block. 

Beginning outside, Mitchell will discuss the project’s urban context, its relationship to heritage, and the luminous façade that gives the OAG a new public presence. Moving inside, participants will explore how the gallery was conceived as an open, accessible and extroverted cultural institution. The tour will examine the building’s vertical organization, strategic introduction of natural light, circulation and gathering spaces, as well as the integration of the Firestone Gallery and its restored historic staircase. 

Throughout, Mitchell will reflect on the design decisions, constraints and collaborations that shaped the project and how architecture can transform a cultural institution into a piece of civic and social infrastructure.

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