Archinect - News

BIG updates KING Toronto construction progress

2024-10-23T18:00:00-04:00

Here’s a brief construction update on the BIG-led new KING Toronto development with Diamond Schmitt Architects. The design pays homage to the definitive modularity of Moshe Safdie’s seminal Habitat 67, with 514 units rotated on a 45-degree angle and arranged as through a canyon overlooking the nightlife-centric King Street West corridor. Ingels says it will top out soon at 16 stories after beginning construction in mid-2020. This "experimental" addition will be the Danish firm’s third project for developer Westbank, following Vancouver House and the Telus Sky tower in Calgary.

Legal challenge to block Toronto's controversial Ontario Place redevelopment fails in court

2024-06-24T17:06:00-04:00

The Art Newspaper is reporting on the failure of a legal challenge that would have blocked Toronto’s controversial plans to realize a massive spa complex on the site of Ontario Place after the provincial Superior Court of Justice’s June 11th decision.

The project is contentious on both heritage and environmental grounds and has likewise drawn ire from its reported costs north of $650 million CAD ($476 million USD) to taxpayers. Therme, the company behind the plan, had previously signed a 95-year lease with the city government.

The removal of Raymond Moriyama's Ontario Science Centre, which is at the heart of the issue, is also stirring debate after it closed abruptly last week over fears of collapse stemming from the flawed RAAC concrete materials used in its roof. All this is "based on a faulty business case" says a closer analysis from Elsa Lam.

BIG marks progress on Habitat 67-inspired KING Toronto development

2024-05-23T18:52:00-04:00

BIG Partner Kai-Uwe Bergmann has posted an update to the firm's new contribution to the Toronto skyline, KING Toronto. The scheme is being developed at over 600,000 square feet alongside Diamond Schmitt Architects for clients Westbank Corp and Allied Properties. The project, which began construction in mid-2020, is inspired by Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67 design and will culminate at 16 stories while adding an “experimental” touch to the nightlife-rich King Street West corridor.

This is the firm’s third project for Westbank, following the new Vancouver House and Telus Sky development in Calgary.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kai-Uwe Bergmann (@kaiuwebergmann)

Diamond Schmitt presents New Brunswick Museum design

2024-03-31T08:00:00-04:00

Canadian practice Diamond Schmitt Architects, along with Associate Architect EXP, has unveiled the design of the new home of the New Brunswick Museum (NBM) in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Canada’s oldest continuing museum, the NBM’s footprint is set to expand, with its research work and exhibitions united within one sustainable, decarbonized facility.

Rendering by PLAY-TIME Courtesy of Diamond Schmitt.

The design integrates the east wing of the museum’s historic Collections and Research Center and adds five new wings to the north. The new facility will span 134,000 square feet. A new main entrance on street level will lead visitors into a multi-story, public great room. In addition to its use for the museum, this space will host community gatherings, festivals, events, and receptions. It will feature a boutique, café, ticketing services, and a public “Introduction to New Brunswick” gallery. Exhibition galleries on the second floor will overlook the great room.

Rendering by PLAY-TIME...

Diamond Schmitt/LemayMichaud to design 'generational' campus expansion at McGill University

2023-11-30T13:25:00-05:00

Diamond Schmitt Architects has designed a new campus expansion plan for McGill University in unison with LemayMichaud that will help advance the study of earth systems and environmental health while restoring several historic buildings and the university’s connection to Mount Royal Park.

One of Canada’s premiere research institutions is about to undergo a transformation of “generational importance,” according to the firms. Their New Vic plan calls for the reuse of three extant Scottish baronial structures at the Royal Victoria Hospital complex and construction of a new 350,000-square-foot facility for teaching and research.

A forecourt to Frederick Law Olmsted's 1893 park design will also be re-established through the design. Costs for the project are stated at $870 million CAD ($640 million USD).

Rendering by Diamond Schmitt

“We are inspired with urgency to design a center devoted to the most critical issue of our time: healing the planet,” Donald Schmitt, Principal at the new join...

Art Gallery of Ontario reveals Selldorf, Diamond Schmitt, and Two Row-led expansion design

2023-03-02T16:52:00-05:00

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has just revealed the initial plans for its new Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery project led by Selldorf Architects, Diamond Schmitt, and Two Row Architect.

The 40,000-square-foot addition will add 13 galleries in order to expand its total exhibition space by 30%. The project is being funded by a $35 million donation from Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss and, led by Two Row, has sought expensive input from Ontario’s Indigenous community in addition to the other two architect-advisors that were announced by the gallery last year.

The AGO says: “These conversations and others are instrumental in leading the team to adopt adaptability, accessibility, relevancy, zero carbon operating, and inclusivity as their guiding principles.”

Rendering courtesy of Art Gallery of Ontario, Diamond Schmitt, Selldorf Architects, and Two Row Architect

The project will accomplish a zero carbon emissions output for all its operations and otherwise be designed along int...

Toronto’s proposed Ontario Place redevelopment is getting even more contentious

2023-01-10T14:43:00-05:00

New details are emerging in the controversial plan to redevelop Toronto’s mostly decommissioned Ontario Place after the exclusive Toronto International Film Festival unveiled further plans for a partnership with Therme Group, the Austrian entity behind the proposed $350 million project.

Local website blogTO has more details on the community’s negative response to the partnership, which will “promote the role of art and film in creating more human cities” through a series of talks spread over a ten-year period.

The online responses are only the latest thorn in the side of the provincial Ontario government and Premier Doug Ford following last summer’s harsh responses that eventually yielded a revised plan which reclassified a mere 12-acre segment of beachfront property for public use while retaining the original plan to have more than one-third of the site be developed privately.

Previously on Archinect: Toronto reveals still-contentious revised plan for proposed Ontario Place redev...

Toronto-based Diamond Schmitt co-founder A.J. Diamond passes away aged 89

2022-11-02T18:00:00-04:00

One of the most significant Canadian architects of his era is being remembered this week after news that Diamond Schmitt co-founder Abel Joseph “Jack” Diamond passed away this weekend in Toronto at the age of 89.

Diamond was a mainstay on his adopted country’s architecture scene since first going into the practice in the early 1960s. Born in South Africa in 1932, Diamond studied for an architecture degree at the University of Cape Town in 1956 before reading Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Oxford University and then immigrating to the United States to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his master’s studies in architecture and began his career as an apprentice to Louis Kahn.

Diamond moved to Toronto in 1964, where he served as the inaugural director of UT’s Master of Architecture program and eventually founded his own practice, A.J. Diamond Architects, with American Barton Myers in 1975.

Previously on Archinect: Diamond Schmitt Architects' Emily Ca...

Two years ahead of schedule, Diamond Schmitt/TWBTA's David Geffen Hall revamp is ready to debut at Lincoln Center

2022-09-27T18:23:00-04:00

A revamp inside one of America’s most important cultural venues is ready to debut two years ahead of schedule (and reportedly on budget) after the project team behind Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall in Manhattan announced an October 8th public opening date on Tuesday.

NYC's redesigned new "cultural living room" is the product of a collaboration between cultural sector heavyweights Diamond Schmitt Architects and Tod Williams Billie Tsien (TWBTA), noted acoustician Paul Scarbrough of Akustiks, and theater design specialist Joshua Dachs of Fisher Dachs Associates.

The project's scope includes an acoustical and seating arrangement overhaul of the New York Philharmonic's main Wu Tsai Theater performance space, the creation of a new restaurant and 1,680-square-foot Welcome Center, new multipurpose Sidewalk Studios, and the reconfiguration of public spaces around the building that was originally designed by Max Abramovitz in 1962.

Video courtesy of Lincoln Center for the Performing A...

Torontonians aren't happy with the city's planned Ontario Place overhaul

2022-08-30T17:46:00-04:00

Toronto residents are expressing their concerns over the Diamond Schmitt-designed plan for a massive new aquatic theme park at Ontario Place they say is “tone-deaf” and exclusionary of their basic needs.

Spurred on by the recent release of updated renderings and other details of Therme Group's second North American project, opponents say the city's Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel needs to consider a full-tilt reassessment of the scheme on the basis of accessibility, environmental impact, and a distressing lack of free public amenities.

“This seems like another plan to take away space, livable space that we are already so short on demand of down here,” a concerned area resident recently told the CBC.

The proposed Therme Toronto development. Image courtesy of Therme.

The new development is scheduled to stand on the site of a 155-acre public park and entertainment venue from renowned local architects Michael Hough and Eberhard Zeigler that has sat mostly abandoned since closing i...

Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario announces major expansion project led by Selldorf Architects, Diamond Schmitt, and Two Row Architect

2022-04-28T14:35:00-04:00

Fresh on the heels of Selldorf Architects’ most recent museum upgrade, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) announced its selection of a team led by Annabelle Selldorf's firm to oversee its new AGO Global Contemporary expansion beginning in 2024.

Two Row Architects will join Diamond Schmitt on the project that will give the institution an extended footprint for the first time since its last Frank Gehry-designed expansion opened in the fall of 2008.

The museum has undergone a total of seven renovations since first opening in 1900, and is now looking to add about 50,000 square feet of new galleries that reportedly comes in the form of “flexible volumes suited to the varied media of contemporary art.”

The AGO’s director Stephan Jost also said “we want the work we show to reflect the city that we serve,” and that the expansion should be responsive to the institution’s new targets for audience development and community involvement. Plans are for a six-story tower to be constructed along the...

Renderings reveal a new design for David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center

2021-04-12T19:30:00-04:00

The newly released renderings show an innovative “single-room” concept for the theater with audience seating surrounding the stage, like a black box theater. Yet, despite the surround-seating, the overall capacity will be reduced by 500 (to a total of 2,200 seats). The design team includes Diamond Schmitt Architects and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, acoustic consultant Akustiks, and theater design studio Fisher Dachs Associates.

Toronto-based Diamond Schmitt Architects unveils Ottawa Library and Archives design

2020-01-27T12:15:00-05:00

Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and KWC Architects, the Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Canada Joint Facility (OPL-LAC) combines the resources of two institutions to create an environment for discovery, learning, and fellowship. “This coming together of library and archives advances the evolution of centres of knowledge and culture and presents new opportunities to access a rich and diverse national collection,” said Gary McCluskie, Principal, Diamond Schmitt Architects in a statement.

Reference Room.

Town Square.

The library will house exhibition and collection space, reading rooms, a creative center, children's area, and a genealogy center and cafe. The design process progressed in an uncommon collaborative model that asked residents, Indigenous communities, and "Canadians from coast to coast" to provide feedback and input at every phase of the design.

Reading Room.

Southeast View.

South View.

City Councillor Tim Tierney, Chair of the Ottawa Public Library Board s...

Latest plan to revamp New York's Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center is unveiled

2019-12-05T13:00:00-05:00

A project team led by Diamond Schmitt Architects and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects has been tapped to transform David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City, home of the New York Philharmonic.

According to a press release, the $550 million project aims to revitalize the performance hall into a venue that "will bring everyone closer to the music" while also allowing patrons to "feel closer to one another." The scheme doubles the size of the hall's lobby, creating a new welcome center while also adding "more places to meet, work, drink, and hang out." The facilities are set to include interior visualization walls designed to receive musical projections, including concert livestreams that will be made free to the public. The proposal would also reconfigure an exterior facade that will serve as a "canvas for artists to create site-specific works to bring the building alive."

Rendering of the proposed performance hall. Image courtesy of Lincoln Center.

The proposal is the...

Diamond Schmitt Architects' Emily Carr University of Art + Design campus elegantly embodies multidisciplinary ethos

2017-09-07T14:19:00-04:00

Art thrives when it collaborates with or takes inspiration from other discliplines, a tenet that is physically expressed in the new campus of the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, located on the east side of downtown Vancouver. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, the campus reflects the spirit of its namesake artist, Emily Carr, by creating a series of both formal and informal spaces that can be glimpsed as one approaches and enters the building. This abundant transparency and visual linkage, combined with the purposeful interconnection between program areas, creates an institution that physically rejects a static approach to learning.

As Donald Schmitt, the Principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects explains, "The building’s design creates a multitude of places both indoors and out for informal gathering, presentation, making and remaking, which is at the heart of Emily Carr’s multidisciplinary arts learning. The needs and collaborative spirit of students and faculty inform ...

Thomas Heatherwick and Diamond Schmitt Architects to lead Geffen Hall redesign

2015-12-11T19:09:00-05:00

In making the long-awaited decision as to who would reimagine its home, the New York Philharmonic — together with Lincoln Center — has made a surprising choice, selecting the London firm Heatherwick Studio and Diamond Schmitt Architects of Toronto to redesign the interior of David Geffen Hall. [...] He will essentially be replacing the British heavyweight Norman Foster, the Pritzker-winning architect who a decade ago was commissioned to redesign what was then known as Avery Fisher Hall.

Tour the spectacular new Mariinsky Theatre with architect Jack Diamond

2013-05-01T13:50:00-04:00

It may seem surprising that a Canadian was chosen to design a Russian state-funded match for the historic Mariinsky Theatre. Gergiev, general and artistic director of the theatre, visited Diamond’s Four Seasons Centre, home of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, and was wowed. When Gergiev and Diamond met for dinner the following year, the two saw eye to eye on everything from acoustics to street continuity.

Jack Diamond, of Diamond Schmitt Architects, takes CBC on a tour of the new Mariinsky Theatre, to open tomorrow in St. Petersburg.

More about the Mariinsky II can be found on D+S's website.