A transformative $100 million expansion is in the process of transforming the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) with a dazzling new addition.
The AGO’s new Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery recently kicked off construction at the east end of the existing gallery building, and work is now racing along on the institution’s latest expansion.
The new expansion — named in recognition of a $35 million contribution from Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss — will introduce 13 new galleries across five floors.
An increase of the AGO’s area by approximately 40,000 square feet courtesy of this addition will increase the gallery’s total space by roughly 30 per cent.
Construction for the addition began last year when crews mobilized at a staging area along McCaul Street in spring 2024, with drilling work and other early-stage construction advancing through the summer months.
The new steel structure of the AGO expansion is becoming apparent in views captured from McCaul Street to the east. Photo by Becky Robertson.
In recent weeks, the steel skeleton of the new structure has begun to emerge above Grange Park, and will soon rise above the current AGO complex to the west.
Steel frame of the AGO expansion now visible in views from Grange Park to the south. Photo by Becky Robertson.
It may look like little more than a vague steel frame at this stage of construction, but things will soon get even more interesting when exterior finishes begin to enclose this new structure.
Steel frame of the AGO expansion rising against the earlier Frank Gehry-designed addition from the 2000s. Photo by Becky Robertson.
In fact, it is set to be part of one of the city’s most daring blocks architecturally.
The AGO appointed controversial local firm Diamond Schmitt, New York-based Selldorf Architects, and Indigenous-led firm Two Row Architect as the project’s design team back in 2022, which was followed by a planning application and a public reveal in 2023.
Rendering by Play-Time, courtest of AGO, DSAI, Selldorf, Two Row
Later that year, the federal government announced an investment of $25 million — representing a quarter of the total project cost — to ensure the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery would meet net-zero carbon operating standards.
The resulting sustainability plan would see the building operate the addition using an all-electric mechanical plant without the use of fossil fuels as part of its goal to attain CAGBC Zero Carbon certification once construction wraps up.
The Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery will stand as the AGO’s seventh expansion since it was founded in 1990.
Most notably, the museum underwent a sweeping expansion led by architect Frank Gehry that significantly altered the gallery’s exterior. It has most recently undergone additional renovations in the 2010s with design work from the team of KPMB and Hariri Pontarini Architects.
Play-Time, courtesy of AGO, DSAI, Selldorf, Two Row
