Massey Hall Toronto performing arts auditorium, Ontario concert hall design, Canadian architecture photos

Massey Hall Toronto performing arts auditorium news

November 26, 2025

Design: KPMB Architects

Location: Garden District, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

KPMB ARCHITECTS COMPLETES TRANSFORMATION OF THE ICONIC MASSEY HALL

Photos by Scott Norsworthy, Tom Arban, Salina Kassam

Massey Hall Toronto performing arts auditorium, Ontario

Now open to guests, the newly revitalized and expanded Massey Hall features architecture and interior design by KPMB Architects.

KPMB Architects has completed an extensive renovation and modernization of one of the most celebrated cultural landmarks in Canada — Massey Hall. Re-envisioned with architecture and interior design by KPMB Architects alongside heritage restoration consulting and heritage impact assessment by GBCA Architects, the design scheme for the new Massey Hall honors the building’s 127 year history while providing Toronto and Canada with a state-of-the-art performance venue for the future.

Led by KPMB Founding Partner Marianne McKenna with Founding Principal Chris Couse and Senior Associate Graham Baxter, KPMB’s revitalization of Massey Hall restores the building to its place at the center of Toronto’s cultural, economic and social realms. The renovation retains and enhances the Hall’s signature intimacy and acoustics while adding new amenities and creating more functional, accessible, and inviting spaces for contemporary artists and audiences to engage.

The multi-year project included a full exterior and interior renovation of the historic Hall along with a new addition, both of which will be unified to form the Allied Music Centre, with construction of the tower’s new spaces scheduled for completion in 2022. KPMB’s design for the striking exterior passarelles transforms the Massey Hall visitor experience.

Cantilevered over the sidewalks and supported by a concealed structural steel truss in the attic, the passarelles provide direct links to new amenities, performance spaces, washroom facilities and more, while also providing barrier-free access to the previously inaccessible Balcony and Gallery levels of the Hall. The glass walkway over Victoria Street offers animation to the street and maintains the visibility of the heritage exterior for passersby, while providing visitors brand new views of the surrounding city.

The interior of Massey Hall underwent meticulous renovation, with special care to retain the building’s character-defining features — including the original ceiling, cast iron columns, and wood-panelled balcony balusters — while enhancing it with needed updates to infrastructure to meet current accessibility standards and technology. Working together with acoustics consultants Sound Space Vision, KPMB saw to it that the revitalized Hall now boasts fully upgraded audio systems and lighting technology, improving stage acoustics to support performers.

KPMB worked closely with leading integrated theatre consultants Charcoalblue to design custom seating solutions for Massey Hall, including an automated seating storage system that clears the Orchestra level for audiences that prefer to enjoy music on their feet (the first of its kind) and the addition of a Parterre seating level surrounding the Orchestra level. The newseating system allows the venue to host standing attendance shows for the first time, opening up the Massey Hall experience to a more diverse range of artists and performances.

The fondly remembered Centuries bar has been reimagined into a warm and inviting bar and lounge area with state-of-the-art lighting and audio systems that can host intimate performances and post-show gatherings.

While parts of the hall were transformed, KPMB’s considered approach allowed key heritage features to be restored and revealed during the construction process, such as the ornate plaster ceilings, wood choir loft panelling, original lighting, and previously boarded-up stained glass windows. The interior material palette, a mix of the original Moorish-style and a Deco overlay, has been carefully recalibrated to adjust for the reintroduction of the original stained-glass windows into the Hall.

“The revitalization of Massey Hall required a strategic balance of restoring beloved heritage details while making contemporary improvements that enhance the artist and guest experience as well as the building’s performance,” said Marianne McKenna, Founding Partner at KPMB. “It’s still the same Massey Hall we know and love, now updated so that it can continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.”

Massey Hall Toronto performing arts auditorium, Canada – Building Information

PROJECT CREDITS

Architects: Architecture & Interior Design by KPMB Architects (heritage restoration consulting and heritage impact assessment by GBCA Architects)

Size: 16,000² ft / 1,486 m² (Phase 1); 124,000 ft² / 11,520 m² (Phases 2a, 2b)

KPMB Team:

Marianne McKenna (partner-in-charge), Chris Couse (founding principal), Graham Baxter (senior associate, phase 2b), Matthew Wilson (senior associate, phase 2a, 2b), Carolyn Lee (senior associate, interiors), Clementine Chang (associate, project architect, phase 2b), Nic Green (associate, phase 1 + 2b), Klaudia Lengyel (interiors, phases 2a, 2b), Meika McCunn (associate, phase 1 + 2b), Andrea Macaroun (associate, phase 1), Ramin Yamin, Ping Pai, Victor Garzon, David Poloway, Mahtab Gashghaii, Geoffrey Turnbull, Nonna Shabanova, Arian Hussainzada, Danielle Whitely, Gill Baldwin, Ramon Janer, Shivathmikha Kumar, Ali Salama, Amal Dirie, Olivia Di Felice, Andrew Barat, Victoria Ngai, Charmaine Candelario Lazaga

Construction Manager: EllisDon (Phases 0, 2a, 2b), Tucker HiRise (Phase 1)

Consultants:

Charcoalblue (theatre); Sound Space Vision (acoustics); GBCA Architects (heritage); Entuitive (structural); Entuitive (building envelope); The Mitchell Partnership Inc. (mechanical); Crossey Engineering Ltd. (electrical); Crossey Engineering Ltd. (security and I.T.); Martin Conboy Lighting Design (architectural lighting); Bhandari & Plater Inc. (signage & graphics); Engineering Harmonics Inc. (audio visual); LRI (code/fire and life safety); NAK Design Group (landscape); Anjinnov Management (food services); BA Consulting Group(transportation); Turner & Townsend (project management + cost consultant); Reich & Petch (exhibit design); Total Opening Consultants (hardware); Pro-Bel (facade access systems); WSP (civil engineering)

KPMB Architects

Established in 1987, KPMB is an internationally recognized architectural practice based in Toronto. The firm’s wide-ranging work has earned over 400 respected awards, including 16 Governor General’s Medals, Canada’s highest honour. Founding partners Bruce Kuwabara, Marianne McKenna, and Shirley Blumberg have all received the Order of Canada for their personal achievements and for KPMB’s collective contributions to improving people’s lives through the built environment.

For more than three decades, KPMB has evolved in response to a changing world – and worked to change it for the better. In 2021, KPMB expanded its leadership team, including the naming of seven new partners: Kevin Bridgman, Steven Casey, Phyllis Crawford, Andrew Dyke, Mitchell Hall, Paulo Rocha, and Bruno Weber.

As a full-service practice, KPMB’s work spans a broad range of sectors, including education, healthcare, scientific research, arts and culture, government, corporate, hospitality, recreation and mixed-use development. Guided by vision and anchored by values, KPMB is committed to shaping a more equitable and sustainable future through architecture and design. In 2015, the firm founded the KPMB LAB, an incubator of ideas, skills and services aimed at solving important problems and exploring new opportunities through collaborative innovation.

Photography: Scott Norsworthy, Tom Arban, Salina Kassam, Nick Wons, Jag Gundu

KPMB

Massey Hall Toronto performing arts auditorium, Ontario images / information received 251125

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada.