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Projects — Arts & Cultural — Bata Shoe Museum

Project Description[+]

Overview

The Bata Shoe Museum houses one of the world’s most impressive collections of footwear – over 10,000 items spanning 4,500 years of history, all with a compelling and evocative story to tell.

One of the major challenges in designing a museum is to generate excitement and attract visitors. At the museum’s entrance, a two-storey transparent glass wedge breaks the limestone wall in two and spills out onto the sidewalk in a welcoming gesture that can’t be missed.

The combination of Toronto’s latitude (43D39 N) and unique off-axis street grid (17D NNW) creates an opportunity for an intriguing interplay of light, shade, and shadow on the Museum’s street-facing walls. Clad with a French limestone with the warm tone, soft sheen, and fine texture of raw leather, the walls respond in remarkable ways to changing light conditions throughout the day and year.

Project Details

Client

Bata Shoe Museum Foundation

Size

39,450 SF

Team

Raymond Moriyama
Diarmuid Nash
Jason Moriyama
Norman Jennings

Awards

City of Toronto Urban Design Award of Excellence

Testimonials

“Angular shoe museum a refreshing change from rectilinear norm, and this is one of the most sculptural pieces of architecture to have appeared around here in recent memory.”
The Toronto Star, December 1995

Related Projects

  • Waterloo Region Museum
  • Niagara Falls History Museum

Press

  • The Bata Shoe Museum turns 20!
  • Doors Open Toronto 2022
  • International Museum Day

Sharing

 

The Bata Shoe Museum houses one of the world’s most impressive collections of footwear — over 10,000 items spanning 4,500 years of history, all with a compelling and evocative story to tell.

Ontario Science Centre

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Toronto, Ontario
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