Art Gallery of Hamilton recognized as Queen’s Park Pick

November 5, 2026

The Art Gallery of Hamilton has been named a Queen’s Park Pick for 2026.

Now in its 11th year, the annual program from the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) invites Members of Provincial Parliament to nominate a building within their riding that has positively impacted their constituents and community.

“For 11 years, Queen’s Park Picks has given MPPs a way to spotlight some of the buildings that matter most to their communities,” said OAA Council president Lara McKendrick earlier this week.

For 2026, 28 MPPs from across Ontario submitted 41 nominations, and a jury of architects selected nine. Among the selections was the gallery, nominated by Hamilton Centre MPP Robin Lennox.

The Art Gallery of Hamilton was originally designed by Trevor Garwood-Jones in 1977 and renovated and expanded by KPMB in 2005. More than 20 years later, the project’s reuse and renovation align with this year’s OAA Conference themes of resiliency, adaptability, and co-creation.

“A decision was made early on [during the renovation] not to demolish the existing building but to make use of it,” notes the OAA’s citation. “The team chose what KPMB calls ‘a building around a building’ approach: a new, simple rectangular box of insulated panels dropped over the irregular concrete form, streamlining its silhouette and solving [an] envelope problem in a single move.”

“The added volume created roughly 20 per cent more gallery space, including a sculpture atrium some 40 feet high, and allowed visitors to loop through the galleries instead of retracing their steps.”

Read the OAA’s full citation and see all nine Queen’s Park Picks.

(Image: Shai Gil)