Mitchell Hall to lead Ottawa Art Gallery tour and Carleton University lecture

September 21, 2026

On October 1, partner Mitchell Hall will lead a tour of the Ottawa Art Gallery for Ottawa Architecture Week and deliver the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism’s inaugural Forum Lecture for 2026-2027.

The one-hour walking tour organized by the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects (ORSA) will explore the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) Expansion and Arts Court Redevelopment. Completed in 2018, the project harnessed the unique ability of cultural institutions to drive urban transformation, offering a case study in placemaking, adaptive reuse, and infill intensification on a changing city block in downtown Ottawa.

For decades, the gallery operated from an undersized home within the historic Arts Court complex, originally designed to house courts and offering limited visibility from the street. To establish a new civic presence, KPMB inserted a contemporary six-storey gallery on a constrained site east of the historic architecture. The tour will discuss topics like the gallery’s urban context, relationship to heritage, façade design, and interior organization.

Later that evening, Mitchell will deliver the inaugural lecture of the 2026-2027 Forum Lecture series, hosted by Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism. Drawing on more than three decades of practice, he will reflect on architecture’s ability to enrich everyday life and respond to the changing needs of people, institutions, and communities.

As part of the lecture, Mitchell will discuss notable projects from his career, including the Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery, Canada’s National Ballet School, the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo, Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital, The Leaf at Assiniboine Park, and the CAMH Temerty Discovery Centre.

Tour details

Event: Building Tour: Ottawa Art Gallery
Date & Time: October 1, 4:00-5:00 PM
Location: Ottawa Art Gallery, 50 Mackenzie King Bridge, Ottawa, Ontario

Reserve a spot through the Ottawa Regional Society of Architects.

Lecture details

Event: Carleton University Forum Lecture Series
Date & Time: October 1, 6:00-7:00 PM
Location: Ottawa Art Gallery, Sky Lounge and Alma Duncan Salon (Level 3), 50 Mackenzie King Bridge, Ottawa, Ontario

Register through Carleton University.

(Header image: Adrien Williams)