The dramatic redesign of Museum Station was the first stage of the Toronto Community Foundation’s “Arts on Track” initiative to invigorate public spaces in the city through design.

Museum Station was re-imagined based on artifacts from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and the Gardiner Museum, which are directly above the station. A sequence of archeologically inspired columns lines the platform. Diamond Schmitt collaborated with the client to choose the artefacts to be replicated. The team looked at a variety of options, before deciding on artefacts that would have been weight bearing in their original uses. Specialized curators were brought on board once the artefacts were selected. The fabricator employed artists to create full-scale carvings based on the artifacts.

Updated ceiling lighting and a new monolithic wall finish create a contemporary backdrop for the column designs. The track walls in the station have been re-clad in metal panels with the name of the station printed in large lettering. A hieroglyph inscription within the lettering is taken from a limestone relief in the ROM’s Egyptian collection. A dropped ceiling above the platform was removed giving a greater sense of volume to the space and new lighting fixtures accentuate the new architectural features.