For the mezzanine at FirstOntario Concert Hall, our work focused on introducing two new bars and updating flooring and furnishings to support movement and connection. Each intervention responds to the hall’s late-modern brutalist architecture while enhancing the way visitors experience the space.

The first bar brings a bright, modern-glam sensibility to the open, daylit mezzanine. Its fluted gold base, smoky white counters, and chocolate walnut millwork accented with brass create a composition that feels confident, elegant, and carefully anchored within the space. The second bar, by contrast, occupies a more enclosed corner, where fluted bronze, dark stone, mirrored surfaces, and subtle metal mesh details give the space a layered, lounge-like intimacy. Together, the two bars offer complementary experiences — one luminous and open, the other rich and enveloping — while remaining rooted in the building’s architectural language.

New flooring and seating shape circulation and how people inhabit the mezzanine, while careful attention to edges, surfaces, and finishes reveals the thoughtfulness behind every material choice. The mezzanine remains defined by its beautifully sculptural concrete forms and long sightlines, yet now feels approachable, human, and composed — a space that honours the hall’s history while welcoming visitors in a new, considered way.

In collaboration with OVG Canada.

Video by Craft Architecture Photography & Video

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