Architecture

 

BSM Architecture

 
Commissioned to design a “small gem of a museum” Architect Raymond Moriyama, of Moriyama and Teshima Architects, achieved exactly that.

It took more than 15 years to find the right site for the Bata shoe collection’s permanent home. In the end, it was decided that the busy corner of St. George and Bloor streets, conveniently located near the St. George subway and within easy walking distance of the Royal Ontario Museum, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Arts and the University of Toronto, was the right choice. Proximity to these other major sites was an important consideration as the museum is intended to serve serious researchers as well as the general public.

Mr. Moriyama’s considerations for how to create a building that would fully express the unbridled excitement he experienced after first seeing the collection, and how to inspire that same feeling within others, was not a simple endeavour. There were many aspects, including: function, site restrictions, budget, timeline, and concept that would impact his thinking. One thing was certain, Mr. Moriyama wanted to explore a kind of architecture that would move beyond the latest fashion.

“The intriguing idea of the museum as a kind of container took shape early on”, says Mr. Moriyama. “When I first viewed the collection I was impressed by the array of shoe boxes that protected the shoes from light, moisture and dust and played an important role in the collection.”

Moriyama’s vision had to accommodate the site’s existing zoning by-laws, building regulations and its restricted size. The initial strategy was to adopt the maximum allowable height (13.4 metres) as the major horizontal discipline plane and roof line. North along Bloor and east along St. George the edges of this plane extend from property line to property line. Similarly, to the south its edges coincide with the rear setback line. To the west it comes within inches of the neighboring building.

Guided by these parameters, Mr. Moriyama was able to maximize the buildable volume. In one of the building’s most impressive outward images, the roof plane suggests a lid resting on an open box, protecting its contents within, a metaphor that’s most obvious when viewed from the street below. The “lid’s” copper-clad soffit and fascia align with the green parapet of the building’s neighbour. As the copper oxidizes over time, the lid effect will become more pronounced and the visual link reinforced.

The building’s north and east walls, which frame the exhibition areas, are canted inward at street level by 83.5°. The effect of this is two-fold: it creates a feeling of spaciousness and provides a place for street performers, artists, musicians and other street activities. The walls are clad in a unique limestone that’s denser than granite and has a warm tone, soft sheen and fine texture that’s similar to raw leather – the basic material of the shoe industry.

The hand-picked stone from Lyons, France is sympathetic to the buff-coloured Medical Arts Building across the street (to the north) and responsive to the changing light conditions. On sunny days the reflection from the windows of the neighbouring building animates the stone walls and copper “lid” while the late-afternoon sunlight streams down Bloor Street, transforming the stone from a warm golden glow to a mauve-magenta range.

In addition to the inviting displays of natural and artificial light that continuously sweep the limestone, the building’s main entrance on Bloor Street is both alluring and intriguing. A transparent glass wedge, it virtually explodes through the building’s limestone walls and bursts onto the sidewalk. It allows passers-by an enticing glimpse right through the building, from the lobby and gift shop to the central circulation space with its cantilevered staircase of steel and glass and huge window of fractured glass set into the south wall.

Inside the five-storey building, the required elements – public facilities and exhibition, conservation and research areas – are organized in a simple, straightforward manner. The circulation core, which is dominated by a 42-foot-high window designed by Lutz Haufschild, is centrally located. East of it lie the exhibition galleries. To the west are the gift shop, multi-purpose rooms, special exhibition area and administrative offices. Two below-grade levels provide space for shoe research and storage.

The three exhibition galleries were designed as neutral spaces in order for the museum staff and exhibition designers to freely express their ideas and concepts. The task here was to provide maximum flexibility in addition to strict environmental controls and an absence of natural light, all made necessary by the age and delicacy of the objects on exhibit.

Mr. Moriyama’s fascination with the museum’s subject is clearly reflected in his frequent references to the shoemaker’s craft. Leather is used for signage and wayfinding and for the reception desk. The oversized windows in the central core display images of workshops and tools. Dora de Pédery Hunt created cast bronze medallions depicting shoes from the collection which appear on the handrails and balustrades of the central staircase.

“In summary”, says Mr. Moriyama, “architecture is never the creation of the architect alone. This building could not have been realized without Mrs. Bata’s continuous care and understanding and in developing both the concept and the numerous details. Her vision of the museum, her love of architecture, her drive, energy and insights were all instrumental in its shaping. The museum’s architecture should be seen as a celebration not only of shoes but also of the wonderful vision that has brought them into the public eye.”

For more information on the architecture of The Bata Shoe Museum, visit the Moriyama and Teshima Architect website at www.mtarch.com

Built: May 6, 1995
Location: 327 Bloor Street West
Size: 39,450 SF
Team: Raymond Moriyama, Diarmuid Nash, Jason Moriyama, and Norman Jennings
Awards: City of Toronto Urban Design Award of Excellence

Learn more about Raymond Moriyama with TVO’s documentary, Magical Imperfection: The Life And Architecture Of Moriyama.

About Us

 

About The Museum

 
Welcome to the BSM!

Discover the treasures of North America’s inspiring, charming shoe museum.

Located in Toronto, Canada, the Bata Shoe Museum regularly displays over a thousand shoes and related artefacts, chosen from a collection of nearly 15 000 objects, in architect Raymond Moriyama’s iconic, award-winning building. The BSM celebrates the style, development and function of footwear across four impressive galleries, with displays ranging from Chinese bound-foot shoes and ancient Egyptian sandals to chestnut-crushing clogs and glamorous platforms. Over 4,500 years of history are reflected in our permanent exhibition, All About Shoes while our three other galleries feature changing exhibitions – so there’s always something new to see.
 

 

How a Personal Passion Grew Into An Internationally Acclaimed Collection
 
Sonja Bata’s involvement in the global shoe industry enabled her to build one of the world’s finest collections and to create North America’s foremost shoe museum. Within our stunning building lies a wealth of fashion lore and invaluable information.

Shoes are an indication of personal taste and style. Yet shoes can also tell us much about the world’s technological development, and can mark shifts in society’s attitudes and values. Footwear illustrates entire ways of life, reflecting climate, religious beliefs and the development of trades, and how attitudes to gender and social status changed through the ages.

In 1979, when Mrs. Bata’s private collection had outgrown its home, the Bata family established the Bata Shoe Museum Foundation. Over the years the Foundation funded fieldwork to collect and research footwear in communities demonstrating unique innovation at their core – notably Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (North America) and circumpolar regions spanning Canada, Siberia, Alaska, Greenland, Finland, Sweden, and Norway.

The main objective of the Foundation, however, was to establish an international centre for footwear research. The result was the Bata Shoe Museum, with its unrivalled collection of over 14 000 shoes and related objects.

On May 6, 1995, the Bata Shoe Museum opened its doors at 327 Bloor Street West in downtown Toronto, in an iconic building designed by Moriyama and Teshima Architects. As a unique, world-class specialized museum, it has become a major destination point for visitors and residents alike.
 

BSM Architecture A “small gem of a museum” designed by Architect Raymond Moriyama Learn More
 

The BSM Collection

 

The mission of the Bata Shoe Museum is to communicate the central role of footwear in shaping the social and cultural life of humanity. Through acquiring, conserving, researching, interpreting and exhibiting material evidence of the history of footwear and shoemaking, the museum illustrates the changing habits, lifestyles, culture and customs of the world’s inhabitants. The BSM’s international collection of nearly 15 000 artefacts spans 4,500 years of history.

The Bata Shoe Museum is home to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of shoes and footwear-related objects. In addition, it is an internationally recognized centre for footwear research that sponsors field research, publishes research findings and promotes education.

At present, the permanent collection contains artefacts from virtually every culture in the world. Where else could you find French chestnut-crushing boots under the same roof as delicately-embroidered Chinese silk shoes, bear fur shoes made for Japanese samurai warriors and footwear made from human hair?
 

Red Chopine Italy, 16th century
The debut of the chopine occurred during the Renaissance and is closely associated with Venice and Spain. Chopines were inspired by footwear of the Near East where Venice had holdings and a thriving trade, but was still the footwear of choice for many wealthy women at the beginning of the 17th century. Highly impractical, the chopine's primary purpose was to make the wearer stand out and therefore was perfectly suited for extravagant and expensive embellishment Kamik Arviat, 1986
Seal skin boots made in the southern part of the Caribou Inuit region feature narrow leg sections and simple geometric designs. Hair direction and designs flow horizontally on women's boots and vertically on men's. These women's haired seal skin kamiks with triangle inlay design were made by Judith Akpaliak. Queen Victoria's silk shoes English, 1840
These shoes, worn by Queen Victoria, are virtually identical to the pair she wore to her wedding. They also date to 1840, the year of her wedding. This pair, like her wedding shoes, is embellished with ribbon applique and has very delicate elastic across the instep. Ancient Egyptian sandals Ancient Egyptian, Ptolemaic, 1500-1200 B.C.E.
The design of this pair of sandals is simple yet practical. Indeed, the contemporary flip-flop is a clear descendant of this type of ancient sandal. This pair is missing the original thong that would have secured the soles to the foot. Steel Toe Boots #2 by Marilyn Levine Canadian, 1971
Acclaimed Canadian ceramic artist, Marilyn Levine, crafted these steel-toed worked boots out of clay. Her remarkable ability to craft three dimensional works of trompe l'oeil in clay has garnered her international acclaim. The contrast between the reality of the hard fired ceramic and the image it projects as a comfortable well worn pair of leather boots is intriguing. Anglomania English, 1993
Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood began to design shoes because she couldn't find anything flamboyant to complement her daring theatrical ensembles. Many of her shoes feature exceptionally high heels such as these 'moc croc' platform shoes with 22cm high heels.
 

Highlights From The Collection

 
A rare and well-preserved velvet-covered platform chopine from 16th-century Italy is one of the great treasures of the museum’s fashion footwear collection, which ranges chronologically from the Italian Renaissance to the catwalks of today’s designers. This chopine – so tall that the wearer could not walk unaided – provides an interesting introduction to other equally outrageous shoe styles introduced over the centuries. Salvatore Ferragamo and Vivienne Westwood weren’t the first designers to think of platforms; nor, if history teaches us anything, will they be the last.

One of the most important aspects of the BSM’s collection is a diverse array of Indigenous footwear belongings from across Turtle Island and the circumpolar region. This collection, along with the research commissioned to study Indigenous footwear and design methods, has greatly contributed to the scholarship of shoes.

Among the collection’s most popular features is an extensive assortment of celebrity footwear, including Queen Victoria’s ballroom slippers, Robert Redford’s cowboy boots, Elton John’s monogrammed silver platform boots, Terry Fox’s running shoe, Elvis Presley’s blue patent loafers, Karen Kain’s ballet shoes and John Lennon’s Beatle boot. Please note that for conservation purposes these items are not always on display.

The museum’s archaeological collection includes footwear from some of the earliest civilizations on earth: ancient Egyptian sarcophagi with painted sandal designs, leg-shaped perfume vials made by an ancient Greek potter, and Roman bronze lamps representing sandal-clad feet. The collection also includes intriguing examples of medieval footwear.

But the BSM’s collection doesn’t stop at shoes. We also have a companion collection of shoe-shaped ornamental artefacts such as majolica hand-warmers and inlaid fruitwood snuffboxes, as well as graphic material from 14th-century woodcut prints and 19th-century caricature lithographs to original paintings and sculptures.
 

About Our Founder Sonja Bata, November 8, 1926 – February 20, 2018

A passionate collector, philanthropist, world traveller and business leader, Sonja Bata dedicated her life to learning and discovery.

Born in Zurich, Switzerland, to a prominent family of lawyers, Sonja Bata (née Wettstein) studied architecture before her academic career was interrupted by her marriage to the heir of a global shoe manufacturing and retail empire, Czech‐Canadian Thomas Bata, when she was not yet 20 years of age. Sonja and Thomas Bata Engagement photo Spring/Summer 1945 After her marriage in 1946, Sonja passionately devoted her time and energies to supporting her husband in rebuilding the family business. Bata had suffered greatly during the war, and in the postwar years Soviet-controlled communist governments nationalized all of the company’s assets in Eastern Europe – including Czechoslovakia, where the Bata family and shoe business had originated.

Working side by side with Thomas, Sonja Bata travelled the world for Bata shoes. Her business sense and passion for design allowed her to grow her professional role within the company, and she became an invaluable business partner for her husband. Sonja in India, 1987 When she took up residence in Toronto, Sonja embraced her new Canadian life with pride and enthusiasm. Her love for business, the arts, design and the environment, and her strong civic duty, inspired her to engage in her new country’s life through a vast array of volunteer and philanthropic projects. Her strong belief that in a democratic country citizens should actively contribute their talents to community needs was reflected in her many pursuits. The National Design Council, World Wildlife Fund Canada, Junior Achievement, the Council for Business and Arts in Canada were just a few of the many organizations in which she played a leading role. Sonja Bata was also a staunch advocate of the Canadian Armed Forces, and took tremendous pride in her role as Honorary Naval Captain of the HMCS Ottawa. In 1983 Sonja was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada, and subsequently received a Silver Medal from the United Nations’ Environmental Program. Sonja, Honorary Naval Captain of the HMCS Ottawa It was while travelling around the world on shoe business that Sonja developed a passion for collecting rare and traditional footwear from every corner of the world. Her fascination with ethnography, design and history led her to amass a vast number of extraordinary shoes. This was the birth of what was to become the most comprehensive collection of historic footwear in the world: the Bata Shoe Museum, a unique cultural gem in the heart of Toronto which continues to reflect the vision of its Founder, who looked at shoes as a way to understand culture, anthropology, craftsmanship and ingenuity. A true collector who found great joy in the act of sharing her finds with others, she was particularly fond of the education and community‐building roles of her museum. Sonja's Shoes Sonja Bata passed away on February 20, 2018. In the Bata Shoe Museum, Sonja Bata has created a world-renowned institution dedicated to the scholarship of footwear history. We will greatly miss her vision, her passion, her curiosity and her leadership. Image: Michal Sváček

Careers

 

Careers

 
Current Job Openings

The Bata Shoe Museum is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and we remain committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We select applicants based on their skills, knowledge and commitment. We also recognize that candidates may request accommodations in order to participate to the best of their abilities. As per provincial and national human rights guidelines, reasonable workplace accommodations and adjustments will be granted.

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