Doors Open Toronto 2017 has teamed up with the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada and Castlepoint Greybrook Sterling Inc. (partnership between Castlepoint Numa and Greybrook Realty Partners) to offer special ticketed public access to MOCA’s future home, the heritage-designated Auto Building at 158 Sterling Road, while in mid-construction.

The Auto Building, constructed in 1919, was formerly an aluminum foundry and manufacturing plant until its production ended in 2006.  architectsAlliance’s purpose designed fit-out will pay respect to and enhance the building’s unique historical qualities and patina of use.

Opening this fall, MOCA will occupy the first five floors of the ten storey building, providing five times mores space than its former West Queen West location. The facility will be welcoming, dynamic, adaptable and meet all modern accessibility standards. It will include formal and informal spaces to gather, converge, exchange ideas, inspire and be inspired, learn, work and socialize.

Click below to book your tour:

Important Notes:

Please be sure to give yourself enough time to arrive and change into the necessary PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) including a hard hat, goggles, high visibility vest, and steel toe boots and to sign a liability waiver. There will be a safety orientation given at the beginning of each tour. If you miss the safety orientation, you will not be able to participate in the tour.

A limited number of steel toe boots will be available. If you own a pair of steel toe boots, we would encourage you to bring them to wear during the tour.

The site is currently an active construction zone so the following safety rules must be followed:

• No shorts or skirts (all participants need to wear pants ie: no bare legs showing)
• No sleeveless shirts (short sleeve are acceptable)
• No participants under the age of 16 (children unfortunately cannot participate)
• Unfortunately the site is not accessible to wheel chairs, or other mobility devices. There will be stairs and uneven dirt terrain to navigate whilst on the tour.

If you wish to cancel your reservation, please email us at info@museumofcontemporaryart.ca 24 hours in advance.

About Doors Open Toronto

Since its inception in 2000, Doors Open Toronto has attracted more than two million visits to nearly 700 unique locations. It is Canada’s largest Doors Open event and one of the three largest in the world.

The 18th annual edition is scheduled for May 27 to 28, 2017, and offers an opportunity to see inside more than 150 architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city.

The 2017 theme is Fifteen Decades of Canadian Architecture and features highlights from each decade since the 1860s, as well as a pre-Confederation cluster. By looking at our architectural, design and urban planning past, we can more easily look ahead to the next 15 decades!

Doors Open is produced by the City of Toronto in partnership with the broader community.

Photo: Arash Moallemi