eramic art has found a new groove. Indeed, at the Gardiner Museum’s newly renovated space at 111 Queen’s Park. Architects Kuwabara Payne Mckenna Blumberg (KPMB) and gallery designers PS Design have pulled out all the stops to create a powerful image of illusion and reality, unleashing a museum that is industrial on the outside, dazzling on the inside.

After this two-year, $20-million expansion, the Gardiner - Canada’s only museum dedicated to ceramic art - has ambitious plans to march forward full throttle to lure larger crowds to its environs, starting with the design: A bold, new design that pays homage to its historical neighbours, while capturing the magic of the museum.

For the last generation, the museum was a marginally ignored little ceramic gallery, mostly due to its hard-to-park location and a slightly uninviting street presence - directly across from the ROM. KPMB has changed all this, presenting a friendlier facade aimed to lure people in to the lobby, guided along with a garden and a rooftop patio.

The bang comes inside, but not right away, when you walk into the ground-floor lobby that cuts through to the equally big doors. Instinct draws you to a back gallery, which functions as an elaborate extension of the lobby. Wood grains, glass and black granite colour the Gardiner’s reality, but the ground level space is really just a palate-cleanser for what has to come: A short elevator ride that disgorges you onto a newly installed floor. The third-level gallery is illuminated with natural light is the building’s most iconic feature, showcasing an L-shaped glass patio with an impressive view of Queen's Park. This floor also houses Jamie Kennedy’s new 50-seat restaurant.

The museum activity inside is hinted at by intriguing exterior elements: a glass front, which softens the building when viewed from the street. The Museum, now three stories at its tallest, is a little harder to ignore. Seen from across the street, its scale matches that of its neighbours. Stand close and it is huge and gallery-ish. In an age of architectural high jinks - glass forms that slide over each other, boxy shapes, and raw materials - the exterior is surprisingly straightforward, except for limestone deck on the roof, of course.

Designed and transformed the way we see this museum, and seem to welcome us to share the fun they had doing so. The strong forms wrapped in black granite and warm woods recall the aesthetics of the much-lauded Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, just down the street.

A new entrance garden on Queen’s Park creates a welcoming bridge that makes the entrance more inviting. The other areas are equally captivating. Existing galleries are being reinstalled and new galleries for East Asian and contemporary ceramics are being created, along with new clay studios and a curatorial centre. The initial design and subdued schematics have been kept, but details have been tweaked for better sightlines and museum theatrics.

Will all this visual play compete with the museum experience itself? Will the ceramic art seem dull in comparison? Will patrons eating in the third-floor restaurant feel they're being watched by museumgoers within the confines? We will only know when people begin to fill the space. - D.E.

Read About the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts