Toronto-based architectural firm Diamond Schmitt is preparing for its first team meeting next week with members of the New Brunswick Museum board and staff in Saint John.

Museum officials announced this week the firm had won the planning and design contract for a new museum building.

“We’re thrilled,” said Donald Schmitt, a founding partner in the 48-year-old company, which has won multiple Governor General awards and has recently been involved in a major renovation of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

“The opportunity to develop a new museum for New Brunswick is super exciting,” said Schmitt, who envisions the new building as a “place of storytelling,” and a “crossroads for the community,” that captures the history and diversity of the province.

“It needs to be a landmark — legible, visible, accessible,” in order to draw people from the city, the province and beyond, he said.

The museum exhibit centre in Market Square closed to the public permanently last fall, and all of its collections are in storage at a brick building on Lancaster Ave.

The staff and board have set out a number of elements to be incorporated in the new museum.

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