There's a Canadian signature on a beam of one of New York City's most iconic buildings: the newly revamped David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, home to the New York Philharmonic.

Gary McCluskie, a principal architect with Toronto-based Diamond Schmitt Architects, can show you exactly where the signature is. He put it there himself in the final stages of a $550-million US renovation that his team helped complete before the hall reopened last October.

It was a moment of pride for McCluskie after a long journey that began with a call in 2016 asking the Canadian team to solve a notorious problem in the cultural heart of the United States — namely, one of its greatest concert halls had a reputation for terrible sound.