New Vancouver Art Gallery | Proposed
 

It may be some way off but I am curious what people think about the next phase of life for the Vancouver Art Gallery? There is talk about it either expanding or relocating to a new site downtown, likely at the Beatty Street parking lot site beside the Queen Elizabeth theatre.

I came across an interesting thread about a proposed Guggenheim Museum franchise in Mexico that is a skyscraper.

http://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/cpgarq/albums/userpics/10001/gugge-11g.jpg

http://www.plataformaarquitectura.cl/cpgarq/albums/userpics/10001/picture0423gt.jpg

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=3167338#post3167338

Design it like a giant Pacific Triton Seashell partially buried in the sand, the sides would be translucent letting in light. Inside you'd have a spiral ramp that slowly climbs to the top with the art on the inside wall, that way you could walk the whole thing and not miss any halls or nooks. Heck you could move the giant crab from the planetrium and place it next to it and have the whole lot covered in sand. :)

Do you guys remember months back when somebody posted what must have been a hoax rendering? It looked like a rectangular box suspended on 4 "springs" on the corners, and there was discussion that this was going in at the carpark next to the QE, and would be the future VAG...

Where did that come from?

Don't remember seeing that rendering, but that location is the earmarked for a art+culture facility after the winter games.

That was Tadao Ando's brilliant VAG design, but it never progressed into a serious proposal, as far as I recall.

This SSC thread mentions Ando, but it doesn't have the rendering in question. Maybe someone else has it.

These ones (posted by mr. x in that SSC thread) are amazing:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y287/jtredger/Picture5.png
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y287/jtredger/Picture4-1.png
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y287/jtredger/Picture3-2.png
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y287/jtredger/Picture2-2.png
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y287/jtredger/Picture1-1.png

I'm glad that the VAG is looking for more spacious digs. However, it will be hard for them to replicate their situation at the corner of Hornby and Robson.

Let's not kid ourselves: Any relocation will involve the moving of the gallery to an inferior location. So what it gains in square footage and modern architecture is offset by a significant loss of profile.

On the other hand... if Ando was designing the new digs...

I'd like to see the Art Gallery expand where the current Sears building is.

I'd like to see the current buildings... or their facades, stay. Then rip out the middle portions of them and build a 30-40 story museum/office tower, the facade of this tower matching the original facade at the bottom of course... hell, plant Ivy at the bottom that will grow up the building... would make for a very nice piece 20-30 years down the road.

ah a good use for the half empty building

3 floors are closed down now

:tup:

was thinking they need to either turn the top floors into office space or some kind of hotel like they are doing to the macys in portland

Looking for more culture

John Mackie, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, December 08, 2007

VANCOUVER - In a few years, Vancouver might have a new art gallery, a new museum, a new maritime museum, a new national aboriginal art gallery, a new national portrait gallery and a new waterfront sports stadium. Or not.

There is no shortage of big ideas floating around, but how many of them will come to fruition is debatable.

The Vancouver Maritime Museum has been looking at relocating on and off since the 1980s.

The Vancouver Art Gallery has spent four years looking for a new site.

The Vancouver Whitecaps had hoped to have a soccer stadium ready for 2007, but getting the bureaucratic approval has been so slow the stadium is probably at least three years away - even though team owner Greg Kerfoot has offered to pay for the stadium himself.

It's a far cry from Toronto, where the Art Gallery of Ontario is doing a $254-million expansion, designed by the internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry.

The Royal Ontario Museum is undergoing its own $275-million expansion designed by another internationally renowned architect, Daniel Libeskind.

The Toronto FC soccer club plays in a new $70-million stadium, BMO Field.

Local art collector, philanthropist and developer Michael Audain thinks Vancouver is in dire need of some new cultural facilities.

"We are very underfunded in cultural infrastructure in this town, whether it's in terms of theatres, concert halls or the art museum side of things," says Audain, who recently donated $1 million to a new museum featuring the work of artist Bill Reid. "We're very underfunded compared to Toronto or Montreal, let alone our almost sister city to the south, Seattle."

Condo king Bob Rennie is also big on culture - he's building his own private gallery in Chinatown to showcase his contemporary art collection.

"Look to cities around the world that we like to go to," Rennie says. "You just check off the boxes. They have theatre, they have opera, they have music, they have art. We've got to get to a point where we can tick off all the boxes. How many of our tourists are coming here just for culture?"

Audain also says it makes good business sense to put resources into cultural facilities.

"People tell me that cultural tourism and eco-tourism are the two most rapidly growing sectors in the tourism industry," he says. "They also tell me that cultural tourists are the highest income bracket and the highest spenders."

Audain's focus is getting a new home for the Vancouver Art Gallery.

"The present art gallery is very constrained in terms of its space; it only can accommodate three per cent of its current collection," he says. "It can't even exhibit a lot of the important [local] artists of the contemporary period. I've had friends who visit Vancouver and they go to the Vancouver Art Gallery, expecting to see our Jeff Walls and our Stan Douglases and our Ken Lums, and often none of them are up on the walls. Which is really strange. At times we don't even have very many Emily Carrs up, either.

"When a museum has works that are considered extremely important by world standards, they should be on permanent exhibition. And this doesn't happen at the Vancouver Art Gallery today."

But it will if Kathleen Bartels has her way.

Bartels is the VAG's high-energy director, and you get the feeling she is going to get a new building for the gallery, even if she has to build it herself.

After a four year search, the Gallery has decided on a location: the old Greyhound bus station/Larwill Park site at Georgia and Hamilton.

"We had a list of criteria that we wanted the site to accommodate, and after looking at everything from the post office to Sears to many other sites, we thought the old bus depot was the best site for the Vancouver Art Gallery," she says.

"Its location on Georgia street is important. [As is] its proximity to the RAV line, its proximity to Chinatown, Yaletown and Gastown. It's close to the CBC, to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. It's an important hub in the city."

Bartels says the Vancouver Art Gallery should have "double the space" of the current location in the old courthouse at Robson and Hornby.

"We're at 157,000 square feet in this facility, so we're looking at doubling that to about 320,000 square feet," she says.

This wouldn't be cheap, particularly because Bartels wants to conduct an international competition to design the new building.

"We're certainly looking at hundreds of millions of dollars, without question," she says. "But when you build great museums, and engage really interesting architects, they aren't inexpensive buildings. They're very specialized. You have special needs for exhibition space, climate control, storage space."

Bartels would like the building to be architectural landmark.

"We want for it to be significant architecture, I think that's really important," she says. "You go to a city and look at a postcard: okay, that represents Australia, the Sydney Opera House. The Louvre represents France or Paris, or the Guggenheim in New York. The list goes on and on. We would certainly like it to serve that purpose as well."

But Rennie cautions against going the Toronto "star-citect" route.

"The ROM has Daniel Libeskind, the AGO has Frank Gehry," says Rennie.

"They're wonderful architects I guess, but we talk more about the architecture than the function inside the building. When you talk about the Four Seasons Opera House there, I don't hear people talking about the architect ahead of the word opera. Yet right now, when you talk about the ROM, you talk about Daniel Libeskind before you talk about the contents. And I don't know whether that's what we need. It's not Canadian to be begin with, to boast like that," he notes with a chuckle.

"The format of institutions having a star-citect is so over. Today institutions have the most brilliant sustainable green box, and the contents become more important than the box. That I think is the future model."

Where would the money come from?

Bartels says a third from the federal government, a third from the province and the city, and a third from the private sector. Asked if she thinks she could really raise $100 million in private donations for a $300 million art gallery, she confidently states "without question."

"The gallery is on a great track, we have great momentum. We're a real success story, what we've been able to accomplish in the last six or seven years. Our admission numbers are the highest they've ever been. Our membership six years ago was about 8,000; it's 40,000 this year. That is just remarkable for any institution our size in North America. We're higher than the The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, we're higher than the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles."

If the VAG does move, it would open up the old courthouse building for another institution. Mayor Sam Sullivan has said Vancouver would be interested in getting the National Portrait Gallery that the federal government wants to farm out to a city other than Ottawa. Another potential candidate would be the Vancouver Museum. The Museum is currently located in Vanier Park at Kits Point, a site that has major drawbacks.

"Access is probably the biggest problem," says Museum director Nancy Noble. "It's tucked away on a really nice piece of land, but access to it is difficult."

Problem number two is that many Vancouverites just don't know that the Vancouver Museum exists. It's overshadowed by the Planetarium (a.k.a. the H.R. McMillan Space Centre), which is in the same building at 1100 Chestnut. The Museum draws about 65,000 people a year. By contrast, the Titanic exhibit at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria drew 450,000 people this past summer. But the Vancouver Museum simply couldn't put on something like the Titanic show, because it doesn't have the space or resources. Neither does the Vancouver Maritime Museum, which is also in Kits Point at 1905 Odgen.

The future of the Vancouver Maritime Museum is fuzzy. If a new National Maritime Centre is built on the North Vancouver waterfront, Vancouver Maritime Museum director Wesley Wenhardt says the existing facility will probably fold.

"We really support the North Vancouver National Maritime Centre," says Wenhardt. "We feel that we worked on the vision [which grew out of studies by the Vancouver Maritime Museum]. It looks like the North Vancouver group has been able to pick up the vision, modify it slightly, then put together a new development on the North Shore. Our board is totally supportive of it."

Larry Orr of the City of North Vancouver says the proposed maritime centre would probably be a $100 million facility, with 110,000 square feet of space. The location would be in the historic Wallace Shipyards site just east of Lonsdale avenue.

The North Van waterfront is already undergoing major redevelopment: Orr says Pinnacle International is developing 1,200 residential condos beside the Maritime Centre site, and there are plans for "Granville Island market" style retail.

There is one hitch for the new North Van Maritime Centre: the Vancouver Maritime Museum's collection of 20,000 items is owned by the City of Vancouver, which might be loathe to give it up.

The legendary ship the St. Roch would probably go to North Van with its artifacts - after all, it was built there - but many other items might wind up back in the Vancouver Museum. (For many years, the Vancouver Museum and the Vancouver Maritime Museum were wings of the same organization.)

Crunch time is the spring, when the Vancouver Art Gallery will make a formal request to Vancouver council to move to a new site. If it's approved, it might open by 2013.

The National Maritime Centre in North Van will also submit a proposal to the federal and provincial governments in the next month about its plans, which it hopes to have approval for by May or June. It could possibly open by 2011.

If both are approved, it will have a domino effect on the other institutions. If neither is approved, there will be a lot of disappointed people.

[email protected]






Some facts about Vancouver cultural institutions

John Mackie, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, December 08, 2007


Vancouver Art Gallery

Location: 750 Hornby Street
Annual Budget: $12.2 million (2006)
Annual Visitors: 375,000 (2007 projected)
Exhibition space: 36,000 sq. ft.
Items in Collection: 9,000
Percent on Display: 3
Possible new location: The former Greyhound bus station site at Georgia and Hamilton.
Problems: The current location is in a former courthouse that underwent a $20 million renovation to make it suitable for the Vancouver Art Gallery when it moved there in 1983. But it has proven to be an awkward fit, because the neo-classical building doesn't really work that well as a modern art gallery. The VAG says it needs to double its space. A new facility would probably cost $200 million to $300 million, which would require a lot of funding from the federal, provincial and civic governments, as well as fund-raising from the private sector.


Vancouver Museum

Location: 1100 Chestnut
Annual Budget: $2 million
Annual Visitors: 65,000
Exhibition space: 20,000 sq. ft.
Items in Collection: More than 100,000
Percent on Display: 5
Possible new locations: None have been identified yet, but the current Vancouver Art Gallery site is an obvious contender. The city owns the former Storyeum site in the Woodward's parking garage in Gastown, which has 108,000 sq. ft. of space, but most of it is underground. The former Woodward's building has not been considered as a museum site, according to Vancouver Museum director Nancy Noble.
Problems: The Museum's current site in Kits Point is out of the downtown core, and out of the public consciousness. Public access is limited: Kits Point residents successfully fought a battle to keep tour buses out of their neighbourhood. The Museum is a also good hike from the nearest bus stop. The Museum is overshadowed by the Planetarium (aka the H.R. McMillan Space Centre), which it shares the building with. If the Vancouver Museum was to move, it would require several million dollars in government funding, which might be hard to get if both the Vancouver Art Gallery and North Vancouver's National Maritime Centre proceed. But Vancouver does have $20 million sitting around that was collected from developers for a Coal Harbour Arts Complex that was never built. The new convention centre is being built on the Coal Harbour Arts Complex site.



Vancouver Maritime Museum

Location: 1905 Ogden
Annual Budget: $1.1 million
Annual Visitors: 90,000 (including outreach programs)
Exhibition Space: 14,500 sq. ft.
Items in Collection: 20,000
Percent on Display: 5
Possible new locations: None
Problems: The Vancouver Maritime Museum has a marvelous location on the Kits Point waterfront, but its building badly needs to be renovated: it doesn't have the temperature and humidity control system which is standard in modern museums.
The Maritime Museum has often had a frosty relationship with some Kits Point residents, who have successfully fought to keep it from expanding at the current site. If the North Van National Marine Centre is built, the Vancouver Maritime Museum will probably fold.
The city of Vancouver owns its collection, which might wind up in the Vancouver Museum.




National Maritime Centre

Proposed location: The Wallace Shipyards, Lonsdale and Esplanade, North Vancouver
Cost of Construction: about $100 million
Size: 110,000 sq. ft. (35,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space)
Problems: Financing would largely come from the federal and provincial governments, which haven't been putting much money into cultural facilities. The current member of parliament for North Vancouver is a Liberal, and the federal government is Conservative. The Lower Mainland has also had a long history of grand concepts that never happened: The Vancouver Maritime Museum tried to build a similar museum on the Coal Harbour waterfront a few years ago, but failed. The new facility hopes to get much of the Vancouver Maritime Museum's collection, but Vancouver council might say no.



Whitecaps Soccer Stadium

Proposed location: Downtown Vancouver waterfront, between Canada Place and Main street
Cost of construction: About $70 million
Seating: 15,000 for soccer, with the ability to double to 30,000
Problems: Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot wants to built it right now, with his own money, but he has to go through Vancouver's glacially slow bureaucratic process.
In other cities, the stadium might already be finished; in Vancouver after two years of studies it's still probably still at least three years away.
Kerfoot originally had hoped to build it over the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks, which he purchased for about $20 million in 2005. But there were objections because of dangerous goods that are sometimes on the tracks, so the site may be moved on to land owned by the Port of Vancouver, a federal body.
The Canada Marine Act states the Port can't sell the land, so it may have to arrange a land swap with Kerfoot's railway holdings to make it work.




i've always thought that the H.R. Macmillan Space Centre should move in with an expanded Science World, which sadly is the only real remotely close museum we have....also the most successful, afterall it's able to host massive exhibits like Body Worlds.

But Rennie cautions against going the Toronto "star-citect" route.

"The ROM has Daniel Libeskind, the AGO has Frank Gehry," says Rennie.

"They're wonderful architects I guess, but we talk more about the architecture than the function inside the building. When you talk about the Four Seasons Opera House there, I don't hear people talking about the architect ahead of the word opera. Yet right now, when you talk about the ROM, you talk about Daniel Libeskind before you talk about the contents. And I don't know whether that's what we need. It's not Canadian to be begin with, to boast like that," he notes with a chuckle.

"The format of institutions having a star-citect is so over. Today institutions have the most brilliant sustainable green box, and the contents become more important than the box. That I think is the future model."

The only reason Rennie objects to a Starchitect is because the Starchitect wouldn't build yet another 500-condosabove-podium structure from which he makes his bread and butter, so he is no doubt pushing for a local developr (Cheng, Thom) and will persuade them to do the same-old-same-old, but ram a museum into the podium. Then he'll start the old "world-class" speech yet again...formulaic.

I'm all for having a sustainable building, but we'd better get something more inspiring than a "green box". I say if a building's iconic architecture can help draw people to the art gallery, who really cares if the building initially overshadows the art. Once people are actually inside and viewing the art, they'll forget all about the building anyways. An iconic building is good marketing in terms of creating a recognizable 'brand'.

Also, what's the deal with the Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education? I haven't heard anything about that in a long time and they never update their website regarding the development of an actual building.

^ i'd say the Dalai Lama Centre is in trouble. They announced it in 2006, said they were looking at some site in the Downtown Eastside, and that it will be completed in 2009.

i'd think they might've hit funding and/or site issues.

interesting stuff from the website:

Who will design the Dalai Lama Center?
An eminent architect will design the Center. Our choice of architects will not be based on their grandiose vision,
but on their outstanding sensitivity to Vancouver’s landscape and spirit. Most importantly, our architect will excel
at creating spaces that promote psychological and emotional comfort for all who come within the Center’s orbit.
Their artistry will create a structure that encourages visitors to connect meaningfully with each other. Our
architect will be attuned to the dual personality of the Center: on one hand, an energetic setting for animated
dialogue and interaction; on the other, a cloister-like oasis for contemplation.

How will people experience the Dalai Lama Center?
The Center will be experienced both actively and reflectively. A wide array of different-use spaces within the
building will promote engagement between individuals and groups, people and ideas, communities and spiritual
rejuvenation.

In Toronto, the multi-million-dollar addition to the Royal Ontario Museum (the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal) was
designed by Daniel Libeskind to enhance people’s contact with iconic objects. In contrast, the DLC will be
designed to generate direct interactive experiences between participants. And to push the potential for
serendipitous encounters.

The Center will have a low psychological threshold for entry. All it takes will be the purchase of a cappuccino at
its sidewalk café or a stroll into its light-bathed, free-admission gallery. The Center will be designed to warmly
welcome all who gather – or wander – into its premises. People from every walk of life and social strata will be
made to feel at ease. They will be encouraged to drop in, and linger, at all hours of the day.

What programs will the Center offer?
The Center is conceived as an open cultural bazaar, embraced by residents and visitors alike. It will have a
smorgasbord of compelling programs that offer sustenance to the mind and spirit.
The following are some examples:
Literary evenings: Local and international authors will give readings, followed by informal discussions in a
Dialogue Lounge. Renowned writers such as Pico Iyer, Doug Coupland, Malcolm Gladwell, or Anne Lamott may
be on hand for casual conversations.
Philosophers’ Café: Informal discussion groups will explore diverse ideas and issues in another Dialogue
Lounge.
Film and video screenings: Thought-provoking documentaries and other genres will be presented every night,
followed by moderated discussions.
Nobel Laureates lecture series: Nobel laureates will give public lectures and facilitate extended seminars. Our
current Board of Advisors includes five Nobel Peace laureates: HH the Dalai Lama, Shirin Ebadi, Desmond Tutu,
Mairead Maguire, and Jimmy Carter. Other possible invitees include Elie Wiesel, Oscar Arias Sanchez, Mikhail
Gorbachev, Steven Chu, and Daniel Kahneman.
Science and spirituality dialogues: Workshops by prominent researchers and spiritual leaders will explore the
intersection of science and spirituality. Faculty may include those at the forefront of positive psychology: Andrew
Weill, Deepak Chopra, Richard Davidson, Ed Diener, and Martin Seligman.
Contemplative programs: Contemplative practices foster wisdom and allow people to plug into our natural
capacity for compassion, forgiveness, and inspiration. These ways of knowing, and in particular, the cultivation of
empathy, are at the heart of moral development. Eminent teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron,
Sharon Salzburg, Father Thomas Keating, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and Jack Kornfield will be invited to
lead intensives and workshops.

http://www.dalailamacenter.org/index.php

^Interesting stuff. I hope it only gets delayed as a worst case scenario. Would be a shame to lose such a unique institution. You'd think it would be fairly easy to generate funding from the private sector for such a facility though. Most of the world loves the Dalai Lama. You can probably get half the funding from Richard Gere alone. I mean he's a rich buddhist right? ;)

wouldn't be surprised if there's some political reasons for the delay....

^Good point.

Heard that VAG announced on December 11 that they are moving to Beatty street - anyone have any details?

Figured I'd revive this thread, I had posted the $50Million comintment for the new VAG in the downtown thread. Didn't remember there was one for this. Anyways more news from tomorrow's Sun.

Decision time for new art gallery location
Kevin Griffin, Vancouver Sun

Within weeks, city officials could be deciding whether a downtown site at Georgia and Hamilton will be the home of a new multimillion-dollar Vancouver Art Gallery.
The VAG has targeted the former bus depot adjacent to Queen Elizabeth Theatre as the only remaining spot in the downtown core that can hold an expanded art gallery of at least 30,000 square metres.
That's double the size of the current gallery in the heritage buildings in the prominent block bounded by Hornby, West Georgia, Robson and Howe.
Premier Gordon Campbell announced over $200 million in funding to enhance B.C.'s arts and culture during a press conference at the Vancouver Art gallery.
Premier Gordon Campbell announced over $200 million in funding to enhance B.C.'s arts and culture during a press conference at the Vancouver Art gallery.
Sue Harvey, the city's director of cultural services, said council is expected to receive recommendations from staff early this spring on the VAG's new home as part of a major rethinking of all the city's cultural institutions for the next 15 years.
Kathleen Bartels, director of the VAG, said in an interview that the next step for the gallery is to secure a site.
"We can't move ahead until we have a site," she said. "We have been working on the old bus depot site most aggressively in the last six or seven months, but we have nothing confirmed at this time."
Bartels said it's still too early to announce how much a new gallery might cost.
"We don't have our final cost estimates because we don't have a site, we haven't selected an architect and we don't even have a preliminary design. We can't release a final cost because we don't know."
On Thursday, Premier Gordon Campbell announced several new arts and cultural initiatives totalling $209 million, including $50 million for a new home for the Vancouver Art Gallery, $150 million for an arts endowment fund and nine million for an expanded and renovated Vancouver East Cultural Centre.
The endowment fund is expected to generate up to $8 million annually for arts and cultural groups in B.C.
At a news conference in the lobby of the VAG, Campbell referred to many famous B.C. artists with works in the gallery's collection, including Emily Carr, Bill Reid, Robert Davidson and Jeff Wall, who was among the dignitaries seated on the stage in the art gallery's lobby.
Wall is considered one of the country's leading artists for his work in making photography one of the major art forms of the late 20th century.
"What Jeff Wall really does is he says, 'Here is a different lens for you to look at the world at, here's a different way to see things.' That's what arts and culture is always striving to do," Campbell said.
Campbell repeatedly referred to the national importance of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
"I think our art gallery can reflect not just the city, but can reflect the province and the country," he said.
"This is a national institution - we should not forget the national importance of the Vancouver Art Gallery. We're here to work with the government of Canada as they recognize the national contribution of the Vancouver Art Gallery."
Wall, the recipient of the Order of Canada this year, said he was "very encouraged and excited" by Campbell's arts and cultural announcements.
Wall said that while growing up in Vancouver, he recalled seeing serious art for the first time at the old Vancouver Art Gallery on Georgia Street.
"To go to the gallery and see the real thing was a transformative experience for me as a child and I've never forgotten it," he said.
"I think a museum is always a fundamental domain of support for a young artists and for an artist at any stage of their development. I felt supported somehow by the little gallery on Georgia Street. And I've always felt supported by the gallery that we're in now."
Wall said he thinks the city is poised to create a new art gallery "that will both recapitulate all the values that I've always felt important of the art of the past, and at least make some kind of gesture for the art to come."
Bartels said at the news conference that great cities require great culture, art and architecture. "Vancouver is without question an increasingly important city in the world," she said.
"And with its growing prominence, [it] deserves a great art museum, one that will fuel the ambitions and aspirations of this thriving creative community."
"We will construct a compelling, purpose-built art museum in Vancouver's vibrant downtown core, one that will stand as a lasting cultural and architecture icon for Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada."

http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html

Go to Global TV Newscasts>News Hour>and go to 12:20 mark, they have the entire "game plan" for the 2010 olympic games.

In a way i am dissapointed that they are MOVING the art gallery. I understand that they need much more space and all, but the current location/building is amazing and perfect for this use. I would have liked to see the Gallery expanded over Robson Square. I find it a useless use of space for what it is. They could fit the needed square footage there if they really wanted.

Hopefully the new tenants of the current building will have something good to go in the Art Galleries place. I hope (and please dont take this the wrong way) that it wont be an aboriginal art museum.

I dont understand why there is so much in Vancouver anyway. I understand that there should be some and i quite like it, but people have to understand that this is not what our city is about. We are a city of over 2 million and the percentage of aboriginal peoples is what 1? 2? percent? When people look at Vancouver they should se what we really are, a wonderful, modern, cosmopolitan, metropolis. Its like at the closing ceremonies of the Turin Olympics in 2006. Our presentation portrayed Vancouver as an aboriginal city, which we are not. I recently went on a trip to Florida and believe me some people there (who really had no idea abot the world around them) thought that in Vancouver we live in longhouses, huts etc. I understand that this is not the norm for people to think but when you see this on TV (turin closing ceremonies) and you are one of those people that isnt really interested in the world outside from your own, this is what people see Vancovuer as.

As I said earlier I have no issues at all with aboriginal anything, and I like most of the art that there is around Vancouver....but I think that we must keep this to a minimum, as this is not what Vancovuer is.

(especially because that in 20 years the majority of people in Vancouver will be of Asian descent.

^^i agree with you!! enough with the aboriginal stuff. ie the airport ugh its like an aboriginal gift shop exploded in there.

I didn't think there were that many first nations art museums. The only one I can think of, and it's more of an artifact museum, is the Museum of Anthropology. There's touristy stores selling native art here and there, but that doesn't count. A dedicated first nation art museum, I can't think of any. It's a niche area, very popular with people around the world, and probably not enough great native artists to fill the demand. It definitily deserves a place here.

Anyway, good to here the Vancouver Art Gallery will be in a larger building. Probably still doesn't even come close to displaying all the art they have though.

Personally, I don't have any problem with it being an aboriginal art gallery....though I would prefer it being the new home of the National Portrait Gallery.

But I do agree with you with regards to the Torino closing ceremony segment, and perhaps how we will be portrayed in the Opening/Closing Ceremonies in two years. I do think there should be an aboriginal segment that beautifully ties in with everything else, like what Sydney did, but not 2-hours of "ai ya ai ya ai ya ai ya" throat singing.



Anyway, the reason why the Art Gallery really wants to move out is that the courthouse building configuration is quite odd for exhibits...and even if they built an expansion there, still not enough space.

There should be a small segment in the ceremonies, that should be enough.

Yeah, if the old court house present VAG does become an aboriginal or asian museum (or the local Vancouver museum), it would probably draw more tourists than, say, a traditional portrait gallery or museum of contemporary art that could be in any city. I think that would be the reason for a central location - and the fact that it's existing space that would readily accommodate that type of facility without a huge upfront capital budget.
As for the VAG as it is, I very rarely go in there despite its current central location, and same would apply to an aboriginal or asian museum on the site. I never did make it down to see Storyeum. I haven't been in the Vancouver Museum since the mid 1970s.

That's what the tourists go for apparently.

I agree, but my fear is that you're gonna see a hell lot more of that. But with Atkins on board, as we all know he directed the Sydney ceremonies and he beautifully integrated a 15-minute aboriginal segment into "Australia's story":

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rvisj2yPg
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfsEVZuxyjU


With the airport, I actually like the aboriginal art. It makes the airport unique and different from all the others.

Think big and the world will come
Planning a new Vancouver Art Gallery is a rare opportunity to put the city on the international map

Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, March 07, 2008

Do we think small, and save some money, or take a risk on creating a building the world will come to see? That's the question British Columbians now face with the decision to build a new Vancouver Art Gallery.

The answer should be a no-brainer. It's time for this young city, and the province, to open up its collective wallet and build a glamour building, an architectural statement that will put the city on the cultural map both nationally and internationally.

We should be aiming for something as significant as the Guggenheim in Bilbao, or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, or the Sydney opera house.

These places, and many more, are what's known as destination architecture. They are edifices that are pieces of art unto themselves. They create their own tourism economies, attract major exhibitions and enhance the local arts.

Just such a glamour building -- which would cost upwards of $400 million -- appears to be what Premier Gordon Campbell is aiming for. While his decision Thursday to give the Vancouver Art Gallery $50-million to start looking for a new location is only a down payment on the cost of such an institution, the government's intent is that the money be used to hold an international architectural competition, to find a striking design for the new gallery. It's also meant to be the seed money to kick-start a multi-year fundraising drive.

"I'm sure they want to do a significant gallery," said Campbell, who has been supporting the idea for years. "It's really part of moving into a new phase as a city. This could easily become a symbol of the city around the world . . . . I think we have to raise our sights."

Even better is the prospect that this new institution will anchor a true cultural precinct for Vancouver, a city that has long relied on its geographical beauty to hide the reality that it is slow to embrace the arts.

One idea, the preferred, is that the new gallery should be built on the site of the old Greyhound bus terminal, not far from the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, the Vancouver PlayHouse, the central library and the CBC headquarters.

A fallback would be revamping the old Canada Post office, similar to the Tate Modern Museum in London. A less likely location, but still worth considering, is the waterfront of False Creek, not far from the silver Expo 86 ball. That would put the art gallery near a revamped BC Place Stadium, which will be part of a major real-estate development that will revive what is now a dead zone in the heart of the city.

Wherever the new art gallery goes, what it all means is Vancouver is about to see the biggest architectural transformation since the development of the Expo lands in the late 1980s and Coal Harbour in the late 1990s.

It's an exciting prospect. But it's a transformation that also needs to involve the public: We need to guard against the sort of secrecy that surrounded the attempt to build a roof over Robson Square and stay away from the committee-think that turned our $1-billion convention centre into a ho-hum glass box that will never make a postcard.

Just as important as the outside of our new art gallery, though, is what goes on inside. The idea is to at least double the square footage of the current art gallery to about 320,000 square feet. It will display B.C.'s traditional artists, but the collection would also see an expansion of works from aboriginal artists and contemporary stars, such as the internationally renowned photorealist Jeff Wall, whose pieces are generally too big -- and too expensive -- for the current gallery.

It's also now time to start thinking about what to do with the old art gallery, a landmark building that needs to be carefully preserved.

I'll bet the University of B.C., cognizant of Simon Fraser University's success in building a downtown campus, has its eye on moving in. But the smarter thing would be to use that landmark to bridge the cultural divide that still exists between this city's Asian and non-Asian communities: Turn the emptied art gallery into an Asia-Pacific museum and arts centre.

That would bring our Asia-Pacific reality into the heart of the city. With the right sort of curator, we could better brand Vancouver as an Asia-Pacific hub.

Now, for the really big question. How do we pay for all of this?

The reality is that this major building won't get underway until long after the 2010 Olympics are over. By then, we might have a tighter economy, perhaps even a new premier less enamoured of such a cultural megaproject.

So if this is going to happen, the fundraising needs to be a broad effort that begins now.

Campbell says he'll be going to the federal government for a share, since the intent is to create a national institution for all Canadians. The City of Vancouver is going to have to ante up, too, likely by handing over the land.

But there's also going to be a major push for private-sector investment. Those involved in discussions believe that a major part of the budget may come from building commercial office space, possibly a hotel and condos around a new gallery.

But British Columbians and other Canadians -- particularly the wealthiest -- are going to be asked to channel their philanthropic side. Campbell put it best: "I think there will be philanthropists from Canada, and internationally, who will step up."

He'll need to be right on that if this dream is to become a reality without leaving a very big bill for the taxpayer.

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Building's future up in the air
As the Vancouver Art Gallery starts looking for a new home with a $50 million grant, most cultural mavens hope the heritage space in the heart of downtown remains part of the city's arts scene

Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, March 07, 2008

You could turn it into a giant Starbucks. Or a bordello if prostitution is legalized.

Or how about going back to the the future and using it as a court house.

You get plenty of quips when you talk to cultural mavens about the fate of the heritage building that currently houses Vancouver Art Gallery.

But most agree that the history, location and structure of the building adjacent to Robson Square make it a natural site for another museum or gallery.

"I think the best idea is to maintain it for museum purposes," said Michael Audain, a developer, art collector and chair of the Vancouver Art Gallery Foundation.

"It's a marvellous location and one of the most important buildings in the city. And the building's plaza has been active as a city square for demonstrations and celebrations for generations."

Bob Rennie, condo developer and art collector, said that "I think it should stay as a cultural property. We have to respect the history of that building."

Don Luxton of Heritage Vancouver said the building is "purpose-built for an art gallery and it would be expensive to turn it into another use."

"It's hard for me to comment," said VAG director Kathleen Bartels, when asked about the building's fate.

"It would be nice for some kind of cultural presence here but it won't be our decision."

The heritage stone building on Hornby Street has housed the VAG since 1983 after extensive renovations were done by architect Arthur Erickson.

The fate of the site will be determined by the provincial government, which owns the building, and the city of Vancouver, which leases it.

The building's future use could hinge on the strategic plan -- officially called the "Facilities Priorities Plan" -- being developed by the city for city-owned or city-leased cultural facilities, including the existing VAG building.

VAG director Bartels said the question of the site's future is one asked on a regular basis.

"That decision won't be the gallery's. It'll be the decision of the province. They own the building and they own the land. I know there are several competing interests -- I don't even know who they are."

Bartels said the city and the province are "getting calls on a regular basis ... from people who would like to take over the space."

Premier Gordon Campbell said that the building could remain a gallery.

"People have talked about it as potentially an aboriginal art gallery. Some people have talked about it as a potential Asia Pacific gallery."

The Vancouver Museum is also near the top of most observers' list of institutions that could make the stone building a home.

The Vancouver Museum currently resides in cramped and somewhat obscure quarters in Vanier Park.

Museum director Nancy Noble said that the facility has long considered moving to a new location in order to get more street and tourist traffic and more space for its collection.

The museum's future is one of the questions being discussed in the city of Vancouver's cultural strategic plan process, she added.

Noble said that a museum or gallery would be a "natural fit" for the VAG site.

"But I don't think there's any guarantee that if we wanted it (the VAG site) that we would get it."

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the aboriginal art idea is a positive one i think. what does a majority asian population have to do with it? asian people cancel out the importance of the indigenous culture?? on a side note, aboriginal people are originally asiatic anyways. :)

On second thought, my guess is that tourists from China or Japan won't be pouring off the tour buses to see an Asia-Pacific Museum - go with either the Aboriginal Museum or the Vancouver Museum.
An Aboriginal Museum would work in the old Vancouver Museum location under the planetarium's roof shaped like an aboriginal hat - but it could suffer due to Kits Point NIMBYism (a ban on tour buses)

wtf???

I like how the article says we should aim for something huge and significant, and then mentions that it might end up going in a revamped post office...the false creek idea is cool, but i don't know what they have in mind...like where the plaza of nations was?

The streetcar should fix that ;)

There is an existing ban on tour buses to Kits Point because the neighbourhood group complained.
That's why the Maritime Museum, the planetarium and the Vancouver Museum have such low attendance and require big subsidies from the City. As an "enclave" it's worse than the Arbutus corridor.

That's just really disturbing to know.

This is disturbing, just as disturbing as the Main Street Science World SkyTrain slowdowns...

Jesus... people these days.

Well, the Main Street noise issue does have some merit.....it's a real complaint, even though SkyTrain was there before the condo towers were.

But this Kits thing is just retarded....I'm amazed that the City actually bowed down to these NIMBY's.

Let's think beyond "local"
 

None of the suggestions (Asia-Pacific Museum, Aboriginal Museum, or the Vancouver Museum) is an inspired choice. Here is a rare opportunity to utilize one of the most valuable and beautiful buildings in all of downtown Vancouver in an innovative way.

Be honest: if you are visiting, say, Portland, Oregon, what really are the chances of you visiting the Portland Museum? (I’m picking a city similar in size to Vancouver) Also, what are the chances of you visiting it again the following year?
I am also not sure just how many exciting and different Asia-Pacific Museum exhibitions we can have in a year, pulling in both the repeat and new visitors, year after year. The same goes for the Aboriginal Museum.

The point is, let’s stop thinking so “local.” Would New York City be giving their best space to the “Museum of the City of New York”? (yes, they have one and how many people have visited it?) Let’s instead ponder how we can catapult Vancouver into the international scene.

Here’s just one idea.

How about an “art, design and cultural” center that is not tied to a theme or a locale or an ethnic group? I’m thinking a bit like London’s Victoria and Albert Museum where they have such a wide range of exhibits from architectural innovations to Kylie Minogue’s wardrobe collection.
Let’s also open up the space for public usage from time to time. The centre staircase would a perfect backdrop for the Vancouver Fashion Week (or BC Fashion Week, if they would ever come to their senses and unite). How about the gala opening for the International Film Festival?

Possibilities are endless.

Let’s imagine together how we can attract both the world visitors and ourselves to this space for generations to come.

What tickles your fancy?

If I read this correctly, they will build the new VAG on the site where Edgewater Casino is.

http://www.bcplacestadium.com/newsreleases/BC_Place_Future.pdf

http://www.bcplacestadium.com/newsreleases/BCPlace_2015.pdf

PREMIER UNVEILS NEW VISION FOR BC PLACE & ART GALLERY

VANCOUVER – As part of the bigger vision for this part of downtown Vancouver, PavCo has been working
with the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Art Gallery and Canadian Metropolitan Properties, the
owners of the Plaza of Nations, to move the Vancouver Art Gallery to False Creek. Currently, less than
three per cent of its collection is on display, because of space restraints.

In return for future development considerations from the City of Vancouver on its False Creek
property, Canadian Metropolitan Properties is providing the Vancouver Art Gallery with a waterfront
site for its new 320,000 square-foot facility. The Province has already contributed $50 million towards
the new gallery.

“The gallery has experienced unprecedented growth in the last decade, and with more than
40,000 members, record-breaking admissions and a growing collection of 10,000 artworks, is now
bursting at the seams,” said gallery director Kathleen Bartels. “The False Creek location presents an
exciting opportunity to imagine a new Vancouver Art Gallery on this beautiful waterfront site, one that
would serve as an anchor for this extension of Vancouver’s thriving cultural community. In addition to
Premier Campbell’s recent commitment of $50 million, we are extremely grateful to the Province of
British Columbia for bringing us another step closer to realizing our dream for a new Vancouver Art
Gallery.”

Development and the sale, or lease, of lands around BC Place are expected to generate more
than $100 million towards the cost of the new roof and upgrades. Additional revenues will come from
new sponsorships and expanded business opportunities.



http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8630/68503015bd5.jpg

Vancouver Art Gallery will be B.C. Place's neighbour

By Jessica Werb

Six months after going public with plans to relocate to the former bus-depot site behind the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, the Vancouver Art Gallery has been granted a new home—beside B.C. Place Stadium.

The surprise announcement came today (May 16) from the premier’s office, couched in a press release focused on the stadium’s renovation. According to the release, the BC Pavilion Corporation—the provincial Crown corporation that operates B.C. Place—worked with the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and Canadian Metropolitan Properties to move the VAG to the CMP-owned Plaza of Nations.

Canadian Metropolitan Properties will provide the VAG with a waterfront site for a 320,000-square-foot facility, in return for future development considerations from the City of Vancouver. The new gallery will be double the size, have a footprint of 110,000 square feet, and offer the institution additional opportunities for outdoor programming.

The site puts the public art institution near both the stadium and the Edgewater Casino, and reopens speculation about the city’s “cultural precinct” project, in which the VAG was expected to anchor an arts hub situated around the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, bounded by Georgia, Dunsmuir, Hamilton and Beatty streets.

Architect Bing Thom, the brains behind an early cultural-precinct model featuring a decentralized collection of smaller institutions, hailed the announcement as a good move—provided the Georgia Viaduct is removed.

“It will connect the two ends of False Creek and Stanley Park and give it two strong anchors,” he told the Straight in a phone call. “But we should really take down the Georgia Viaduct so we can get to the water. Georgia Street then will be a phenomenal street, with the art gallery on one end and Stanley Park on the other. It will really enliven, I think, the whole end of False Creek and hopefully in the future connect False Creek to Chinatown and Gastown. The whole East Side will get a big pick-up.”

Thom said he hoped to see new arts facilities built on the former bus-depot site, including a national gallery of aboriginal art and a home for the performance venue championed by the Concert Hall Arts Complex society (formerly the Coal Harbour Arts Complex society), which would consist of a 1,800-seat hall and a 400- to 600-seat theatre.

“There’s rumours that there’s some legs to building a new kind of Chan Centre downtown,” said Thom. “I think it’s a series of very good moves. It’s good for the city, good for the province, good for the arts. I think a lot of that depends on taking a hard look at taking down the Georgia Viaduct. That would be phenomenal. That would really re-energize that end of the downtown.”

Calls to the city’s office of cultural affairs have not been returned.

When the Bill Reid Gallery recently opened I read an article that said that the Aboriginal Gallery on the Larkwill Park site fizzled, so they opened the Bill Reid Gallery.

That new location for the VAG is just crying out for an iconic building. Gehry, Liebeskind, Foster or Calatrava anyone?

...or, erm, James Cheng... :haha:

^ I'm not too sure about Calatrava, everything he designs these days looks the same.

I prefer:
1) Liebeskind
2) Foster
3) Gehry



Calatrava's work:

Milwaukee Museum of Art
http://www.ou.edu/csrde/images/milwaukee_museum.jpg


World Trade Centre Station
http://z.about.com/d/architecture/1/7/e/h/transportationhubNY_exterior_0374hi20res.jpg




While they do look very nice, nothing original comes out of him anymore.

Is Thom suggesting that Georgia will completely end at Beatty? If you removed the viaduct then there would be a steep hill.

It would be awesome to have Bing Thom design it. The concert hall and theatre would be amazing as well. Along with GM Place, the Queen E and Playhouse, it'd really make it a great area for live music and theatre.

Then he would have to spill his guts and blood out on this project. While I love his work, I have yet to see anything from him that is absurdly and outrageously original and spectacular.


The smartest thing to do would be to open it up for an international design competition, have the public take a look at the designs, and then make the final decision.

The budget for the new gallery should also be more than $200-250 million.....as well, I've got to wonder - what would happen to the bus depot site? I'd still like to see some sort of cultural precinct.

Vancouver Art Gallery to move to prime waterfront site
The surprising move was applauded by politicians but left some critics wondering where funding will come from for the new Plaza of Nations location

John Mackie, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, May 16, 2008

VANCOUVER - After a three-year search, last fall the Vancouver Art Gallery announced plans to relocate to the former Greyhound Bus Depot site at Georgia and Hamilton.

Then two weeks ago, the provincial government called with an offer the gallery couldn't refuse.

And so Friday, Premier Gordon Campbell made the surprise announcement that the Vancouver Art Gallery is moving to the False Creek waterfront.

The VAG move was shoehorned into Campbell's press conference announcing that a new retractable roof will be installed on BC Place Stadium after the 2010 Olympics.

The gallery will be located just east of BC Place on the current site of the Plaza of Nations. The building, which has yet to be designed, will be 320,000 sq. ft., double the size of the VAG's current home in the old Vancouver courthouse at Robson and Hornby.

VAG director Kathleen Bartels said the gallery had considered the Plaza of Nations site when it was conducting its search for a new home, but "at that time the land just wasn't attainable for us."

This changed when the site's owner, Canadian Metropolitan Properties, cut a deal with PavCo (the provincial Crown corporation that runs BC Place) and the City of Vancouver for what a press release called "future development considerations" on Canadian Metropolitan's False Creek property.

Bartels is enthusiastic about the new site. "I think it's probably one of the most exciting sites in North America, to have a waterfront property in a [place] like Vancouver," she said. "It's a prime location."

Premier Campbell concurs.

"This is an opportunity for a 320,000-square-foot facility to complement British Columbia Place, to complement the whole eastern end of Georgia Street," he said.
"We think that the waterfront location will be spectacular."

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan chimed in that the False Creek waterfront is the perfect setting for the type of landmark structure the VAG is hoping to build.
"There is a real advantage to this site, in that it can take a real iconic piece of architecture that will be right on the waterfront, and will really I think define the city," said Sullivan.

Bartels said that the VAG will hold an international competition to design the new building. She hopes it will open in late 2013 or early 2014, hopefully with a show by Vancouver's international art superstar Jeff Wall.

But precise details, such as the cost and who's going to pay for it, are sketchy. The standard formula in the past has been that the cost is split three ways between private fundraising and the federal and provincial governments.

The province has already announced it will give $50 million toward the new gallery, which means it might be a $150 million project. But it could be much higher: The Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto is undergoing a $254 million expansion designed by the internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry.

Another internationally acclaimed Vancouver artist, Stan Douglas, said the VAG is in dire need of a new facility.

"They always had trouble growing into that old [courthouse] building," said Douglas.

"To have a purpose-built building would be nothing but a benefit to the gallery and the city."

Still, he was surprised by the move from downtown to the waterfront.
"I thought the bus station was a better location," he said.

"I liked that area - the combination of the [Queen Elizabeth] theatre and access to downtown, it's a much more prominent location. It's more integrated with the city, the downtown core. The [False Creek location] is a bit off to the side, but you've got to work with what you can get."

Now the VAG has moved, the old bus depot/Larwill Park site on Georgia comes into play. Mayor Sullivan hinted that it might still house a cultural facility, the long-delayed Coal Harbour Arts Complex. The city collected $20 million from developers and the province for the Coal Harbour Arts Complex, but the land was used for the new convention centre.

"We now have the opportunity in the Larwill [Park] site to look at the concert hall and theatre that's looking for a home, and possibly get some revenue from the site as well," said Sullivan.

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ok I have to say this, I hate the new location. what are they thinking, the old location was much better