New Vancouver Art Gallery | Proposed

[bb1510]

Does anyone know what the other submissions look like, especially the SANAA and Diller Scofidio + Renfro ones?

Couldn't seem to find any online

[retro_orange]

I honestly think the art gallery should leave the downtown peninsula altogether. Moving it to the DTES would be great not only from a creative standpoint but it would help bring more people into the area to visit instead of many people avoiding the east side altogether. If not there then maybe in Vanier park or QE park, somewhere the gallery could easily build a future addition instead of choosing sites that have already maxed out their potential downtown.

I honestly don't think being in the stadium precinct will do any favors to the artsy creative vibe if a bunch of drunk sports fans are getting out at the same time as an art show going on.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

I honestly think the art gallery should leave the downtown peninsula altogether. Moving it to the DTES would be great not only from a creative standpoint but it would help bring more people into the area to visit instead of many people avoiding the east side altogether. If not there then maybe in Vanier park or QE park, somewhere the gallery could easily build a future addition instead of choosing sites that have already maxed out their potential downtown.

I honestly don't think being in the stadium precinct will do any favors to the artsy creative vibe if a bunch of drunk sports fans are getting out at the same time as an art show going on.

Yeah, I can't think of 1000 reasons why being downtown is better than the DTES or in a park.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

I honestly think the art gallery should leave the downtown peninsula altogether. Moving it to the DTES would be great not only from a creative standpoint but it would help bring more people into the area to visit instead of many people avoiding the east side altogether. If not there then maybe in Vanier park or QE park, somewhere the gallery could easily build a future addition instead of choosing sites that have already maxed out their potential downtown.

I honestly don't think being in the stadium precinct will do any favors to the artsy creative vibe if a bunch of drunk sports fans are getting out at the same time as an art show going on.

While I see what you you mean to a point, the only park an Art Gallery would belong in would on the City-side edge of Stanley Park.

Think about where Art Galleries & Museums are usually located in cities around the world. I don't know of any gallery that is in a park other than the two galleries that line Central Park in New York City... and in those cases, the park is right in the middle of uptown and the park itself is a major attraction.

I'd support an art gallery straddling Stanley Park replacing the parking lot at Denman and Georgia perhaps, but not the DES.

[recurrence]

San Francisco has an art gallery smack dab in the middle of GG Park.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

Think about where Art Galleries & Museums are usually located in cities around the world. I don't know of any gallery that is in a park other than the two galleries that line Central Park in New York City...

San Francisco Golden Gate Park:

The de Young, San Francisco’s oldest museum, is housed in a strikingly modern copper-sheathed building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron...

http://sfrecpark.org/destination/golden-gate-park/de-young-museum/

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by recurrence

San Francisco has an art gallery smack dab in the middle of GG Park.

Three of Mexico City's most important museums are also right in a large urban park:

National Museum of Anthropology
Rufino Tamayo Museum
Modern Art Museum

There's also a museum in the Imperial palace within the park.

[Spikester]

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

Think about where Art Galleries & Museums are usually located in cities around the world. I don't know of any gallery that is in a park other than the two galleries that line Central Park in New York City... and in those cases, the park is right in the middle of uptown and the park itself is a major attraction.

Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry is in Jackson Park a few miles south of the Loop. And plans were recently announced to locate Obama's presidential library there too.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Spikester

Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry is in Jackson Park a few miles south of the Loop. And plans were recently announced to locate Obama's presidential library there too.

All those examples support the gallery in the park concept, my idea was that they could purchase property immediately next to a park so the bulk of the gallery structure could be on the separate land; utilizing the existing and upgraded park space as the grounds around the gallery, Vanier can use some tweaking and could work, if it attached to the existing museum. Just thinking of it, the land where the Molson brewery will be vacating would be perfect for a gallery. Langara golf course would be a great spot for a gallery if they removed the golf aspect entirely and turned most into park with some residential. I still think along east Hastings is a good idea, further down near Victoria/Commercial. I'm still adamant having the gallery in the stadium precinct is a bad idea. I feel it's the continued 'small town thinking' planning that we try and keep everything on the downtown peninsula. The downtown peninsula is quite small in comparison to other major cities has gotta expand eventually somewhere.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

All those examples support the gallery in the park concept, my idea was that they could purchase property immediately next to a park so the bulk of the gallery structure could be on the separate land; utilizing the existing and upgraded park space as the grounds around the gallery, Vanier can use some tweaking and could work, if it attached to the existing museum. Just thinking of it, the land where the Molson brewery will be vacating would be perfect for a gallery. Langara golf course would be a great spot for a gallery if they removed the golf aspect entirely and turned most into park with some residential. I still think along east Hastings is a good idea, further down near Victoria/Commercial. I'm still adamant having the gallery in the stadium precinct is a bad idea. I feel it's the continued 'small town thinking' planning that we try and keep everything on the downtown peninsula. The downtown peninsula is quite small in comparison to other major cities has gotta expand eventually somewhere.

I could see it working if they took over International Village, which is basically a failed mall with a successful movie theatre. There's plenty of space, it's close to skytrain, it has underground parking and its close enough to downtown that tourists would walk. Any other location would be disruptive to the affordable housing or heritage areas.

[djmk]

do some serious gentrification and put the art gallery beside Oppenhiemer park.

(kidding but not really)

[mezzanine]

Coming back on the radar - funding for the proposed VAG. By early-mid 2017 we should know the status of the current proposal. A big ask coming up from federal infrastructure funding - if the board gets the $100 mil from the Trudeau government, I suspect BC will follow with its ante. Gordon Campbell IIRC already pledged $50 million and with next year being an election year with victoria having a surplus, IMO it would be hard for victoria to refuse the other $50 million, especially with the government having a large chunk of its surplus from metro vancouver property taxes.

“This project will forever change the creative and physical landscape of the city and will play a pivotal role in enhancing Vancouver, B.C. and Canada’s reputation as a vibrant, creative and desirable place in which to live, work and visit,” VAG states in its bid to 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 a third of the projected $300-million capital cost out of federal coffers.

The price tag is significant because the proposed facility, on space donated by the City of Vancouver at the corner of West Georgia and Cambie streets, will include 86,000 square feet of exhibition space, double what it has at its current location at the old Vancouver courthouse.

It would also include a 350-seat theatre, a 40,000-sq.-ft. courtyard, four large workshops for students and other visitors, and a major research centre.

The finance committee, which continues its cross-Canada pre-budget hearings in Atlantic Canada this week, held its only B.C. hearing earlier this month in Kelowna — perhaps a surprising step given the federal government’s concern over the national implications of Vancouver’s housing affordability crisis.

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-groups-seek-hundreds-of-millions-in-2017-federal-budget

[logan5]

Anybody know what kind of wood they're proposing to use with this building? I presume something local, which would be somewhat boring. A more exotic, darker wood might make this building look kick-🞵🞵🞵.

[Anorak]

$300 million seems awfully expensive for a building that size. Any idea why it's so expensive?

[mezzanine]

Originally Posted by Anorak

$300 million seems awfully expensive for a building that size. Any idea why it's so expensive?

i suspect a lot of cost would come from the cantilevered design. The use of wood and how much to use and how much to use structurally is a wild card. IMO one way to cheap out is to limit to wood to decorative elements only, instead of structural as discussed by Herzog's firm.

For comparison, the newly built broad museum cost $140 million (US) for 120,000 sq ft, which apparently includes offices and gallery. The new VAG, for $300 mil (CAD), will get 310,000 sq feet, which includes gallery space, classrooms, a theatre and office/ancillary space.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by mezzanine

i suspect a lot of cost would come from the cantilevered design. The use of wood and how much to use and how much to use structurally is a wild card. IMO one way to cheap out is to limit to wood to decorative elements only, instead of structural as discussed by Herzog's firm.

For comparison, the newly built broad museum cost $140 million (US) for 120,000 sq ft, which apparently includes offices and gallery. The new VAG, for $300 mil (CAD), will get 310,000 sq feet, which includes gallery space, classrooms, a theatre and office/ancillary space.

That certainly shows the stupidity and wastefulness of the proposed design. I'd be incensed if levels of government throw more of my money at this exercise in monument building. The very fact they are having to try and raid the public purse again shows how little support they got from private sources.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by mezzanine

i suspect a lot of cost would come from the cantilevered design. The use of wood and how much to use and how much to use structurally is a wild card. IMO one way to cheap out is to limit to wood to decorative elements only, instead of structural as discussed by Herzog's firm.

For comparison, the newly built broad museum cost $140 million (US) for 120,000 sq ft, which apparently includes offices and gallery. The new VAG, for $300 mil (CAD), will get 310,000 sq feet, which includes gallery space, classrooms, a theatre and office/ancillary space.

Would the design competition involve a rough budget or do they just design and figure out the price tag afterwards?

[djmk]

Originally Posted by mezzanine

i suspect a lot of cost would come from the cantilevered design. The use of wood and how much to use and how much to use structurally is a wild card. IMO one way to cheap out is to limit to wood to decorative elements only, instead of structural as discussed by Herzog's firm.

For comparison, the newly built broad museum cost $140 million (US) for 120,000 sq ft, which apparently includes offices and gallery. The new VAG, for $300 mil (CAD), will get 310,000 sq feet, which includes gallery space, classrooms, a theatre and office/ancillary space.

So the Vancouver Art Gallery will cost about 2/3 per sq/ft less than Broad?

[retro_orange]

This should be rebuilt in a larger more extravagant version, i never knew about this building until today!
THIS is the type of architecture we should see a revitalization of in our city!
Imagine if we started building podiums to look like proper Art Deco and Streamlined Moderne styles.

Our Missing Heritage: What were we thinking? (the original VAG)

by Eve Lazarus on September 10, 2016



If you live in Vancouver, you know that the Vancouver Art Gallery is housed in the old law courts, an imposing neo-classical building designed by celebrity architect Francis Rattenbury in 1906.
What you may not know, and I did not until stumbling over a photo recently, was that the VAG started out in a gorgeous art deco building at 1145 West Georgia, a few blocks west from its current location.


Opening day October 5, 1931 CVA 99-4062 The original 1931
building—the same year the VAG was founded—was designed by local architects Sharp and Thompson. It fit perfectly into the largely residential West End neighborhood of the times,
had a main hall, two large galleries and two smaller ones with a sculpture hall, library and lecture hall. The names of what were considered great painters of the times
(all non-Canadian, and all men) were carved at the entrance.



West Georgia between Bute and Thurlow, April 1931 CVA 99-3873
Charles Marega was commissioned to sculpture busts of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci which flanked either side of the front door. Architect George Sharp, a respected artist,
taught at the Vancouver School of Art.



After the war, Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris, who lived on ritzy Belmont Avenue, raised $300,000, and the building was expanded to three times its original size.
It could now accommodate 157 Emily Carr works, and the building was left alone for another three decades.



Inside the new VAG building Oct 5, 1931 CVA 99-4081 In 1983 the VAG moved into its current digs at the old courthouse. Two years later the art deco building was demolished.
Now we have the Trump Tower and the FortisBC building in its old space.



And, look what we’ve done with the space

from: http://evelazarus.com/our-missing-heritage-what-were-we-thinking-the-original-vag/

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

This should be rebuilt in a larger more extravagant version, i never knew about this building until today!
THIS is the type of architecture we should see a revitalization of in our city!
Imagine if we started building podiums to look like proper Art Deco and Streamlined Moderne styles.

Yes, I recall it and if memory serves there was a movie theatre called the Fine Arts very close by...