Just six weeks after pulling the plug on a long-planned new building project designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron after its initial budget of C$400m ($296.4m) ballooned to C$600m ($444.6m), the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) has initiated another architectural competition.
Perhaps in keeping with the gallery’s desire to play it low-key following criticisms about foreign “starchitects” and escalating costs—and in keeping with the current nativist, nationalist moment in Canada as US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs threaten the economy—the decision to invite 13 Canadian architects to present proposals was revealed in an article in the local newspaper.
Requests for proposals (RFPs) being sent to the invited firms will be “based on a ceiling limit in terms of budget and a designated scope”, VAG director Anthony Kiendl told the Vancouver Sun in a 29 January article. “We’re designing to budget, not budgeting to design,” he added. “We’re working within our means.”
Kiendl offered few details about the new building’s total size, only saying it would be “significantly smaller” than the 310,000 sq. ft project proposed by Herzog & de Meuron. Even so, plans are still in place to double the gallery’s current exhibition space to 80,000 sq. ft and to create four purpose-built classrooms. Other priorities carrying over from the initial project include incorporating Indigenous culture in the design and achieving a high standard of green building.
According to Jon Stovell, chair of the gallery’s board and president of the local real estate development company Reliance Properties, the target budget is C$1,200 ($832) per square foot for hard construction costs—or around C$240m ($166m) for a 200,000 sq. ft building. Soft costs for design fees and financing would be additional. This would likely mean a leaner, sparer design than that envisioned by Herzog & de Meuron, which featured copper mesh facades in homage to local Salish weaving.
“On 22 January, the Vancouver Art Gallery Association’s board of trustees voted to invite a select group of Canadian-based architecture firms to submit proposals for designing a new Vancouver Art Gallery,” a spokesperson for the gallery said in a statement. “This bold decision marks an exciting step forward with the new building project, underscoring our commitment to a refreshed vision for the gallery and our community. The RFP is expected to be issued 31 January and future updates will continue to be provided as we move closer to making the new Vancouver Art Gallery a reality.”
The Vancouver philanthropist and collector Michael Audain, whose foundation pledged C$100m ($69m) to the new VAG project, tells The Art Newspaper: “I’m delighted that they’re proceeding with the new design competition.”
Audain, whose namesake museum in Whistler was designed by Vancouver’s Patkau Architects, said last month that his foundation’s pledge had been contingent on the design by Herzog & de Meuron and that support for a new design would not be forthcoming unless the new architect were Canadian.
“We have over 40 million people in this country,” he says. “I think we can find one who is suitable to design an art museum. I’ve thought that since day one. I hope they find the right architect and they get a move on.” He adds: “I’d like to see something that will work much better than the current building.”
The VAG moved to its present location—a 1913 courthouse that was renovated by Arthur Erickson—in 1983 and has outgrown its 165,000 sq. ft.