New Vancouver Art Gallery | 9fl | Proposed

[mr.x]

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.

[mr.x]

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.

[officedweller]

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.

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

[size=3]

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

...or, erm, James Cheng...

[mr.x]

^ 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



World Trade Centre Station





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

[Overground]

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

[MistyMountainHop]

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.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by marmorek

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.

[mr.x]

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.

jmackie@png.canwest.com

[osirisboy]

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

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

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

The new location is much better. It's at a much more visible and prominent part of downtown, and being a landmark building it will get quite a bit of attention - just like how the Sydney Opera House is in the middle of the harbour. Some say that is why the building became so well known.

[MistyMountainHop]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

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.

Bing Thom's had a couple of proposed projects that would have been incredible had they been built. I actually liked Thom's design entry for the ROM more than Libeskind's:

Originally Posted by mr.x2

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.

That wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[Pinion]

The Sun had a blurb about Edgewater Casino possibly moving to the Smithe street side of BC Place and building a large River Rock-style casino/resort. That would likely get the owners to forego their lease (until 2013) since the current building is small and has all sorts of parking problems, but I can see the protests already.

[fever]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

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

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

Because Libeskind and Gehry aren't known for producing the same design over and over and over. Every other city has a 'Gehry' now. To be fair though, the inside of his new American Embassy (I think that's what it is) in Berlin is interesting.

I'd hate to see Vancouver try to be 'world class' by getting a starchitect to plop their standard look on such a prominent site. A design competition would hopefully produce an original design.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by fever

Because Libeskind and Gehry aren't known for producing the same design over and over and over. Every other city has a 'Gehry' now. To be fair though, the inside of his new American Embassy (I think that's what it is) in Berlin is interesting.

I'd hate to see Vancouver try to be 'world class' by getting a starchitect to plop their standard look on such a prominent site. A design competition would hopefully produce an original design.

Libeskind and Gehry do replicate their designs, but not to the same ridiculous extent as Calatrava:

[fever]

Calatrava uses white tile, cantilevers, and cable. His buildings are repetitive in the sense that they use these materials. Libeskind cuts out lines in glass and uses sharp edges in order to symbolize the terrible state of the world. Gehry shapes metal. Of the three, I find Calatrava far more imaginative and unique. I can deal with Gehry. Libeskind needs some happy pills and new ideas.

[muzhav84]

i liked the old location better as well, at least for the cultural precint reasons. this location may provide a good opportunity for water integration, etc... but i think we could have still had an iconic building at the georgia beatty site, and it would have gotten tons of pedestrian traffic, and be close to library, theatres, everything. but this site is good too, just thought the other area may have been better

[bils]

New high-density hub planned for False Creek
Four property owners are collaborating to create a cultural district near BC Place

Frances Bula
Vancouver Sun

Saturday, May 17, 2008

A Vancouver Art Gallery on the waterfront and a refurbished BC Place are only the first steps in what could be a new high-density urban entertainment/cultural hub on False Creek, the likes of which Vancouver has never seen.

The four property owners in the northeast sector of False Creek are collaborating to create a new district that would see a cluster of mixed-use towers, hotels, multi-level walkways, green spaces, plazas and a ceremonial staircase in the area around BC Place and the Plaza of Nations at the south foot of Georgia.

Those ideas have until now been working their way slowly through a high-level city planning review, with some uncertainty about whether city and developer visions for the district meshed.

The Plaza's owner, Canadian Metropolitan Properties, commissioned the London firm that includes renowned "eco-skyscraper" architect Ken Yeang to come up with a design, one that startled city planners last October with its soaring angular towers, sky walkways and density. The developer was told to take it away until the review is complete.

But the province's announcement Friday that the gallery will be built on the site of the old Expo 86 Enterprise Hall at the Plaza, which occupies a prominent position on False Creek, firmly orients the planning to the landowners' vision. It will require city planners to design a district to mesh with such a prominent cultural institution, and it will also force them to adjust their planning for a cultural precinct higher up Georgia, around the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

"We think the city now has the pieces to rethink this whole area," said James Cheng, the architect working with Canadian Metropolitan, which sold the land for the art gallery for $1 as part of a complex negotiation with the province. "And we think it's a very, very exciting vision."

He has developed a plan for the Plaza specifically and he is part of the collaborative landowners' team that has developed a plan for the whole area. Cheng said that plan will take Vancouver to a new level of innovation, beyond its current success with its podium-and-tower downtown that has achieved international recognition. The city was taken by surprise.

Deputy city manager Jody Andrews said staff only found out about the province's decision Friday morning, hours before the announcement.

Andrews refuted the idea that the city was bypassed, but he did say the city's two related planning reviews -- of northeast False Creek and of the cultural precinct -- will now have to be "re-reviewed."

"There's no question with this new announcement that we will have to factor that in. Staff are going to work very hard to fold that into the review."

Besides Canadian Metropolitan, the other owners in the district are Concord Pacific, with land on either side of the plaza, with whom Cheng also works; the province, which owns BC Place and land around it; and Aquilini Investments, which owns GM Place and land around it. Cheng said there has also been some discussion about the idea of relocating the existing casino, now in Enterprise Hall, to a large new River Rock-style facility on the Smithe side of BC Place. All four developers want to build towers of some description and one of the biggest debates between them and the city is what mix there should be of office and residential.

The city has been pushing to get developers to build office space in downtown Vancouver. Many of them, who have become accustomed to the dynamics and profit levels of the residential market, say there's not enough demand outside the central business district. The Aquilini group recently abandoned a project to build an office tower beside GM Place, saying it couldn't make it pay.

Cheng said if the area is going to work as an entertainment and culture hub, it has to have a strong proportion of residential property or it will be a dead zone at night.

Another issue that's being debated is how much activity to have on the waterfront, both on the private land and in the park that will be developed between the Plaza and Science World.

That's something that an American public-space expert, Fred Kent, also said when he did consultation work for the city recently, said Cheng.

[twoNeurons]

Who knows, perhaps I don't have an eye for architecture, but to be honest, although their is a signature "Calatrava" or "Gehry" look to much of his architecture, there is a beauty to it.

I mean, if you compare architects to artists, who all tend to have a distinctive style that they mark as their own, I wouldn't say that having a bunch of designs that use similar visual ideas is necessarily a bad thing. The architecture in itself is still imaginative and beautiful to look at... and hopefully functional.

I think everyone is like that though. We all have our preferences, and architects are no different in the materials and styles they pursue.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by tintinium

Who knows, perhaps I don't have an eye for architecture, but to be honest, although their is a signature "Calatrava" or "Gehry" look to much of his architecture, there is a beauty to it.

I mean, if you compare architects to artists, who all tend to have a distinctive style that they mark as their own, I wouldn't say that having a bunch of designs that use similar visual ideas is necessarily a bad thing. The architecture in itself is still imaginative and beautiful to look at... and hopefully functional.

I think everyone is like that though. We all have our preferences, and architects are no different in the materials and styles they pursue.

Well I don't deny that they don't look good, Calatrava and Gehry's work are amazing. What I also want apart from beauty is some originality, something that only Vancouver has (like Sydney and its opera house or what Canada Place is to Vancouver) and what the rest of the world doesn't have.

This is really our opportunity to do something really unique and different.