The design for the new Vancouver Art Gallery has been unveiled! Designed by acclaimed Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, the proposed gallery will be 230 feet tall and have a total floor area of 310,000 square feet (85,000 of which will be dedicated exhibition space). There will be a library and 350-seat theatre, and it will all be primarily made of wood! While the design is impressive, the project is expected to cost $350 million. That’s not only $50 million more than expected but far from the $73 million raised so far.
I personally love the building design; the scale, the striking silhouette, and the carefully considered windows in the upper levels rather than yet another all glass addition to the boring Vancouver skyline. I just don’t know how our city is going to afford it (I hope we can). If it is indeed built, it will be Herzog & de Meuron’s first building in Canada. More renderings of the proposed design below!
