Architects behind Tate Modern chosen to design new Vancouver Art Gallery

The Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron among the worlds leading designers has been selected to design a new Vancouver Art Gallery. The firm will have two themes: building for art, and making downtown work better.

HdM, which designed Beijings Birds Nest Olympic stadium and Londons Tate Modern gallery, beat four other firms on the VAGs shortlist, propelled by a record of designing great museums and a vision to create a building that will suit its location.

In a phone interview, Christine Binswanger, a senior partner at the firm who will lead the project, said they want the gallery to represent Vancouvers astonishing combination of a very urban life and a natural setting. But she said it also has a job to do. Its a site that needs to connect in an interesting way Gastown with Yaletown.

At approximately 300,000 square feet, the proposed new gallery will more than double the space of the current facility a former provincial courthouse in the heart of downtown renovated by Arthur Erickson. In the years of debate over a new VAG, many said the current facility is in a better location. Ms. Binswanger said the new building a few blocks east on a parking lot site known as Larwill Park will change that perception.

I know that the museum is currently in a very privileged position in the city. People right now think this new site is difficult. But thats what makes the project interesting, I think, for us and for the gallery: to really create a new place in town.

HdM has a record of designing strong museum and gallery spaces. Theyre artists architects, gallery director Kathleen Bartels said in an interview. Theyve worked with artists for their entire professional career and they know what that means.

In addition to the Tate Modern which had an enormous impact on London and its contemporary art scene HdM has also designed the new Perez Art Museum Miami and the Parrish Art Museum on Long Island. Pacific Rim projects include the de Young Museum in San Franciscoand the Prada Aoyama in Tokyo.

When you look at some of their buildings I think the Tate Moderns a wonderful example people want to be there, Ms. Bartels said. We want to create spaces like that where people can have those wow moments, looking at amazing artwork in extraordinary architecture, and want to hang out there whether theyre 14 or theyre 45. I think that is what we want the gallery to be. And I think they understand the gallery of the future.

Should the project be realized, the new Vancouver Art Gallery will be the Pritzker Prize-winning firms first building in Canada.

Herzog & de Meuron, founded in 1978 in Basel by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, emerged as the unanimous choice from a short list of five, including Torontos KPMB Architects; Tokyos SANAA; and New York-based firms Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. The selection process included in-depth interviews with each firm as well as a whirlwind tour where committee members took in candidates projects in Paris, Miami, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Toronto

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Architects behind Tate Modern chosen to design new Vancouver Art Gallery