Herzog & de Meuron reveal final designs as CA$40 donated to fund development

The Vancouver Art Gallery is celebrating major milestones towards the realisation of a transformational new 300,000 sq ft building, following the release of final designs by Herzog and de Meuron and a CA$40 million gift from the Chan Family Foundation. The new building, named The Chan Centre for the Visual Arts in recognition of the gift, is planned to serve the Gallery’s expanding collection and establish Vancouver as one of the world’s foremost cities for arts and culture. 

The concept features a sculptural, symmetrical, upright building combining opaque and transparent surfaces, with larger volumes concentrated at the top. Postioning the bulk of the structure high above the street enables light to filter down to an active, open-air courtyard below. Christine Binswanger, partner in charge at Herzog & de Meuron, explained how this approach will create an inviting public space, saying: “The project for the new Vancouver Art Gallery has a civic dimension that can contribute to the life and identity of the city, in which many artists of international reputation live and work. The building now combines two materials, wood and glass, both inseparable from the history and making of the city. We developed a façade out of glass logs which is pure, soft, light, establishing a unique relation to covered wooden terraces all around the building.” 

With a designation of land at Larwill Park from the City of Vancouver in place and a total of CA$135 million private and public sector funding secured, including an initial investment of CA$50 million from the Province of British Columbia, the Vancouver Art Gallery Capital Campaign will now continue its work to secure the additional funding needed to begin construction.

Lucy Nordberg
TenderStream Head of Research

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