New Digs for the Vancouver Art Gallery

In a city of glass and steel, the design for the new Vancouver Art Gallery will incorporate some much-needed warmth into our city’s skyline. The bold design by Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron will use wood and geometric building blocks to create something that will have a lasting impact on our cityscape. We think for the better. The Blu Crew gives two thumbs up.

The new building will boast 310,000 square feet and stand at 230 feet (21 storeys) high
85,000 of those square feet will be dedicated to exhibition space, more than doubling the real estate of the current VAG site
VAG's permanant collection of more than 10,000 works will find a home in half of the gallery's new space
The estimated cost of the project is $350 million and includes a $50 million endownment to support overhead operational costs
Herzog & de Meuron brings world-class experience, having worked on projects such as the Tate Modern in London and the Perez Art Museum in Miami (to name just a few)
It will incorporate a new library and education centre with 350 seats
If all things stay on schedule, construction could begin as soon as 2017