VANCOUVER, CANADA.- The Vancouver Art Gallery is planning a major renovation. But the VAG’s cautious approach looks more restrained then that of the Art Gallery of Ontario. "The gallery doesn’t want to get into this whole notion of celebrity architecture," says director Kathleen Bartels. "We’re trying to come up with a solution that fits the ambitions of this city and the gallery. From a design perspective, it has to work as a visual-arts organization." The VAG’s Master Planning Process, which has sputtered on and off for five years, revs into action next month, when the master planning committee will announce which architectural firm it has enlisted to help develop a plan for the kind of building the gallery needs to meet its long-term goals over the next 25 years. The four shortlisted firms, chosen from 23 teams, are: Alsop Architects/Robbie Young + Wright Architects (Toronto and London); Peter Cardew Architects (Vancouver); Machado and Silvetti Associates (Boston); and Michael Maltzan Architecture (L.A.).
The chosen firm will not be proposing a detailed architectural design. That competition will be dealt with next year. This first phase, which is expected to continue for eight months to a year and cost $400,000, will begin with a thorough inspection of the gallery. The final document will address the major issue of whether the gallery should expand on its current site in an old downtown courthouse or relocate. In 1983, the gallery moved into the converted courthouse. With hotels on every side, the business district two blocks away and pedestrian traffic all around, the gallery couldn’t ask for better visibility. "We would love to stay here," says Bartels. "We’re fortunate to have such an amazing location." That said, the neo-classical revival-style building, designed by Francis Rattenbury in 1907, hasn’t done much to boost the gallery’s identity. "It doesn’t speak art gallery," Bartels says of the stone building with its imposing Corinthian columns and sentry lions. "And it doesn’t speak contemporary art either. When people come to the city, they say, ’What is this place? Is it a gallery? Is it a court house or some other government building?."
The gallery has 40,000 square feet of exhibition space clustered on four floors that spiral around a central rotunda. It is the fifth largest gallery in the country, has a permanent collection of more than 8,000 works worth $100-million. But right now there isn’t enough space to show the permanent collection, which includes extensive holdings of Emily Carr and of conceptual photography. The storage vault is full to the point that the collection is in danger of being damaged. And the Annex, added on the Hornby Street side in 1912, needs to be upgraded to meet modern seismic standards. The building has no theatre or large gathering space, and limited room for public programs. It also needs new escalators, elevators and upgrades to the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
