Since completing the striking Walker Art Center in Minneapolis 10 years ago, Swiss firm Herzog and de Meuron has conquered every cultural corner of the United States with its distinctive designs for galleries, situated everywhere from the streets of New York City to the beaches of Miami. Now, the avant-garde duo is traveling north of the border, and Canada’s Pacific coast looks set for a striking new landmark as a result.
Last night, the firm revealed renders for an expansive new addition to the Vancouver Art Gallery, a 310,000-square-foot building dedicated to work by artists throughout British Columbia and across the world. The new structure will add some 85,000 square feet of exhibition space — doubling that currently offered by the gallery — along with an education center that will incorporate a 350-seat auditorium, workshops, a research center, library, and artist archives.
The design brief in Vancouver, Canada, called for Herzog and de Meuron to pull off something of an architectural magic trick in regard to scale: the clients called for a large, iconic landmark for the city but also desired a domestic scale that would not overwhelm pedestrians at street level. The Swiss architects have addressed these divergent needs by proposing a stack of timber boxes that provide a distinctive silhouette on the Vancouver skyline but break down the volume of the building to reduce its apparent massing on the sidewalk.
Jacques Herzog explained this carefully considered approach to scale, saying: “The urbanistic concept is based on the contrast between the low-rise framing along the street block and the taller and more sculptural building in the middle of an open and accessible garden and square. The low-rise wooden building along the street is inspired by how the streets in Vancouver were built in earlier times. The modest, almost domestic scale will enhance the character of openness and visibility for everyone.”
The resulting structure is simultaneously humble and theatrical, its wooden cladding and symmetrical form reminiscent of a contemporary totem pole in which each segment houses a different exhibition space. The material palette is intrinsically linked to the wider context of British Columbia, which has a long history of constructing tall timber buildings. The cladding should develop a stunning, textured patina over time, evoking the traditional two-story wooden row houses that populated Larwill Park a century ago.
The massing of the building is broken down further still with the ample use of glazing on certain façades, particularly on the lower stories, which are designed to be as transparent and welcoming as possible. Lifting the primary volume above the ground also allows light to flow down to an internal courtyard that acts as a serene circulation space and garden away from the hustle and bustle of Vancouver’s busy streets.
The semi-covered, semi-open courtyard brings to mind the calm atmosphere found in Japanese temples, a string of low-rise galleries framing a pagoda-like building in the center. These Far-Eastern sensibilities are thrown into clarity when one learns of a key programmatic feature at ground level: special exhibition space will be dedicated to the gallery’s Institute of Asian Art, which was launched in the autumn of 2014, with a particular emphasis on contemporary art from China, India, Japan, and Korea.
Inside, a neutral material palette and generous ceiling heights will allow the art to take center stage, with plenty of room to breath. These lofty spaces, at least 18 feet high, will also permit some fairly remarkable fenestration: windows filled with frameless glazing will grant uninhibited views across Vancouver, transforming the city itself into a series of artworks alongside some of the world’s greatest canvases.
The stepped nature of the volumes also generates a series of external observation decks, providing additional public outdoor space akin to Renzo Piano’s cascading terraces in the impressive new Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Opening today, a free exhibition of the new museum proposals will be on display at the current gallery, giving the public a chance to see all the details firsthand. While it remains to be seen what the collective reaction to this prominent new complex will be, prospects look good: Herzog and de Meuron has a strong record when it comes to architecture dedicated to art, and, if the reality matches up to the renders in Vancouver, the firm looks set for one of its most significant contributions yet.
Check out more images and information on Herzog and de Meuron’s latest projects over on their in-depth firm profile.
