Herzog & de Meuron’s Vancouver Art Gallery Canceled

This week's news — reported by the CBC, CTV News, and other outlets — comes a few months after construction of the building at the corner of Cambie and West Georgia streets in Vancouver had halted. This summer the gallery announced that costs had increased by 50 percent, from $400 million to $600 million, leading to a pause on construction in August, just six months after construction had commenced. Approximately $60 million has been spent on planning and pre-construction costs to date.

The design by Herzog & de Meuron went through a few iterations: it was unveiled as a wood-clad design in 2015, “finalized” in 2019 with a similar massing but glass facades replacing the wood, and then then tweaked two years later to feature copper facades expressing indigenous weaving techniques, as in the rendering above.

“We recognize that inflation has put tremendous pressure on our plans, as it has done with many capital projects following the pandemic,” Anthony Kiendl, CEO and executive director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, said in a statement. “It has become clear that we require a new way forward to meet both our artistic mission and vision and our practical needs.”

The gallery's board decided to scrap the project after receiving feedback from artists, supporters, and stakeholders. One board member — businessman Michael Audain, who has donated more than $100 million toward the new building — called Herzog & de Meuron's design “impressive” but also said that “the way it had been engineered and structured, it was going to be very expensive.” He is calling for the new architect to be Canadian, preferably from British Columbia.