Vancouver Art Gallery's exterior, pictured in August, 2023.Vancouver Art Gallery
The Vancouver Art Gallery will be delaying construction on its new building, as ballooning costs have forced further alterations in the design of the facility.
Rather than begin construction in October, VAG officials are pausing the project for now. Construction is not anticipated to begin before 2025.
“We’re going to have to revise the timeline,” VAG director Anthony Kiendl told The Globe and Mail on Wednesday.
“For the next two or three months, we’re going to go back to the designers and work on revisions to the building with an eye to cost saving.”
When the VAG held a “ground-awakening” ceremony last September, it said it had raised 85 per cent of the then-$400-million budget. With inflation and increases in construction costs, the project budget has now escalated to an estimated $600-million. “It’s unprecedented and unforeseen,” Mr. Kiendl said of skyrocketing costs.
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The project has raised about $357-million, Mr. Kiendl said on Wednesday, leaving the gallery short nearly $250-million of the estimated cost.
“The cost is just simply much more than anyone anticipated three years ago even and I don’t believe we’re asking too much,” said Mr. Kiendl, who called for cultural infrastructure to receive the same care and support as sports-related facilities.
For 20 years, the gallery has been working toward a new, purpose-built facility, with many stops and starts along the way.
The site has been leased to the gallery by the city in an agreement approved in 2013. Most recently a parking lot that included temporary modular housing (now dismantled), the prime downtown land is a few blocks east of the current gallery, which is housed in a renovated provincial courthouse. The VAG has long said that the current building is not adequate.
A splashy design by Swiss architecture firm Herzog and de Meuron was revealed in 2015 – a vertically oriented space that resembled different-sized boxes stacked on top of one another. The new design proposed to more than double the gallery’s exhibition space and include spaces for education and artists’ studios. It has since been revised, most significantly with a Coast Salish-inspired “woven” cladding for the building’s exterior.
The project has undergone further revisions to bring down costs – fewer floors, less parking. But it hasn’t been enough. This time, Mr. Kiendl said, they will likely have to cut deeper. “We just have to build within our means.”
Most of the money raised has come from private donors, including local developer and philanthropist Michael Audain, who has committed $100-million toward the project. The provincial government has also contributed $100-million. The federal government has pitched in just over $29-million. Mr. Kiendl said he would hope to see more support from Ottawa for a project that is of national relevance.
The VAG is also now working to attract partners to the project from the arts, film and/or university communities, hoping to share the costs.
“I think it’s an invitation really to collaborate with everyone in building a cultural district for the 21st century,” said Mr. Kiendl, who added that nothing is concrete currently, but it’s something he is pursuing.
Construction timelines have constantly been shifting. When city council voted to set aside the land, for example, the projected opening was 2019. Later that year, the projected opening shifted to 2020. At the 2023 launch event, the projected opening date was 2028. That will now be pushed back.
A new target opening date will depend on when construction can begin. The estimated construction time is about four years.
Still, Mr. Kiendl said he remains optimistic about the new building.
“I’m confident and I’m excited actually that we’re going to do this, but it’s just a really complex project.”
Local real estate marketer and internationally renowned contemporary-art collector Bob Rennie, who has long been critical of the project, disagreed. “The building as presented will never be built, in my opinion,” he told The Globe.
“And who let something get out of hand from $400-million, which was already much higher than anticipated in 2012, to $600-million? As a champion of the city, this is a blemish on the arts and cultural community.” Mr. Rennie, who is president of the Tate Americas Foundation, called what has been spent on the architectural planning a waste of philanthropy and taxpayer dollars.
“I just hope that this re-evaluation comes with a panel of experts and prudent, prudent scrutiny. Because the days of starchitecture and wishful thinking are gone.”