Swiss firm to design new Vancouver Art Gallery
Posted April 29, 2014 10:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A Swiss architecture firm that was behind Bejing’s 2008 Olympic Stadium, affectionately dubbed the “Bird’s Nest”, has been chosen to design the new Vancouver Art Gallery.
Herzog & de Meuron is no stranger to international acclaim says Gordon Price with SFU.
“They have major commissions in places like San Francisco, New York, major centres in Europe. So the news was announced in the New York Times, that’s the kind of level now that gallery will be seen to be part of, an international gallery of some significance,” says Price.
And that significance could outshine the building’s function.
“The gallery will probably be more significant than most of the art inside. And that’s not demeaning the art, that’s true of many places in the world today.”
The firm behind is also behind London’s Serpentine Gallery and the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco.
Once built, Price says it will put the city on a new level internationally.
“This is a town that throws the word ‘world class’ around a lot. But in this case, I think with these architects, that’s not an exaggeration. We are talking about a firm that is in the top one-percent when it comes to galleries.”
Herzog & de Meuron will have conceptual plans for the new gallery sometime next year.
