Board chair Jon Stovell confirmed the decision, saying a ‘much more realistic and practical and still visionary concept’ will be developed
The flashy plan for a new Vancouver Art Gallery that was ballooning over its initial budget is going back to the drawing board.
On Tuesday, the chair of the gallery board of trustees, Jon Stovell, confirmed it has decided to suspend its relationship with the chosen architects and is now “looking towards a new approach.”
Now the whole vision has been scrapped, and the plan will start from scratch.
“Obviously it’s a difficult adjustment but, I think, a decision that had to be made,” said Stovell in a statement to Postmedia News. “I think the board and its advisory committees were very aligned on this step, and I think we’ll see a much more realistic and practical and still visionary concept come out of this.
“From my point of view as board chair, I’m certainly strongly supportive of this decision.”
The new gallery was supposed to be the glitzy centrepiece of Vancouver’s attempts to revitalize its cultural scene, but the bold architectural vision combined with escalating design and construction estimates proved too rich.
The design for the striking new building by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron was unveiled in 2015 but progress has been slow and unsteady. It was to replace the gallery’s current home at the former courthouse on Hornby Street in favour of a purpose-built facility six blocks east on West George Street at Cambie.
Real estate developer Bob Rennie was highly critical of the expensive design, which he derided as “starchitecture” that put the focus on the building instead of the art inside.
The gallery said in late August it had raised more than $350 million and completed pre-construction work at the city-owned site, called Larwill Park, earlier this year. Construction was earlier expected to begin this fall, but VAG CEO Anthony Kiendl said in August it would not start until 2025.