Vancouver Art Gallery design featured in the NY Times

“In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” Harry Lime, The Third Man 1949

I am sorry but that is a very unattractive building. It looks like something off the cover art of a science fiction novel. It is odd that mid-century modern seems to be de rigeur for interior design, yet form follows function seems to have gone right out the window in cultural achitecture these days.
Is it my imagination or are stacked boxes to this decade what twisting towers were to the last ? How about something timeless and not the latest fad? LA’s new Broad is a far more pleasing design: thebroad.org

New VAG Design: The Emperor Has No Clothes
About 5 years ago, as the City’s Senior Architect/Development Planner (since retired), I was a contributor to City Council’s decision to the give up the Georgia Street-fronting portion of the Larwill Park site to the Vancouver Art Gallery, arguing that an inspired, stunning Gallery building design at this location would undoubtedly be the catalyst for for a revitalized Arts, Performance, Cultural, Public Institution Precinct on this stretch of Georgia St. together with Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Public Library, CBC, an adaptive re-use of the Post Office, etc.etc.
With the unveiling of the new VAG design, which some experts, politicians and other cheerleaders have raved about, I must offer (with apologies to Hans Christian Andersen) that “The Emperor Has No Clothes”. Thank goodness the presentation of the proposal pointedly cites it as “conceptual”, for if this design is implemented in its present form it will be an embarrassment to Vancouver. I understand why backers must now, with its glitzy unveiling, get behind this design. What I fail to understand is how the VAG executive and its award-winning architectural team, could have so misread how this design will be perceived.
Frankly, this design is underwhelming. It needs to be a stunning, sculptural piece unto its own, provoking debate about architecture and art. Instead, we have a static, symmetrical stacking of boxes evoking puzzlement. And while the use of wood certainly can be a plus, cladding the boxes in an appliqué of wood panelling doesn’t rescue the design. The composition reminds me of a spatial relationship diagram of the various building functions, a useful design tool for sorting out and organizing three dimensionally a complex building program. But for that 3-d diagram to then become the building’s architecture…aren’t we missing a few steps in the design evolution process such as asking what imagery of Vancouver’s art and culture we want to project around the world? If it is to be boxes, what about shifting, rotating, sliding, tilting some of them to add some visual interest to the entire composition. Or better yet, pursuing an entirely different theme in the building’s massing? Lifting up the entire structure to create a public courtyard is a brilliant idea but to then surround it on all four sides by a one-storey, virtually continuous perimeter building effectively privatizes the space. To be truly public, it should open its arms expansively to one or both Georgia Street corners to graciously invite pedestrians into this covered, sunny space. I know, I know, all this would jog the present clearly logical functional planning/circulation arrangement of the various interior spaces and the security challenges of the street level exterior space. But does pure logic trump all else in this design? Indeed, how does logic play into this entire $350m exercise that puts a new gallery on a site that will not, for another 20 years, perhaps never, capture the prominence of the VAG’s present location, at the very heart of the downtown, that it now enjoys! But let’s not open that pandora’s box!
I noticed that one blogger has suggested that the design is actually a lot better than one might assume, based on the rendering. My impression is that the renderer has absolutely nailed the three-dimensional reality of the design. If this design is indeed “conceptual” there is a need to get back to the drawing board and rethink the image the VAG should convey for itself and for all Vancouverites who should be able to take pride in this building. The immediate impression one should experiences upon encountering it should be one of drama, loving or even hating it, but not one of puzzlement or equivocation or pizza boxes. Herzog & de Mueron is entirely capable of delivering such drama as they have elsewhere and Vancouver deserves no less. Let them have another go at it.