Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson was joined today by students, faculty and alumni to mark the start of design and construction of a new campus for the only specialized post-secondary institution in B.C. offering programs in visual arts, media arts and design.
“We are now building a bigger and better home for Emily Carr University of Art and Design,” said Wilkinson. “An important consideration in the design is the use of distinctive features to reflect the special character of Emily Carr University of Art and Design.”
Emily Carr University of Art and Design has outgrown its current Granville Island campus due to increased student demand and the need to accommodate current and emerging program areas. The new campus at Great Northern Way will accommodate 1,800 students and provide modern, spacious facilities that will attract national and international students.
The final design will strongly correlate with its vision as a learning community devoted to excellence and innovation in visual arts, media arts and design.
Unique design features include:
- The entire campus will be outfitted with state-of-the-art technology that will allow for integrated displays for learning and interaction.
- Student common spaces will be open and flexible, encouraging exchange between interdisciplinary artistic practices and informal social gatherings enhancing overall university life. The abundant use of glass in open atriums and their proximity to the academic commons and library will encourage transparency and collaboration.
- Exteriors will also be outfitted with state-of-the art technology to allow for public programming and outdoor spaces to be illuminated, inviting in visitors and the public to engage and explore the new campus.
The new facility is designed to achieve LEED Gold Certification, and will comply with the Wood First Act.
“With the exciting milestone today, we move another step closer toward the creation of a new campus at Great Northern Way,” said Emily Carr University of Art and Design president Ron Burnett. “The new campus will be the beginning of a creative cultural precinct and a centre for 21st-century learning in art, design, media and applied research.”
The capital cost of the project is budgeted at up to $122.65 million, including a provincial investment of up to $101.65 million, with $21 million to be raised through the current capital campaign by the university entitled THE BIG IDEA.
The milestone today follows a competitive selection process that culminated in a fixed-price, performance-based agreement with Applied Arts Partners to design, build, partially finance and maintain the new university.
The new facility will become an exciting additional anchor for the Great Northern Way Campus, a 7.28-hectare (18-acre) site on the False Creek Flats which is owned and developed jointly by UBC, SFU, BCIT and Emily Carr University of Art and Design. The campus is currently home to the Centre for Digital Media – an integrated instruction and student-housing complex for a masters in digital media program that is jointly accredited and awarded by all four institutions.
Other operations on site include a mix of digital media companies and art galleries. The new Emily Carr University facility will continue and accelerate the growth of the campus into a high- profile district for the digital and creative sectors in Vancouver based around synergies between on-site business and higher education.
The new campus, expected to be completed in March 2017, will create an estimated 1,000 jobs during construction.
Founded as Vancouver School of Art in 1925, Emily Carr University of Art and Design is the only specialized public post-secondary institution in B.C. offering programs in visual arts, media arts and design exclusively – one of only four such institutions in Canada. It is consistently recognized nationally and internationally for the excellence of its faculty, students and alumni.
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