Audain Art Museum, East Perspective Summer, Image courtesy of Patkau Architects
The new Audain Art Museum is a 56,000 square foot museum located in Whistler, British Columbia. It will house Michael Audain’s personal art collection, which traces a visual record of British Columbia from the late 18th century to the present day. It includes one of the world’s finest collections of old First Nation masks, a superb collection of Emily Carr paintings, and works by some of Canada’s most significant post-war artists including Jack Shadbolt, E. J. Hughes, and Gordon Smith, as well as works by internationally regarded contemporary artists such as Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, Stan Douglas and others.
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The Creators Project got a chance to discuss the recent development with Patkau Architects, the designers responsible for the creation of the brilliant-looking building. “The museum is nestled into a void in a forested setting. The form and color are meant to recede into the dark forests and the form/sloping roof is in response to building in snow country,” David Shone of Patkau Architects tells The Creators Project. “The museum provided a program and vision, and we worked closely with the to develop the design.” As an experienced and well versed architect in designing dynamic gallery space, previous work of Shone’s includes the Canadian Clay and Glass Museum in Waterloo and the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver which is currently in development.
Audain Art Museum, Porch Perspective, Image courtesy of Patkau Architects
Audain Art Museum, Interior, Image courtesy of Patkau Architects
“The design of the museum is shaped by three powerful determinants. The first determinant is the need to house both the permanent exhibition of Michael Audain’s collection and, in juxtaposition with this collection, temporary exhibits of all kinds from across Canada and around the world. The second determinant is the beautiful but challenging site in Whistler which, although blessed by magnificent evergreen forest vegetation, is located within the floodplain of Fitzsimmons Creek. The third determinant is the enormous snowfall typical of Whistler which averages nearly 15ft annual accumulated depth,” Patkau Architects explains to The Creators Project.
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Audain Art Museum, Porch Oculus, Image courtesy of Patkau Architects
“Our design responds to these determinants, simply and directly, by projecting a volume of sequential public spaces and galleries into an existing linear void within the surrounding forest. It is elevated a full storey above the ground and crowned with a steeply sloped roof, containing administration and back-of-house support functions.” Patkau Architects continues, “The building design and siting work synergistically within the context of the site to create a public pedestrian link, beginning from the ‘village stroll,’ the pedestrian spine of Whistler Village, across Blackcomb Way, leading to and through the Museum and then across the site to Fitzsimmons Creek park. A bridge from Blackcomb Way rises through the forest to arrive at a sky lit museum entry porch. From there, visitors can either descend to the forest floor and central meadow to continue passage through the site, or enter into the museum lobby and event space.” Once inside the Audain Art Museum, visitors are able to proceed along a walkway that overlooks the meadow below and first enter the galleries which contain the permanent collection of works before viewing the galleries which house the museum’s temporary exhibits.
Audain Art Museum, East Perspective Winter, Image courtesy of Patkau Architects
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