The Audain Art Museum is a $38.9-millon private museum in Whistler, BC. The 5,214-square-metre building houses Michael Audain?s personal art collection, which traces a visual record of British Columbia from the late 18th century to the present. It encompasses one of the world?s finest collections of precolonial First Nation masks, a superb collection of Emily Carr paintings, and works by some of Canada?s most significant post-war artists. These include Jack Shadbolt, E. J. Hughes, and Gordon Smith, as well as works by internationally known contemporary artists such as Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, Stan Douglas and others.
The design of the museum navigates three powerful determinants. First is the need to house both the permanent exhibition of Michael Audain?s collection and temporary exhibits of all kinds from across Canada and around the world. The second determinant is the beautiful but challenging site. The former municipal works yard, although endowed with areas of magnificent coniferous canopy, is located within the floodplain of Fitzsimmons Creek and in need of environmental reclamation. The third determinant is the enormous snowfall typical of Whistler, averaging nearly 4.5 metres annually. The design responds to these determinants by projecting a volume of sequential public spaces and galleries into an existing void within the surrounding forest. It is elevated a full storey above the ground and crowned with a steep roof which defines a volume for administration and ba...