Photo: James Dow / Patkau Architects.
PROJECT Audain Art Museum, Whistler, British Columbia

ARCHITECT Patkau Architects Inc.

TEXT Odile Hénault

PHOTOS James Dow / Patkau Architects
In British Columbia, the names John and Patricia Patkau, FRAIC have long been synonymous with accomplished homes featuring breathtaking views of the Pacific coast. For a number of years, however, their work has expanded greatly in scope and scale, and in time has become identified with highly prestigious cultural institutions. With the Audain Art Museum, inaugurated in 2016, the architects demonstrate a remarkable level of maturity.
The Patkaus were commissioned to design the museum by long-time art collectors Michael Audain and his wife, Yoshiko Karasawa. The couple had been dreaming about having their own gallery space since the early 1990s, when they visited the Maeght Foundation in southern France. ?We thought, that?s great,? Audain said of the Josep Lluis Sert-designed museum.¹ ?That?s what we were interested in?a natural setting with indigenous landscaping, because a lot of the work we have is landscape.? Stairs descending from the lobby form a seating area and secondary entrance. Photo: James Dow / Patkau Architects.
In 2012, Michael Audain, then 74, started feeling pressed for time and decided to begin the process. His first step was to look for a site that would meet the needs of the program?preferably one that was forested. Eventually, Whistler emerged as a serious option. Eager to...