Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1274063
J U LY 2 0 2 0 | 61 Arts Umbrella R EN D ER I N GS CO U RT E SY H EN R I Q U EZ PA RT N ER S A RC H I T EC T S + A RT S U M B R EL L A ARTS UMBRELLA by ROBIN BRUNET W ith unabashed pride, Arts Umbrella president and CEO Paul Larocque says his organization's new headquarters "will enable us to achieve a much needed 40 percent increase in our capacity to serve our dance, theatre, music, and other programs, in an existing build- ing that is truly iconic to Vancouver." Larocque is referring to the south building of the former Emily Carr University of Art and Design on Granville Island, originally designed by Patkau Architects. The repurpos- ing includes six dance studios, five theatre and music studios, 10 visual and media arts studios, a professional 132-seat performance theatre with a sprung floor, and street-level exhibi- tion space. Larocque stresses that the key to the success of the new facility was retaining Richard Henriquez, found- ing principal of Henriquez Partners Architects, as the principal in charge of the project. Henriquez has been involved with Arts Umbrella since its inception in 1979, both as an architect and husband of Carol Henriquez, Arts Umbrella's co-founder and longtime executive director. "I helped prepare the original proposal that got them a lease of a building on the Island and then helped design and supervise the renovation of their original building," he says. In April 2016, prior to Emily Carr University's departure, Henriquez thought its south building would be ideal for Arts Umbrella and brought it to their attention. Larocque recalls, "I toured the facility and was very impressed, but there were structural columns throughout all four floor that would make it impossible to have our dance and other performance- based programs. Fortunately, Richard brought in consultants to address a host of concerns, and when they con- cluded that every other column could be removed from the fourth floor we knew the project would work." The columns would ultimately be replaced by structural steel tension trusses. Given that Granville Island is man- aged by the federal government and the province of B.C. had authority over the south building, another breakthrough came with a $7-million contribution from the Department of Canadian Heritage's Canada Cultural Spaces Fund and a $1.4-million gift from the B.C. government, both of which led to private sector funding. "It was 10:10 AM