Ground broke today on the new location for the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
“This campus will in of itself become an incubator for future thought leaders and new models of education. It’s really remarkable what’s going to happen,” said University Chancellor Jake Kerr at today’s official groundbreaking.
The new, $122 million campus will be at the Great Northern Way complex and open in 2017. “We are now building a bigger and better home for Emily Carr University of Art and Design,” said Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson in a statement.
Emily Carr’s new campus will accommodate 1,800 students, but it’s unknown what their old campus on Granville Island will accommodate in the future. The campus moved to Granville Island in 1980, the year after the public market opened, and currently occupies 20 per cent of the island’s leased space.
READ MORE: What will Granville Island look like in the future?
“What a huge opportunity. We haven’t had that kind of footprint to be able to do something really since the island opened,” said Scott Fraser, communications officer for Granville Island.
He says that while the South Building, which has purpose-built lecture halls, will likely remain a place for education, the North Building could have any number of new tenants. Ideas floated have included urban wineries, brew pub restaurants and live performance venues.
“This will be an interesting process for both us and the citizens of Vancouver,” said Fraser.
PHOTOS: An artist rendition of the new campus for the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, scheduled to open in 2015.
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