Suisman’s plan for Vancouver media arts campus helps gain $110 Million grant

Suisman Urban Design has prepared an urban design master plan for the Great Northern Way (GNW) Campus and the new campus of Emily Carr University of Art and Design (ECUAD). The Great Northern Way Campus in East Vancouver is a former industrial site which the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia Institute of Technology, and ECUAD are turning into a digital media hub for education and business.

Suisman’s design was presented as part of the funding application to the provincial government of British Columbia. The government subsequently approved $113 million to build the new facility for ECUAD. Construction is slated to begin in May 2014 and be completed by July 2016.

Emily Carr President Ron Burnett said, “Doug Suisman is an extraordinary visionary” who was instrumental in developing the early phase site plan and urban design for The Great Northern Way.

The funding means the art and design school will be leaving Granville Island, Premier Christy Clark confirmed. “Emily Carr University had outgrown its old home,” said Clark. The original Granville Island campus was designed for 800 students, but now has 1,800 registered, and the university needs a larger space to grow and stay competitive, say officials.

Emily Carr President Ron Burnett said the aim is to bring art and technology together at the site. “Emily Carr’s Great Northern Way Campus will be at the centre of a new social, cultural, educational, entertainment and economic engine for British Columbia,” said Burnett. The new campus will have numerous positive economic benefits for the Province of British Columbia and will drive creativity and innovation in BC and Canada while supporting the future growth of the creative sector. Burnett said, “Emily Carr’s vision is to be internationally known as one of the top global schools for its undergraduate and graduate programs in Media Arts, Design and Visual Arts. Our new campus will be built to the highest standards with design features unique to the mandate of the university, that is inspired by design excellence and that promotes an integrated, comprehensive and sustainable approach to the goals of the university; it will create an imaginative and cost-effective urban landscape that forms the centre of activities for Great Northern Way.