Savvy real estate developers are embracing mandatory municipal art programs as opportunities to add value and character to their properties.
These programs vary, but all focus on having developers give back to the communities in which they do business.
Although about 30 Canadian cities have public art programs in place, most are for public lands and buildings, said Jane Perdue, the City of Toronto’s public art co-ordinator, adding that fewer than a dozen cities have programs for commercial buildings.
Toronto and Halifax both require that a minimum of 1 per cent of the construction budget of a commercial building over a certain size go to public art or other public benefits such as affordable housing.
Vancouver’s program requires that $1.81 per square foot on projects 100,000 square feet or greater go to public art or other public amenities.
Calgary and Regina have density bonus programs. Downtown developers can add square footage to the cities’ height and other restrictions in exchange for putting money into public art or other amenities.
Artist Liam Gillick came up with the ideas for the text art on Vancouver’s Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel, and they were manufactured by Westbank Project. “It was better to work with a company that knew how to get things done in Vancouver,” said Mr. Gillick, who’s based in New York, “than to ship something in.”
Bryan Newson started Vancouver’s public art program in 1990 to create art “that expresses the spirit, values, visions and poetry of place that collectively define Vancouver.”
While no one piece of work can completely define a city, he says the collection as a whole distinguishes Vancouver from other centres.
Passersby have been rubbernecking at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel since it opened in downtown Vancouver last fall. British artist and designer Liam Gillick has wrapped a repeated line of text – “lying on top of a building the clouds looked no nearer than when I was lying on the street” – around the building’s south and east sides.
The stainless steel, 61-centimetre-tall letters are erected, with no spacing between the words, on an extension of the floor plate from floors five through 22. The text turns silver in sunlight and pewter on cloudy days.
“Everyone stares at the building,” said its developer, Ian Gillespie, president of Westbank Projects Corp. “Like it or not, they look at it. We wanted to use the building as a giant canvas, and Liam had the same idea.”
Mr. Gillick, now based in New York, frequently uses text in his work. He came up with the phrase “lying on top of a building …” several years ago and had been waiting for an occasion to use it.
“I needed something to compete with Jim Cheng’s strong architecture,” he said.
Mr. Gillespie doubled the $767,000 required by the city to go into public art on this installation. “We spent well over $1.5-million,” he said. “But it adds that much more value to the building.”
Cadillac Fairview Corp. purchased works by Canadian artists John Brown, Harold Klunder and David Urban for the ground floor walls of the RBC Centre that opened in Toronto last year. It commissioned three other Canadians – Edward Burtynsky, Douglas Coupland and Jeannie Thib – to create works for the site. It’s now shopping for a sculpture.
“We wanted to showcase recognized Canadian artists,” said Wayne Barwise, senior-vice president, office development, for Cadillac Fairview in Toronto. “These are significant investments for us.”
Mr. Barwise is delighted to sees people pondering the works in the RBC Centre. “Public art has to be located where it can be accessed by the community,” he said, “not in a fifth-floor boardroom.”
Toronto encourages developers to reserve 10 per cent of the cost of a public art project for maintenance. “They own the work so they need to conserve it,” Ms. Perdue said.
Smart developers know art adds character and identity to their property. “Art enhances the quality of our buildings and the elegance of our lobbies,” said Sabrina Kanner, Brookfield Properties Corp.’s New York-based senior vice-president, design and construction.
