Seismic upgrades at UBC Museum of Anthropology Great Hall to wrap up in June 2024
Arthur Erickson-designed facility remains closed as the building’s reconstruction continues past the two-year mark
Seismic upgrades are well underway at the UBC Museum of Anthropology’s Great Hall. Photo by Brannen Bell
THE COMPLETION DATE for the colossal seismic upgrades currently underway at the UBC Museum of Anthropology’s Great Hall has now been set for June 2024, a year later than anticipated in the project’s initial timeline.
The extensive construction plan requiring a full rebuild of the Great Hall was originally scheduled for completion within 18 months, Stir reported, which should have seen the museum reopen in July 2023.
The changes will help preserve the integrity of the iconic glass-paned building in the event of a major earthquake. Seismic base isolators installed underneath the museum’s main floor slab are the primary component of the reconstruction overseen by Nick Milkovich Architects Inc. The isolators separate the building’s foundation from the structure on top of it, effectively reducing the amount of energy transferred from the ground to the museum itself during an earthquake.
The upgrades also include improvements to fire-protection features and the replacement of skylights. The hall is receiving a few cosmetic fixes, too, such as new lighting, carpeting, and roll-down shading.
An important milestone in the reconstruction was hit at the beginning of December, when the first pieces of glass—support fins for the rest of the panes—were installed in the Great Hall’s eye-catching curtain wall, each one measuring in at 11.5 metres and weighing 1,180 kilograms.
Talks of the project began in 2017 when UBC determined that the Great Hall, designed in 1976 by late B.C. architect Arthur Erickson, had a high level of seismic risk. A team of experts decided that rebuilding the landmark from the ground up was the best way to preserve it. Reinforcing the structure with steel beams or bracing would have greatly impacted its iconic look.
Construction kickoff was delayed due to the pandemic, and the ball finally got rolling in fall 2020 when the totem poles in the Great Hall were lowered and moved to an adjacent gallery with Indigenous guidance.
Though the Great Hall itself has been closed to the public since then, the rest of the museum remained accessible until January 16, 2023, when it also closed to visitors to accelerate progress. It’s scheduled to reopen when construction is complete in June.
The project’s 2024 completion happens to coincide with the Museum of Anthropology’s 75th anniversary of operation (it was initially located in the UBC Library’s basement). Special programming is in the works to celebrate, and will be announced as the summer approaches.
More information is here.
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