Hornby Island is a small, 30-kilometre square Gulf Island in British Columbia’s Salish Sea. For over twenty years the Hornby Island Arts Council has been running a grassroots campaign to fundraise for a new building, hoping to bring the island’s talent and creativity together under one roof.
The new Hornby Island Arts Centre will be sited on a plateau in a small forest clearing—a space already used for outdoor music events and poetry readings—surrounded by stately noble fir trees. Visible from the island’s main road, the new building will attract visitors and locals.
The building was initially envisioned as an art gallery, but it has evolved to have a broader reach within the community. As the first new public building on the island in nearly 40 years, the Arts Council realized it must be something to everyone. It will operate as a gathering space: a place to host movie nights, dances, art shows, yoga classes, potlucks, performances, lectures, almost anything. Conceived as a big “house” for the community, the centre is an agglomeration of interior spaces that are large and intimate, closed and expansive, and rustic and refined. The building’s layout enables many arts to be learned, produced and enjoyed in close proximity, as a comfortable creative compound.
The Arts Centre will have a quirky personality to ensure its appeal as a destination. The arts centre is a beacon— during the day its rough white stucco will almost shine in the forest, while at night its warm glow will filter through the trees illuminating the winding paths that surround the building. Like a Hobbit House or a mushroom cap, the building will feel perky and at ease in its natural setting.
The building is modest and efficient. It is clad with round 12-foot-long fence posts that wrap around the floating roof’s soft corners, turning inward and narrowing to draw attention to the main entry. This simple gesture draws visitors in through the large wood pivot door. Overhead, the fence post cladding extends deep into the plan, opening to the sky as an abstraction of the building’s forest clearing.
The roof’s prefabricated trusses were sized to fit on the small ferry that services the island. In the gallery, these trusses are curved to accommodate a large south-facing clerestory scoop. High operable windows in this sculpted ceiling allow the building’s largest space to be naturally ventilated without relying on air conditioning. This main space will be bathed with warm indirect south light balanced with cool north light from a large window focused on the forest. Ideas about softness and humanity are expressed throughout the building. Curved walls dematerialize light and space and the tactile details of wood benches and door handles will invite repeated use. This building was designed from the inside out, marrying geometry and precision to asymmetry and craft. Its simple exterior will nurture a changeable interior, to inspire richer inner worlds for Hornby Island’s unique community.
