Art thrives when it collaborates with or takes inspiration from other discliplines, a tenet that is physically expressed in the new campus of the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, located on the east side of downtown Vancouver. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, the campus reflects the spirit of its namesake artist, Emily Carr, by creating a series of both formal and informal spaces that can be glimpsed as one approaches and enters the building. This abundant transparency and visual linkage, combined with the purposeful interconnection between program areas, creates an institution that physically rejects a static approach to learning. 

As Donald Schmitt, the Principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects explains, "The building’s design creates a multitude of places both indoors and out for informal gathering, presentation, making and remaking, which is at the heart of Emily Carr’s multidisciplinary arts learning. The needs and collaborative spirit of students and faculty inform the fundamental principles of the architecture.” With dedicated studios for everything from virtual reality design to robotics to print media and ceramics, the university is equipped to foster a wide array of studies.

However, the 26,700 square meter University is not just for faculty and students; it has also been designed to engage with its surrounding urban context. In addition to revitalizing a previously industrial section of downtown Vancouver, the campus makes it easy for the public to view the activities taking place in the building, creating a dialogue between the students and the world around them. This is a fitting tribute to Emily Carr herself, whose works continue to be exhibited around the world (in 2015, London's Dulwich Picture Gallery hosted a solo exhibition) nearly seventy years after her death. In an elegant touch, the building's color palette is drawn from her works, and correspondingly accents the white metal cladding.