RSAAW restores the headquarters of the Architecture Institute of British Columbia (AIBC) in Vancouver, BC

“When Rafael Santa Ana Architecture Workshop (RSAAW) began the project of restoring the interior of the headquarters of the Architecture Institute of British Columbia (AIBC)  in Vancouver, Canada, they knew it would be a complicated process. Renovations, particularly in designated heritage buildings such as the AIBC, are daunting, typically involving a diverse group of stakeholders, significant red tape, and challenging fiscal and temporal constraints. 

The original building is a 1911 vintage steel and concrete build by A.A Cox. Since then it has undergone two renovations, one a full restoration to create a showcase ‘green’ building by sustainability pioneers Busby + Associates Architects and an additional interior intervention in the 1990s by Roger Hughes + Partners. Instead of seeing the layered history of the space’s design as a constraint, RSAAW used it as a source of inspiration,creating an intervention that respects the diversity of the building’s history and seeks to build on and modernize it, as opposed to attempting to preserve or return the building to its original state. 

Instead of seeing the layered history of the space’s design as a constraint, RSAAW used it as a source of inspiration, creating an intervention that respects the diversity of the building’s history and seeks to build on and modernize it, as opposed to attempting to preserve or return the building to its original state.”