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Whistler art museum proposed

Michael Audain has revealed that plans for the Audain Art Museum have doubled in size to 55,000 square feet. It is now expected to cost $30 million, $10 million more than when he announced the project last October.

The exhibition space in the museum will be 20,000 sq. ft., which is the same size as the exhibition space at the Museum of Vancouver, and approximately 60 per cent of the exhibition space at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The main section is two levels, with the first floor featuring 14,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space with a 13-foot ceiling. The new wing where the building juts out will have 6,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space, and a ceiling that will soar up to 30 feet high.

Audain said he hopes to get approval for the building by the summer, and to finish it by early 2015. If approved, Audain says that would make it the largest purpose-built art museum in British Columbia. The museum will be paid for by the Audain Foundation.