Pamela Goddard attended Emily Carr when it was an institute as opposed to a university and when students were permitted to complete assignments at the school overnight.
We had a pajama-party protest [when the school decided to close its doors at midnight], said Goddard, who graduated in 1996.
Now a research production manager for Propellor Design, an award-winning company composed of her and two other Emily Carr grads, Goddard has a soft spot for the schools location on Granville Island. She notes in her day students were assigned studio spaces where they could leave their work out.
But now with 1,800 students attending an institution built for 850, some budding artists and designers must pack up their work and supplies after each session, book rooms far in advance to complete assignments, and try to ignore the sound of adjacent classes dampened only by folding walls.
Thats why Emily Carr University of Art + Design hopes to relocate, expand and provide student housing on the Great Northern Way Campus between Main and Clark. The Ministry of Advanced Education recently gave the university $1.7 million to develop a business case for this scheme. The work is due by September.
Petra Mohring, who relocated from Chile to attend Emily Carr after considering art schools in Germany and the U.S., said she liked the schools location on Granville Island where it is surrounded by a bustling community that meets her basic needs.
But Mohring, who graduated from Emily Carr last year with a bachelor in fine arts with a focus in ceramics, likes the idea of school providing student housing in a quad formation, where four student rooms open onto a shared space. She believes the arrangement could make life easier for international students, who comprise 13 to 14 per cent of Emily Carrs population, by helping them to make friends.
Alexandra Silvaggi, a second-year animation student from Portland, Oregon, noted the difficulty of finding an apartment in Vancouver, so she also favours Emily Carr providing student housing.
But she worries student art sales at Great Northern Way wont attract the same foot traffic as those on Granville Island, which sees more than 10 million visitors each year.
Ron Burnett, president and vice-chancellor of Emily Carr, doesnt believe the proposed new location will be a problem.
Generally, the interest in buying art from the students is very, very high and we usually have a lineup when we start, he said. And I dont think a location, really, 15 or 20 minutes away is going to make a difference.
He added the new Equinox Project Space gallery is drawing more visitors than anyone expected and noted Great Northern Way is easily accessible by public transit.
Otilia Spantulescu, a cultural and critical studies student who hails from Port Moody, says developers strolled through her summer classes two years ago to scout out the views from the school for possible redevelopment into condos.
Shed like an expanded Emily Carr to remain at its Granville Island location, which is leased from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, while also spreading to the Great Northern Way Campus.
Lisa Ono, manager of public affairs and programming for CMHC, says condos arent on the horizon.
No plans for that whatsoever, she said.
Ono said Emily Carr is responsible for managing the lease, which could include subletting the space to another institution, such as another school, which would be subject to the Crown corporations approval.
Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi
