By the time the Museum of Anthropology completes its recently announced renewal plans in 2009, it may still be recognizable from the outside but perhaps not inside. The $52.5-million expansion and reno will bump up interior space by 50 percent, leaving the Great Hall, Bill Reid Rotunda, and Koerner Ceramics Gallery intact while shifting just about everything else. A new wing, to be added onto the building's southern side (along the parking lot), was designed by Arthur Erickson, architect of the original 1967 concrete-and-glass landmark.

New features will include a Musqueam-influenced entrance to emphasize the museum's location on traditional territory, as well as completely reconfigured Visible Storage Galleries, with regions grouped according to the world's oceans rather than land masses. This hybrid area will house more artifacts, more sensitively displayed according to concepts like usage, ownership, and ethnolinguistic classifications, plus improved public-research facilities, display spaces, and a Presentation Circle for small-scale discussions and events. The overall changes will include a 5,800-square-foot gallery, finally allowing the MOA to accommodate major travelling shows that so often bypass Vancouver for lack of a venue.

“It provides us with the infrastructure to run a much larger museum than at present,”  said facility director Anthony Shelton, who drummed up most of the funding since arriving from Portugal a year and a half ago. (The MOA still needs to raise $7 million from the private sector; the bulk of the money so far has come from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, plus UBC.) He was partly referring to further differences behind the scenes, including new conservation, mount-making, and linguistics labs, plus a level of below-grade storage to hold valuable private donations that the museum was previously forced to turn away.

Besides physical changes, the renewal involves a fresh philosophy. “We're trying to reorientate the image of the museum,”  Shelton added, talking about his plans to broaden the MOA's mandate into realms like contemporary art or an urban-architecture lecture series, such as was held June 1 to 3 at the facility. Hoping to draw more locals and tourists to the MOA, he also wants to push exhibits into more politically engaged territory, along the lines of a planned exhibit on AIDS masks from Africa. “I had doubts when I arrived about why we're called an anthropology museum,”  he said. “I see us as a museum of arts and cultures. I don't think museums should just show beautiful objects; they should be confrontational as well as relevant.” 

Another related project is the Reciprocal Research Network, which will link museums with Pacific Northwest collections both along the West Coast and around the world via the Internet, enabling comprehensive research and something Shelton intriguingly calls “virtual repatriation”  of artifacts. Staffers are currently digitizing the entire MOA collection.

For those needing restoration of their own during visits, the museum will finally get a café with access to a landscaped courtyard. A bigger gift shop and commercial art gallery are in the plans, too. Since the renos will reduce display space over the next three years, the MOA will make up for this with enhanced public programs. And Shelton is already talking about Phase 2, a 10-year plan that will add several Asian galleries to better represent Vancouver's diverse population.