Location & Facilities

Trustee Initiatives

The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies is located within the University Centre (the former Faculty Club) in the cultural heart of the University of British Columbia. Spectacular views of Howe Sound and the North Shore Mountains enhance the natural setting, and downtown Vancouver is minutes away.

The Institute is conveniently located close to the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, the Museum of Anthropology, the Frederick Wood Theatre, and the Belkin Art Gallery.

The University Centre is readily accessible by bus or taxi. Pay parking is available in front of the building or in the adjacent Rose Garden Parkade.

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Cornelia Hahn Oberlander

At the University of British Columbia, in 1958, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander collaborated with Professor Frederic Lasserre, architect of the Faculty Club, to design the original landscape for the Leon and Thea Koerner University Centre, then known as the Faculty Club. In 2010 she designed a minimalist landscape for the north side of the Peter Wall Institute wing. In order to achieve a goal of a sustainable and healthy design, indigenous plants are featured, particularly those that require little maintenance.

This contemplative garden is in harmony with the Centre’s original design. The total effect is a viewing place which brings pleasure to the eye of the visitor in our guest rooms and offers UBC scholars an inspiring outlook. The design was carried out by Ambrosio Lainez-Morales, North by Northwest Ventures under the supervision of Elisabeth Whitelaw landscape architect.

Over the past 60 years Cornelia Oberlander has collaborated as a landscape architect in a wide range of projects with internationally acclaimed architects such as Renzo Piano, Moshe Safdie, and the late Arthur Erickson. A leader in sustainability, Oberlander applies her technical expertise in conjunction with her concern for the cultural, social, economic and environmental context associated with each project and has received the Order of Canada for her work.

Oberlander has contributed to the designs of many high-profile buildings in Canada and the United States. These include Vancouver's Robson Square, the Museum of Anthropology, the C.K. Choi Building for Asian Research, the Liu Centre for Global Studies at the University of British Columbia The Canadian Chancery in Washington, D.C (with Erickson), the New York Times Building, NYC (with Piano) as well as Canada's National Gallery, and the Vancouver Public Library (with Safdie).