Museum of Anthropology at UBC
The Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia is Arthur Erickson's 1976 masterwork on Musqueam unceded territory: a Great Hall of floor-to-ceiling glass framing Northwest Coast poles, house posts, and carved figures against the North Shore mountains and Burrard Inlet. The building is the West Coast taste argument in concrete and cedar, borrowing from Haida longhouse typology and Japanese spatial restraint while centring Indigenous artistry as structure rather than ornament. Beyond the Great Hall, galleries hold nearly 50,000 ethnographic objects and visible-storage displays that keep most of the collection on public view. Contemporary programming and the shop extend the visit beyond the iconic hall. Campus location means a taxi or bus from downtown; many visitors pair MOA with a UBC campus walk or a West Vancouver architecture drive afterward. Confirm hours, special exhibitions, and any Great Hall renewal notices on moa.ubc.ca before you go. The museum rewards grey afternoons when Erickson's glass turns the inlet into a living backdrop.
- Address
- 6393 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada
- Official website
- Visit site ↗
- Country
- Canada
While you're there
MOA sits at the western edge of the UBC campus above Marine Drive. Most visitors taxi from downtown or Kitsilano; do not assume a quick hop from Gastown without traffic. After the Great Hall, walk the reflecting pool and exterior before you rush back across the bridge.
Pro Tip: Visit on an overcast day if you can. Erickson designed the hall for the coast's soft light; harsh summer noon flattens the glass-and-mountain composition the room was built to dramatize.
- Best for
- Understanding West Coast modern taste where architecture, Indigenous craft, and landscape meet in one room.
- Pair with
- Vancouver Art Gallery downtown for contemporary Asian programming the next morning.
- Season / timing
- Summer campus traffic is heavier; shoulder-season weekday afternoons are calmer in the Great Hall.