Two Toronto architectural firms are in the running to build the new campus of Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver.

The university announced a shortlist of three companies that have been chosen to make formal proposals. They were chosen from among eight national and international teams that answered a request for qualifications to prove they could design, finance, build, and run the campus for thirty years.

One of the teams is led by Toronto’s Diamond Schmidt, which designed Toronto’s Four Season Centre for the Performing Arts and the new Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersurg. The other Toronto firm is Zeidler Partnership, which was responsible for Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre and Vancouver’s Canada Place.

The third candidate is Vancouver-based Bing Thom Architects.

The three teams will now submit proposals, and the winning team will be chosen next year.