Thomas Hooper was an architect with offices in Vancouver and Victoria. In 1912, the Provincial Government held an architectural competition with a cash prize of $4,000 for the best designs for the new university campus at Point Grey. The competition called for designs for four buildings (Arts and Science, Agriculture, Dormitories, and Power House) whose construction would begin at once and a sketch of proposals for the rest of the university. Amongst the 20 entries was one submitted by Thomas Hooper. In rejecting Hooper's designs, the judging committee suggested that "the practical issues such as appropriate planning and cost of erection have been sacrificed to grandiose and pictorial effects."