The Biodôme, Montreal's science museum housed in the former 1976 Olympics velodrome, has just been given a thorough and imressive refresh by local architecture studio KANVA. The architects led an extensive redesign of the structure, promoting biophilic design, environmental sustainability, restoration and reuse, and a dynamic, immersive display in a project that transforms the modernist-inspired concrete structure into a 21st century multi-level experience.
Headed by Rami Bebawi and Tudor Radulescu, who co-founded the practice in 2003, KANVA won an international competition to breathe new life into the tired structure in 2014 – these works part of a wider reworking of the Space for Life complex, which includes the Biôdome, Planetarium, Insectarium, and Botanical Garden.
‘Our mandate was to enhance the immersive experience between visitors and the museum’s distinct ecosystems, as well as to transform the building’s public spaces, says Bebawi. ‘In doing so, we proudly embraced the role that the Biodôme plays in sensitising humans to the intricacies of natural environments, particularly in the current context of climate change and the importance of understanding its effects.'
A project comprising an existing architectural structure but also complex technical equipment and whole ecosystems of plants, birds, fish and animals, this was a complicated task. The architects led a delicate operation composed of several ‘micro-interventions', in order to achieve their goal.
This included opening up a new core for the Biodôme experience – an open, central space that links all areas and connects the visitor with both the displays and the context, by revealing the dome's spectacular roof structure. High ceilings and skylights bathe the interior with light creating a fascinating shadow play between sun rays and the existing sculptural concrete structure.
A translucent, biophilic design skin wraps around each of the musuem’s various ecosystems (there are five of them in total, housing more than 250,000 animals and 500 plant species), protecting them and guiding visitors by helping with orientation. ‘It’s a very powerful tool, half a kilometre in length and rising nearly four storeys,' explains Bebawi. ‘It’s extremely emblematic of the space, and the white purity beautifully highlights and contrasts the original structural concrete.'
Making clever use of an existing structure while injecting biophilic design to bring it to the 21st century, the Biodôme is visually arresting and engaging. ‘We need to reconnect people with the environment, and the Biodôme does that in a refreshing way that we are proud to have contributed to,' adds Bebawi. ‘This project has provided us with six years of invaluable knowledge, preparing us for new and innovative approaches to future projects where architecture becomes a tool to promote and facilitate environmental change.'
INFORMATION
-
Frieze London 2025: all the fashion moments to look out forThe best fashion happenings to add to your Frieze London 2025 schedule, from Dunhill’s curation of talks at Frieze Masters to an exhibition of furniture by Rick Owens
-
Artists reflect on Kate Bush lyrics for a War Child auctionPeter Doig and Maggi Hambling are among artists interpreting Kate Bush’s 1985 track ‘Running Up That Hill’ for War Child’s online auction
-
Explore Tom Kundig’s unusual houses, from studios on wheels to cabins slotted into bouldersThe American architect’s entire residential portfolio is the subject of a comprehensive new book, ‘Tom Kundig: Complete Houses’
-
Buy yourself a Sanctuary, a serene house above the British Columbia landscapeThe Sanctuary was designed by BattersbyHowat for clients who wanted a contemporary home that was also a retreat into nature. Now it’s on the market via West Coast Modern
-
La Maison de la Baie de l’Ours melds modernism into the shores of a Québécois lakeACDF Architecture’s grand family retreat in Quebec offers a series of flowing living spaces and private bedrooms beneath a monumental wooden roof
-
Peel back maple branches to reveal this cosy midcentury Vancouver gemOsler House, a midcentury Vancouver home, has been refreshed by Scott & Scott Architects, who wanted to pay tribute to the building's 20th-century modernist roots
-
A spectacular waterside house in Canada results from a radical overhaulSplyce Design’s Shoreline House occupies an idyllic site in British Columbia. Refurbished and updated, the structure has been transformed into a waterside retreat
-
Hilborn House, one of Arthur Erickson’s few residential projects, is now on the marketThe home, first sketched on an envelope at Montreal Airport, feels like a museum of modernist shapes, natural materials and indoor-outdoor living
-
This Canadian house is a precise domestic composition perched on the Nova Scotian coastBishop McDowell completed a new Canadian house overlooking the Atlantic, using minimal details and traditional forms to create a refined family home
-
In Canada, The Nest is a three-dimensional puzzle redefining remote livingOn a wooded site on the country’s West Coast, this prefabricated retreat designed by Daria Sheina Studio is a nurturing space for low-impact living
-
Discover Canadian modernist Daniel Evan White’s pitch-perfect homesCanadian architect Daniel Evan White (1933-2012) had a gift for using the landscape to create extraordinary homes; revisit his story in an article from the Wallpaper* archives (first published in 2011)
