The $80.5 million renewal of the 1967 Canada Science and Technology Museum preserves and showcases the innovations that have shaped the country’s history, located in Ottawa, ON.
Challenge
Decades of additions had produced a complex structure built with varying structural systems, material standards, and aging building components. The renewal required extensive upgrades to unify the facility, improve performance, and accommodate modern exhibition and visitor needs.
Solution
Our design introduces a dynamic entrance defined by an articulated roof, digital displays, inclined walls, and façades that integrate with the building’s geometry. Architectural, mechanical, and electrical upgrades harmonize the existing structure, while a new boiler chiller plant, visible from the exhibit space through a glazed wall, transforms the Museum’s HVAC system into a functional exhibit.
Outcome
The renewed Museum delivers a highly engaging visitor experience through innovative digital exhibits and flexible spaces that accommodate travelling exhibitions from around the world. Seismic upgrades, a high-performance building envelope, rooftop photovoltaic panels, and modernized energy systems support long-term resilience and operational efficiency.
The renewed facility engages visitors with innovative digital exhibits, an iconic entrance with immersive wall and ceiling displays, and a dynamic roofline.
Faceted ceiling planes and integrated lighting echo the museum’s dynamic architectural language
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is a National Museum located in Ottawa, ON. With a mandate to tell Canada’s long and rich history of innovation in science and technology, the Museum collects, preserves and displays artifacts that have shaped the history of the country. Built in 1967, the vision for the $80.5 million CDN renewal was to create a unique experience for visitors, using the latest advances in digital displays and technology, with a concept to have the building facade become part of these displays creating an iconic entrance to contrast the original box shape building, ushering a new era of the Museum’s evolution.
NORR’s multidisciplinary team worked in collaboration with stakeholders, consultants and the constructor, to create the design. Many aspects of the original building and its systems were outdated and beyond their life span, requiring either upgrades or replacements. The existing structure presented its own unique set of challenges, as the building was assembled with multiple additions over several decades. Each addition was constructed using varying structural systems, material grades, and quality standards. Rectifying these underlying differences took innovation in design for architectural, mechanical and electrical systems to create a harmonious structure and an energy-efficient building envelope. The scope extended to a seismic upgrade of the facility and the complete replacement of the roof, that today supports photo voltaic panels. The rooftop units were replaced by a boiler chiller plant with fan coil units distributed for localized heating and cooling control. The boiler chiller plant was designed with a glazing wall from the exhibit space, with color-coded piping, to act as a functional exhibit of the Museum’s HVAC system.
The result is a modern Museum that features over 80,000 square-feet of exhibition space, including a 9,200 square-foot temporary exhibition hall to accommodate traveling exhibitions from around the world. The space also houses an auditorium, theaters, cafeteria, kitchen, boutique, education center, offices, and workshops. The renewed facility provides visitors with a highly engaging experience featuring innovative digital exhibits, an iconic entrance with an articulated roof complete with digital displays on the walls and ceiling, and a complex structure featuring multi-planar roof and inclined walls that integrate and intertwine with the geometry of the north and west facades.
