Ontario Science Centre- Written by Dustin Valen
Opened in 1969 and among the last of Canada’s Centennial projects, the Ontario Science Centre is an architectural masterpiece that has touched the lives of
millions of young Canadians. Designed by Raymond Moriyama (1929-2023), the acclaimed Japanese Canadian architect who went on to earn the RAIC’s Gold Medal in 1997, the centre’s quiet strength derives from Moriyama’s interest in eastern philosophy. From the entrance (substantially renovated in 1996 with the addition of an IMAX theatre) visitors cross a soaring bridge before entering a series of trefoil shaped galleries that guide visitors down into the ravine below. The centre’s architecture unfolds over what Moriyama calls a “seven-stage sequence of experience,” meant to psychologically prepare visitors as they move from the mundane to the fantastical, with opportunities for quiet breaks and contemplative views between. Not a few parents have been bemused to watch the piercing mania of rainy-day weekends and school trips give way to mesmeric gazing, as children ride silently aboard escalators and look out over the forest floor.
Part of the science centre’s longstanding mission has been to provide accessible education to children all over. A “place for everyone” they called it in 1969, and in long line ups and a litany of award citations ever since. Speaking of awards, the science centre has won a few, including a Landmark Designation Award by the Ontario Association of Architects in 2017. So beloved is the building that it even graced the front of a Canadian postage stamp in 2007. Yet the most remarkable thing about the science centre is not how architects and educators have praised it over the decades, but how little these judgments seem to matter within its thickly corduroyed walls that tickle the minds and scrape the elbows of its littlest users. And oh, the noise! For herein lies the centre’s real magic, not in accolades and awards but in the frenzied, ringing voices that—until recently—filled its halls. The Ontario government’s decision to close the science centre without warning in June 2024 has, not surprisingly, elicited a storm of protest among community members, design professionals, and local politicians. Critics question the government’s use of cherry-picked evidence from engineering reports to justify the centre’s closure, arguing that critical repairs could be completed for as little as $24 million, and calling into question the transparency of elected officials’ decision making. Both the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and the Toronto Society of Architects have pressed for the building’s reopening, highlighting its architectural merit and importance to underserved neighbourhoods nearby. Others have voiced concerns about the centre’s future accessibility in wake of the government’s decision to construct a new science centre at Ontario Place, alongside a boutique spa and waterpark. We hope the present award adds to this salvo of dissatisfaction. Indeed if the Ontario Science Centre is showing its age, the Government of Ontario is showing more of it these days. Politicians would do well to imagine the little scientists and creators who once roamed the building’s halls, for it is among these future voters that the centre’s loss will be most deeply felt.
