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INSTITUTIONAL
ARCHITECTURE

The Renaissance of the “Living” Museum:

Montreal Biodome

Montréal, Canada

ANVA, a Montreal-based firm embraced the role that the Biodome plays
renowned for meaningful in sensitizing humans to the intricacies of
Kprojects extending beyond the natural environments, particularly in the
boundaries of architectural shapes and current context of climate change and the
forms, is proud to unveil the delicate importance of understanding its effects.”
grandeur of the newly redesigned
Biodome, a Montreal science museum A complex storyline
that immerses visitors in the authentic From the onset, KANVA studied the
environs of multiple ecosystems. tremendous complexity of the building, a
Housed in the former Velodrome, living entity comprised of ecosystems and
constructed for the Montréal 1976 Olympic very complex machinery that is critical
Games, the Biodome opened in 1992 and to supporting life. They realized that any
is a jewel in the crown of a consortium type of intervention would need to be
of facilities that collectively account very delicate, and that a global strategy
for the most visited museum spaces in on the scale of the mandate would require
Canada. After winning an international the careful coordination and management
architectural competition in 2014, of numerous micro interventions. Every
KANVA, co-founded by Rami Bebawi decision required consultations across
and Tudor Radulescu, was commissioned multiple disciplines, and it became a
for the $25 million project by Space for truly collaborative effort that embraced
Life, the body charged with overseeing KANVA’s storyline.
operations of the Biodome, Planetarium, “Everybody understood the global
Insectarium, and Botanical Garden. vision, and they carried that understanding
“Our mandate was to enhance the with them in the spirit of collaboration,”
immersive experience between visitors says Bebawi. “It was a very inspirational
and the museum’s distinct ecosystems, experience that will serve as a model for
as well as to transform the building’s better addressing environmental issues in
public spaces,” notes Rami Bebawi, a design in the future.”
partner of KANVA and the project’s From an organizational perspective,
lead architect. “In doing so, we proudly KANVA began by targeting spaces that

22 Issue 242 • dw