Page 24 - Designing Ways 242
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INSTITUTIONAL
            ARCHITECTURE







































           of five ecosystems, including Tropical
           Rainforest, Laurentian Maple Forest, Gulf
           of St. Lawrence, Sub-Antarctic Islands,
           and Labrador Coast, begins.
             The entry tunnel features a very subtle
           floor incline, intended to slow the pace of
           movement through a compressed white
           passage, and to void the mind for fresh
           sensory input. Once visitors reach the
           central core, smaller slits in the living skin,
           called eco-transits, lead them towards
           the ecosystem entrances. As automatic
           doors at the end of the eco-transit open
           into the ecosystem, it remains visually
           obstructed by a curtain of beads. By the
           time visitors pass through the beads, they
           have been exposed to the climate, smells,
           and sounds of the natural habitat before
           seeing anything. At  the  entrance  of  the
           Subpolar Regions, KANVA designed a
           new ice tunnel that acclimatises visitors
           during the transition, while the sounds
           and smells of puffins and penguins ahead
           provide additional sensory stimulation.
             Vertically, KANVA added  an entire
           new level above the ecosystems, accessible
           via walkways, enabling visitors to move
           through the foliage of majestic trees of
           both the Tropical Rainforest and Gulf of St.
           Lawrence ecosystems. The walkways lead
           to a new mezzanine, offering aerial views
           of the various ecosystems and the pure
           white nucleus. The new mezzanine also
           serves as a technical floor, with interactive





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