WINNER OF A 2015 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
In the renovated Biodome, the entrance area opens to the ceiling.
ARCHITECT KANVA (concept architect and architect of record) and NEUF architect(e)s (collaborating architect)
LOCATION Olympic Park, Montreal, Quebec
Montreal?s Biodome was built as a velodrome for the 1976 Olympic Games and was converted into a natural science museum in 1992. The Biodome includes four ecosystems: the Tropical Rainforest, the Laurentian Maple Forest, the St. Lawrence Gulf, and the Sub-Polar Regions. Together, these host over 4,500 animals from 250 different species.
As part of a citywide plan to celebrate Montreal?s 375th anniversary in 2017, the museum last year launched an international competition to renovate the Biodome interior. KANVA and NEUF?s winning entry rethinks the relationship between humankind and nature, and bolsters the centre?s educational mission. The revitalization strategy treats the existing facility as a living organism. A continuous curved wall fluidly wraps each ecosystem like a skin. Referencing the building?s history of hosting cycling races, the floor-to-ceiling walls sweep through the interior space, serving as a canvas that accompanies visitors through the building?s many pathways and leads them back to a new central hub.

A system of membrane-like walls weaves through the building, wrapping each ecosystem like a skin.
Pure in both form and colour, the white skin isolates the ecosystems and contrasts with the...