A general view of the Ontario Science Centre, in Toronto, Friday, May 5, 2023. The firm of the architect who designed the Ontario Science Centre says closing the building is not necessary and is offering its services free of charge to the provincial government for roof repairs. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Closing the Ontario Science Centre building is not necessary, the firm of the architect who designed it said June 25, offering its services free of charge to the provincial government for roof repairs in a bid to keep it open.
Ontario announced mid-day Friday that the science centre would permanently close in its east Toronto location at the end of the day after the province received an engineering report on the state of the roof.
That Rimkus Consulting report said some roof panels are at risk of collapse, and Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma said the engineers told government officials that the roof should be replaced in its entirety, which would take two to five years. But it is not the only option presented in the report, and the firm of the late architect Raymond Moriyama wrote in a statement Tuesday that the decision to “abruptly, rashly and permanently” close the science centre was a shock. It is urging the government to reverse course.
“The Rimkus engineering report makes it clear that closing the OSC is not a necessity,” the firm wrote.
“Repairs are needed, but on a manageable scale and with potentially minimal impact on the pu...