About ten years ago, I was invited by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers to their Awards Gala at the Ontario Science Centre. I jumped at the offer. My memories of the OSC stretch back to my youth when I was captivated by the exhibits and full of curiosity. A day filled with a detailed working model of the St. Lawrence sea-way lock or the manipulator arms used to simulate the work on dangerous chemicals, radioactive or other hazardous materials by trying to stack coloured blocks by remote control. The exhibits are hands on and filled with things to move and gee-whiz about. I pushed, prodded, lifted, listened and guessed all types of facts all day long. The famous electric show capped off by the audience experience of the Van de Graaff generator providing a hair raising experience, or the huge laser with its cycle of colours created by light passing through different gases. Of course what was once amazing is now commonplace and everyday. I had learned through play with huge models and exhibits that filled the equally large spaces and almost touched the ceilings during those first visits. Most remarkable about those past childhood visits was that I did not hear one “shhh” or “do not touch” all day long.

When I entered University, I began to appreciate my experiences at the OSC. What began with a feeling of awe at the building evolved into a feeling of pride at the accomplishment of the institution. Later when I visited with my own children for their introduction to the stimulating environment of the first interactive science museum. Up top there are three primary spaces for exploring space, mother Earth and the molecule. The large valley building would change its displays on a mass scale lead on by colourful shapes and patterns from one topic of interest to the next. Erin and Mark were engrossed by the experience. Driven forward by a new exploration in science. Experiments of sight, sound or paradox. Like the giant and/or machine that takes six selected balls and drops them through a series of tubes and switch choices that make a sound at every turn. All of this around the basic question that out of six possibilities, can you guess the outcome of which coloured ball will emerge. There were early environmental questions such as the composition of objects within the giant garbage dump core sample. Our early visits may have begun when they were too young to understand but the exhibits were filled with much to entertain a young mind. Of course when I was tired, one could take a break from chasing little kids and have a rest in a mini-theater with a stimulating movie attached. Even during these trips I was filled with wonder at how the buildings that make up the composition seem to fit naturally into their environment. An embodiment of an architecture flowing into nature. They follow the natural contours of the Don River ravine, into which the Centre descends.

It was a beautiful evening when Jan and I arrived at the Science Centre. We parked and took the brief walk through the lush greenery of the grounds and the scent of pine followed us to the front of the building. The night was cool and I was a bit nervous at the prospect of being a sole architect meeting a few hundred engineers and their guests. The light spilled out from the interior. Then the entry through a grand expanse of glass below a heroic angled cornice of concrete into a magnificent space devoted to industry, devoid of art but beautiful in its presentation. After shedding our coats at the counter and picking up our name tags at the table within the gallery we were immediately greeted by two engineers and their spouses. I had recently served with on a Jury with them for the Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards. After exchanging introductions we walked together out of the entry pavilion. Strolling across the glass enclosed bridge over the dark wooded ravine below with only a few lights poking light through the trees.

The interior of the bridge emerges at the top of the great hall. Then one descends down the broad curving stair into that glorious space formed by three bare minimalist brutal concrete cylinders. In the past, during the day, it was always a bright space filled with the sight and sound of excited children on bus trips roaring through the space to experience the new found wonders held by science. That night the hall conveyed a more restrained mood over its usual flood of information. The usual lights were subdued to give an ambiance of dinner intimacy. One could catch the reflection of a single bulb off the fine mirror finish of the terrazzo floor in contrast to the rough cast, bush hammered and broken surface of the highly expressive forms. Those memories of gleeful noise and a buzz like the crackling of electricity gave way to the hush of a formal black tie evening and the quartet was playing “Stand by Me” as we entered the Hall. 

The tables all set with all kinds of finery and the aroma of floral center pieces stretched out before us. Being President and representing the Architects of Ontario, Jan and I were treated as dignitaries and were seated at a table with the heads of other provincial engineering and related organizations. Opposite us was a young man from Engineers Without Borders and his wife. Once seated, I could really drink in the room and the shape of the space. To one side the stage was set with a back drop emblazoned with the OSPE name. Above it were the reflections of lights on the exterior glass beyond the cylinders that separate the warmth of the interior from the cold of the outdoor terrace and the dark sky above it. The ceiling between the cylinders was punctuated by sky lights made dark and reflective by the evening. The playful shapes of sculpted mobiles hung above us and animated the interior with their shadows on that ceiling. All of this delicacy and the fine flow of ladies' dresses gave even a more stark contrast by unflinchingly curving brutalist concrete walls that enclosed us.

A delicious dinner of beef with all the dressings was served and punctuated by an engineer’s conversation filled with curiosity and conjecture. Then awards evening entertainment unfolded with the presentation of plaques and metals. The collected group was possessed by a provincial pride in its accomplishments brought into a finer edge by an irreverent jibe or two. What better place to experience such a feeling then in a room inspired by a trillium. Now that I am an old man with a grey beard, looking back on that evening, I can’t say there was any great truth expressed but it did inspire me to keep searching through my imagination to create spaces filled with meaning.

I am reminded how fragile much of the art of building is. Not the dream of building for generations that inspired my trip to university. Much of my work has been of expressive interiors shaped to enhance and focus the day to day lives of the occupants that I have designed for. Many of these have been swept away as if changing one’s wardrobe for a new season. It has not been as quick as that but what is twenty years when one is measuring by generations. Even 14 acre buildings shaped by the Vituvian Triad of firmitatis, utilitatis and venustatis and modeled of concrete on a canvas of a 100 acre garden of ravines where one can engage in a dialectic between architecture and its environment is immune to such capriciousness. Premier Doug Ford announced 18 April 2023 the Ontario government’s general plan to replace the Ontario Science Centre with a smaller new institution on the Toronto waterfront. The current six-storey building is approximately 568,000 square feet while the new centre will be around 269,000 square feet. The current 54 year old Science Centre has been criticized for getting old and it has been left to decay rather than being maintained. The current government likes to toast new accomplishments and cut ribbons but it is loath to carry out the
necessary work of maintenance or pay the staff a living wage. I’m certain that may be what is behind the shrinking of the facility by more than half is all the wages he will save and while he is at it he may automate the entire experience after all it is the Science Centre. It makes me think of a 1970 film by David Cronenberg that used the OSC as its location. Let’s hope that “Crimes of the Future” is not what we have to look forward to for our cherished institutions.