If the Ontario Science Centre's walls could talk, here's what they might say

7:48The uncertain future of the Ontario Science Centre

The Ontario government revealed recently that it plans to tear down the current Ontario Science Centre and relocate the interactive museum to Ontario Place, on Toronto's waterfront.

But what the government fails to acknowledge, in Toronto Star columnist Shawn Micallef's opinion, is the architectural and historical significance of the building. He joined host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about the legacy of the Ontario Science Centre, and what a move like this could mean for the city — and the country at large.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: For someone who's never been to the Science Centre, can you just tell us what it's like to walk through this building?

Shawn: It's kind of like entering a mothership from a sci-fi film from the '60s or '70s. You go into this regular-looking brutalist building at the entrance, but then you go over this bridge that goes over a ravine, and then you're in this other building that's also like a mothership. And then you go down these escalators and you're looking out at a ravine, and you're going down the side of the ravine. And all the while you experience science while you're there.

Elamin: I do love experiencing science. You grew up in Windsor, Ontario. That's four hours west of Toronto. The first time you visited the Science Centre when you were a kid had a big impact on you. What was that like?

Shawn: Yeah, I think it was in grade two. Windsor is like one of the flattest places on earth. I don't think the prairies have anything on Windsor; the glaciers scraped it flat. So I thought Ontario was this boring place, and I was jealous of the Rockies, or Atlantic Canada and all this kind of dramatic landscape. And then I go to Toronto and we go to the Science Centre where I didn't expect it, and I discovered ravines and the way the building kind of goes down and celebrates the contours of the ravines. It made me think about Ontario differently, like, "This is the place where I'm from. It's not boring. It's an interesting subtler landscape, but it's a celebration of this place."

Elamin: A totally normal six-year-old thought to have, I think.

Shawn: I mean, I might have expanded on the thought since. But I remember being totally fascinated by it. I had never seen a hill like that so close to my house.

Elamin: The Science Centre was designed by the famous architect, Raymond Moriyama, who designed buildings in Toronto, New Orleans, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. What do you think was his vision for the Science Centre? What was the plan there?

Shawn: The Science Centre was actually a centennial project. All across Canada we have these 1967 architectural gems built to celebrate 100 years of Canada, and the Science Centre was planned to be one of those. It opened two years later because it took a long time to build, because it's such an elaborate building, but it's part of that heritage. If you look at it from the sky, the center building actually kind of looks like a trillium, which is Ontario's flower. 

Elamin: I didn't know that!

Shawn: So there's a lot of interesting metaphors in the building.

Elamin: You know what? I've driven past the Science Centre millions of times … but I have no idea what it's meant to look like. So this has been revealing for me.

Shawn: Take a peek on Google, you'll see that.

Elamin: We're going to do it. What sort of design details of the building pop out for you?

Shawn: It's a building we don't build anymore because we don't really build huge, concrete, brutalist things. They're really expensive. It takes too much carbon to build this much concrete, but it's actually like a handmade building. All throughout the buildings it has this kind of ribbed concrete that's actually handmade. They had to chip it away as if it was a sculpture. There's beautiful terrazzo floors with brass accents all over, and these wood accents … we would not invest in a building the way they did in the late 1960s. So when you go there, look at the science stuff, but look at the building itself. It's a real gem.

Elamin: That detail has been lost on me … I'm going to go back to the Science Centre this weekend, Shawn. I'm going to take a closer look at it. It's an interactive museum, of course. The Science Centre was a product of this sort of late '60s era when science and pop culture were intersecting. What are the pop culture and cultural factors that allowed a place like the Science Centre to even exist?

Shawn: I think at the time there was the Apollo program. It was eight years before Kennedy said, "We'll go to the moon," and all that. So I think even for non-science kids there was something that captured the imagination, from Apollo to the space shuttle. And then there were all those science-y shows. I remember Whiz Kids was one where these kids programmed and kind of saved the world for one season, and then some other movies … Science was kind of cool for a few decades, and the Science Centre was a physical embodiment of that pop celebration of it.

Elamin: I think science is still cool, Shawn. What do you think?

Shawn: It is cool, but it kind of became uncool during the pandemic. It came under attack. And this was a different era where science was actually revered.

Elamin: It is worth noting that over the years, the Science Centre has been about more than just science. Shawn, tell us some of the ways that the Science Centre has been used over the years.

Shawn: Well, it's been in films, too. In the seventies, David Cronenberg used it for a film called Crimes of the Future, because it's such a futuristic looking place. But in the '90s, it was a hotspot for the rave scene in Toronto. So there were legendary Ontario Science Centre raves … Down in Windsor where we had our own techno scene with Detroit, people would drive up to Toronto to go to these raves.

WATCH | Official trailer for Crimes of the Future:

Elamin: That sounds amazing. I want to go to a rave in the Science Centre now, please. We should say, most major city attractions tend to be located in the downtown area. The Science Centre is not; it's sort of in the Flemingdon Park neighborhood in the northeast area of the city. It's directly across the street from a large cluster of apartment buildings. How do you think the location changes your experience of visiting the Science Centre?

Shawn: I think you get to see another part of Toronto, right? You know, it's not all about downtown. Nearby, there's the Aga Khan Museum, there's the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre; it's actually a cultural hub up there. To take the Science Centre away from it, I think is a real shame.

Elamin: What do you think is lost when we move that Science Centre to a different location?

Shawn: Well, we're losing that building that is absolutely unique. There's nothing like it in the world. But we're also losing that connection between city and province, I think. When you're in the Science Centre, it's a celebration of the interior landscape, and you're not going to get that anywhere else.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Shawn Micallef produced by Stuart Berman.