Biodôme Migration

Biodôme Migration 

Awards and distinctions Word Architecture Festival 2022, OAQ Award of Excellence 2022, Grands Prix du Design 2021 and more!

Winner of an international competition, the Migration of the Biodome proposed a redevelopment of the museum, established in 1992, inside the velodrome built by Roger Taillibert for the 1976 Olympic Games. The design saw an opportunity to highlight the original project, especially unveiling the vault hanging above all the exhibition spaces.

Location
Montreal, QC
Type
Institutional, Architecture
Storeys
2
Surface area
373,000 ft² / 35,000 m²
Status
Completed (2020)
Collaboration
KANVA (all the project's phases)

Inspired by biophilia, the architectural concept aligns with the ideals promoted by Espace pour la vie - an organization that aims to bring humans and nature closer together through dissemination, conservation, research and education.

The complex encourages the visitor to wander freely and become totally immersed in the four ecosystems. A textile wall accompanies the spatial undulations, its curved lines defining the different spaces.

Completing the scenography, a network of aerial footbridges multiplies the points of view of the fauna and flora and leads to the Bio-machine, an educational tool explaining how it all works.

The secondary structure that stabilizes the new additions and an interior ice wall are some of the technical feats that were realized through a rich collaboration between architects, engineers, museographers, geologists, biologists and other experts.

Photo credit : Marc Cramer, James Brittain

Related projects