La Biosphère

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This project consists in the conversion of the structure built for the United States Pavilion for the 1967 World's Fair in Montreal, on Ste-Helene Island. This structure, symbol of Expo '67, was designed by famed architect and engineer Richard Buckminster Fuller in collaboration with the Cambridge Seven architectural firm who designed the interior system of exhibition platforms and the landscaping. The geodesic dome remains today the largest of its kind in the world.  After having been abandoned for several years in the aftermath of a fire that consumed the acrylic glazing, the project was undertaken in 1992 to convert the structure to accommodate Environment Canada's St-Lawrence Centre Environmental Monitoring Centre.  The project was a way of reviving the significant heritage structural and to elaborate a unique museological concept for the interpretation of the ecology of water systems.