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Ontario Science Centre

jje1000 said:
I wonder how much of this might be attributed to different organizational structures? It always has felt like ROM is more of its own organization rather than a creature of the province like the Ontario Science Centre.

Makes me wonder why beyond the early 2000s-spurt of investment that got us a few updated exhibits at the OSC, there hasn't been much since the 2010s. How far back do the plans for shuttering it down stretch to?
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The last traveling exhibit they paid for I believe was mythbusters. They haven’t brought anything significant since Bodyworlds.
 
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3Dementia said:
The OSC theatre is actually OmniMAX (even more immersive than IMAX). The OmniMAX projected images can fill nearly 90% of the surrounding dome theatre... absolutely worth saving!!

And while we're at it (speaking of film), if the Science Centre can't be saved... I'd repurpose the main building into a History of Cinema Museum, with tons of Canadian content such as celebrating the remarkable legacy of the National Film Board (incl. the 70 films of Norman McLaren) and the largest publicly attended film festival in the world (TIFF)...
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And to repeat: the primary problem with said solution is that the main building is the part where the original Moriyama scheme has been most effaced, thanks to the 90s+ alterations (including the OmniMAX). And whether one likes it or not, this has played out as a heritage-centric argument with *particular* concern for the original Moriyama fabric, or what remains of it. And those most concerned with the original Moriyama are more likely to regard the OmniMAX as a beginning-of-the-end rather than as a prime point of heritage concern (and a double-barrelled beginning-of-the-end, given how it was the de facto "replacement" for the McLaughlin Planetarium).

Though yes, those aspects which make the front building least satisfying to the Moriyama/Brutalist-heritage crowd might be less jarring for under-40s for whom this has *always* been the status quo--and maybe even more satisfyng for being Y2Kish au courant rather than a Centennial-era mausoleum. (Sort of like in the 70s and 80s, the main building was but a big empty vestibule en route to the main attractions beyond--while subsequently, its revamping might very well have come to *overshadow* what lay beyond, at least for younger visitors.)
 
I would like to see some outreach to the Aga Khan folks who are very involved in education and community services as the population in this area is very Muslim.

I also love the cinema idea. Windfields is close-by and there are several film/cinema departments at all of the colleges and universities that could use extra space. And of course there is the theatre/auditorium!

 
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I mean, if they are not planning on using or maintaining the building further, then I'm not sure what would compel them to accept the offers.
 
How the the province will accept the help given to them to fix this will tell us whether this was a structural or a political decision. That is, if they accept the help, then we can say that they where likely sincere in shutting it down and didn't know what else to do. If they don't, it's very likely this was never really about the structural issues to begin with and where probably lying like Trump about that. We can only hope it's the former.
 
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