Ontario is looking for temporary space for the Ontario Science Center in a small part of the building that was temporarily closed due to structural concerns. The science center at its current location on Toronto’s east side is closing permanently, government officials said in an announcement. The province took this decision after receiving an engineering report on the condition of the roof of the Science Centre.
The government has already decided to move the science center to the Ontario Place waterfront. But Ontario Place isn’t opening until 2028. So officials said they will look for temporary space for some programs and exhibitions by then.
Infrastructure Ontario is seeking proposals for retail or commercial space that the Ontario Science Center could temporarily relocate. For this, a space of 50,100,000 square feet is being sought, which is much smaller than the 5,68,000 square feet of the original building.
Opponents of the science center move have already criticized cutting the science center’s size in half to the new building at Ontario Place. The temporary space will be half of this smaller range. Jason Ash, co-chair of Save Ontario’s Science Centre, said, “We’ve been calling the Ontario Place plan a mini OSC. We can now easily call the Ontario Science Center a micro.
The science center that will be in the redeveloped Ontario Place will have more exhibit space than the original building, the government said. This will be due to efficient use of space. But a report by the Auditor General said that would actually be 18 percent lower than the original range.
