PLANETARIUM RIO TINTO ALCAN
The surface of a lake in the Laurentian mountains
Visitors relax under the sky in a recreation of the surface of a lake in the Canadian mountains
of Mars and the new exoplanets that we’re discovering every week. We use multimedia design exhibits.
Instead of having printed panels with text and pictures, multi-touch screens enable visitors to navigate animations, images, text and videos. Most of the information is presented in a digital form. This is very dynamic and can be updated easily, which is essential, as it’s a topic that’s changing very fast. If we finally discover the smoking gun of life on Mars, for example, we’ll be able to present that information immediately. This exhibit will be presented for the first five to seven years of operation of the planetarium. Part of the exhibit will be devoted to
meteorites because there’s a strong link between meteorites and the appearance of life on Earth. We have one of the largest meteorite collections in Canada, which is on display. There’s also a fully functioning geo-
logical laboratory with a large window to allow visitors to see how we study meteorites and take care of them. At certain points in the day, the public can interact with animators and scientists around the meteorite laboratory. To experience everything we offer at the planetarium takes between two and three hours. After the exhibit, visitors can spend time in the café, partici- pate in a special presentation in one of our three classrooms, or go on to visit the Montreal Biodôme, the Botanical Garden or the Insectarium.
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It’s a topic that’s changing fast. If we finally discover the smoking gun of life on Mars, we can present that information immediately
WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION? The inspiration for going anywhere in the universe in the astronomical thea- tre was based on our own experience of using that technology at demonstra- tions in Chicago and New York. We were inspired by the fact that, with a sim- ple joystick or iPad, we can control the images that are projected on the dome and can travel anywhere in the universe. It’s so powerful and so novel. The inspiration for the multimedia
theatre is Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon’s own cottage in the country between Montreal and Ottawa. In the evening, they sit by a river filled with rocks and gaze at the reflection of the sky on the surface. When people walk inside the multimedia theatre, they see a highly reflective floor. Whatever is projected on the dome will be reflected on the floor, just like it would be on the surface of a river or lake. Visitors sit on Adirondack chairs or beanbags that resemble rocks coming out of the river.
WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES? The buildings are on the Olympic Park, which was built in the 1970s. There’s concrete everywhere and very few trees
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in sight. As we’re The Space For Life, it’s a challenge to talk about life in such a sterile environment. We tried to remove as much concrete
as we could. For example, much of the roof is green, to absorb heat, thereby reducing the heat-island effect on the site. The area around the building is renaturalised, with landscaping integrat- ing patches of greenery and trees. The planetarium construction is the first part of a larger plan that will
invest CA$200m (US$203.1m, £125.3m, E154.4m) in that area in the next five to eight years. There’s a grand design behind all this and we’re only one step in that movement. By the end, the look of the whole area will have changed completely. I think people will love it.
WHAT ARE THE FUTURE PLANS? We’ll have new shows and experiences starting in the spring of 2014 and school presentations that will target content in the Quebec school curricu- lum. Astronomy topics are covered at the primary and secondary level and we want to help the teachers teach good astronomy. We have a plan for the first five years, but it’s too early to reveal. l
AM 2 2013 ©Cybertrek 2013
photo: EspacE pour la viE DaniEl choiniErE
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