Science World pursuing $110 million upgrade of its temporary building

Launch of Science World's new dome lights on August 10, 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The geodesic dome that has been home to Science World since 1989 is unquestionably one of Vancouver’s most renowned landmark structures.

It was a legacy of Expo’ 86, as the building was constructed for the World’s Fair’s Expo Centre.

And like the vast majority of the structures built for the six-month World’s Fair, Science World was a temporary structure — meant to be demolished soon after the event that put Vancouver on the map.

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The building was completed in 1985 just ahead of its World’s Fair use, but the original plan to demolish the structure was quashed soon after event ended. Shortly after Expo ’86, the business community and governments saved the beloved structure, and it reopened in 1989 as the new home of Science World following a major building renovation and expansion.

Fast forward to 2023 and the building now needs a drastic upgrade.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, but what the team wants to do is to make sure Science World is here for another 35 years,” Tracy Redies, the CEO of Science World, told Daily Hive Urbanized in an interview last week. “We have a whole list of projects that we’re planning to do over the next five years.”

“It was always a very futuristic building. But the future has kind of caught up with the building. All things have to be replaced at some point as a lot of the structure was only meant to last six months.”

This includes upgrades to heating, air conditioning, ventilation, mechanical, and electrical systems, and improved energy efficiency and accessibility, as well as work on the decking and structural pilings. Most of Science World’s footprint is the temporary structure that sits over water on a platform supported by pilings.

There will also be an overhaul of some of the galleries and visitor experiences, starting with a new immersive technology gallery opening in September 2023.

Interior of Science World’s second level’s main area. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

LEGO Towers of Tomorrow exhibition at Science World. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The forthcoming reinvestments also include the multi-step process of reopening the OMNIMAX theatre, which is contained within the dome. This special theatre — which seats 400 people in front of a screen that is exponentially larger than IMAX — has been removed from Science World’s offerings since the pandemic.

Redies says that in order for the OMNIMAX dome to reopen, they need to fix the leakage first. During a media tour in April 2023, numerous buckets were seen strategically placed inside the theatre to collect water.

After the leaks are fixed, they will do interior work with the seating, infrastructure, and technology. Currently, the revamp is in the planning stages.

“Depending on funding and community support, I hope we’ll be able to open up the dome in the next couple of years,” she said.

“It’s a big undertaking because it’s one of the largest geodesic domes in the world, and we also have to be cognizant of the infrastructure and how it’s built. It’s not just an easy slam dunk thing to do. It takes a lot of planning and engineering. We are working with a couple of companies right now… we’ll bring in new technology that will be leading and state of the art.”

Inside the OMNIMAX Theatre in the dome of Science World. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Senior governments have already provided $30 million to perform the most critical building upgrades, including $10 million from the federal government’s Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada (PacifiCan) in October 2022, and $20 million from the provincial government in April 2023.

A portion of the PacifiCan funding went towards the recently completed $1.8 million project of performing some upgrades to the dome’s exterior, entailing a thorough cleaning of the surfaces, repainting the steel surface and white exoskeleton, completely removing the old lighting system, and installing the brand new state-of-the-art lighting system with three times as many lights as before and greatly enhanced programming abilities. The new nighttime lighting was first revealed last week, restoring Science World’s tradition of illuminating the dome each night.

During the April 2023 provincial funding announcement, Premier David Eby said the types of upgrades being funded by government are difficult for Science World to privately fundraise.

Eby suggested that the decision makers in the early 1980s were shortsighted with their decision to build a temporary dome, instead of proceeding with the available option at the time to build a permanent dome.

“The problems at Science World, the challenges and the opportunities here, started with the decision originally to build a temporary dome instead of a permanent dome,” he said then.

Blueprints of the original design of Science World/Expo Centre. (Science World)

The further upgrades described by Redies over the next five years will cost an additional $80 million. When combined with the funding already received by the federal and provincial governments, Science World’s expansive upgrade project within this decade carries a total cost of about $110 million.

“There’s still a lot more work to do,” continued Redies. “I hope people are as excited as we are about refurbishing this beautiful icon that means so much to all of us. It’s a real labour of love of the team.”

Redies says Science World will launch its ambitious fundraising campaign this fall, and she hopes for continued government support in addition to the contributions from private donors.

Senior government officials at last week’s dome relighting press conference suggested they are willing to consider further funding requests.

“We’re still answering our phones, and we know there’s more work to be done,” said Lana Popham, the BC Minister of Tourism.

The project to retain, convert, and expand the former Expo Centre between 1987 and 1989 cost $19 million ($45.6 million in 2023 dollars).

The next largest reinvestment in Science World was completed in 2011 at a cost of $35 million ($46 million in 2023 dollars), which provided a recladding of the building’s base structure, a new rooftop deck, a new main entrance, and a building expansion that added over 30,000 sq ft of floor area, including expanded permanent and temporary gallery spaces.

In 2012, Science World opened the $7.5 million ($10 million in 2023 dollars) Ken Spencer Science Park, spanning 35,000 sq ft of outdoor space accessible through the building expansion. This outdoor park is weather dependent, open seasonally between March and October.

In the last pre-pandemic 2019/2020 fiscal year between March 2019 and February 2020, Science World recorded an attendance of over one million people — up from about 600,000 for the first full fiscal year after the 2012-completed renovation. With continued pandemic impacts earlier in 2022, visitation was well below pre-pandemic levels in the 2022/2023 fiscal year, with over 620,000 visitors on-site.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the dedication of Science World in 1987. (Science World)

Expo Centre expansion construction in 1988 for its conversion into Science World. (Science World)

Expo Centre exterior in 1988, before its reopening in 1989 as Science World. (Science World)

Opening day crowds of Science World on May 6, 1989, showing its previous entrance. (Science World)

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