Canada Science + Technology Museum Park Master Plan

Client Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation
Location Ottawa | Ontario | Canada

Right next to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa is a valuable but underutilized open space that is full of opportunities. Working with the Museum over a three-month period, O2 led the design of a world-class Science Park that ignites innovation in science and technology. The master plan gives the Museum a solid framework to make decisions regarding future investment, protection, maintenance and development. 

Through comprehensive public consultation, O2 gathered ideas from the Museum staff and renewal panel, visitors and post-secondary institutions, governmental bodies and citizens of Ottawa. A community jam and artist graffiti wall on a Saturday afternoon drew citizens to the park—where they could provide feedback about the final concept.

The intense five-week consultation offered people a chance to participate through a mapping tool, an online survey, social media campaign, open houses, pop-ups and workshops, resulting in over 2500 comments and photos. During the consultation, Jay Ingram and Beakerhead facilitated strategic discussions around creativity, imagination and how to curate sandboxes for human ingenuity. Ideas, such as day/night experience, passive/active, seasonal, and didactic/experiential learning, were explored through workshops, along with a mass campaign to test what types of science would be of interest to the local and broader community, as well as what would be feasible.