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Biosphere Environment Museum, Montreal, Canada

Biosphere originally built as the United States' pavilion for the 1967 World Fair Expo in Montreal and was considered as a symbol of the Expo. The most attractive part of the US pavilion was its transparent steel+acrylic dome. The "Geodesic dome" was the creation of architect Richard Buckminster Fuller and this is his most elaborate and complicated work. It consists of two structures: an outer layer made up of triangles and an inner layer made up of small hexagons. The dome stands 61m high and has a spherical diameter 76 m. The building was also famous for its 37-metre-long escalator, the longest ever built at the time. The acrylic cover of the Fuller's dome burned in a 1976 fire during renovation work, shutting down the building for fourteen years. In 1990 Environment Canada bought the site to turn it into an interactive museum showcasing and exploring the water ecosystems of the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence River regions. The new museum was designed by Eric Gauthier inside the remained steel dome. After completion in 1995 it was inaugurated as a Water Museum. In 2007 the Water Museum changed its name into an Environment Museum. The Biosphere Environment Museum is one of the only museums of its kind, dedicated solely to the environment and environmental education.Various interactive and entertaining educational rotating exhibitions are displayed in the Museum which teaches visitors just what happens when they throw something away.

By Lilit Khalatyan, www.building.am

Photos: www.inhabitat.com