Diamond Schmitt Architects

Ingenium Centre

Ingenium Centre

Diamond Schmitt

Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc

STATUS
Built

AREA
300,000 sqft - 500,000 sqft

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Ottawa, Canada

CATEGORY
Cultural › Cultural Center Museum

Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc

The architectural design of Ingenium Centre incorporates colourful fins to reference the identity of three Canadian Museums as part of a consolidated, shared facility.

Located adjacent to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, Ingenium Centre anchors ‘a campus of discovery’ with its polychromatic urban presence.

Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc
Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc

Completed in 2019, this mega cultural building houses an eclectic collection of over 1.2 million artifacts, previously stored in the warehouses of three Museums.

Consolidating them in a museum-quality environment, the new Ingenium Centre provides purpose-built storage, conservation fluency, and select display opportunities.

Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc
Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc

The design strategy uses colours to represent the content of each constituent museum; Green is for the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, Blue for the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and Red for the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

Moreover, the use of Red, around the entry, anticipates the connection to the upcoming Science Park.

Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc
Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc

The building’s playful facade incorporates these colours (as fins), cutting, and opening the aluminum-cladding to animate the architecture.

Massive in size, it covers nine acres over four floors, arranged as two sliding bars along a central spine. The north bar is clad in blue; the south bar in blue and grey with coloured fins.

The elongated south façade also features display vitrines for exhibition, engaging with the public.

The fins are never only one colour. Inspired by the science of lenticular printing, they transition from one to the next—or the perception of them—as viewers move around the building.

Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc
Ingenium Centre
doublespace photography inc

The lively facades present the building with an eclectic identity, changing with the sightlines.

This approach embodies the spirit of the collection, allowing the Ingenium Centre to be as varied as the national treasures it safeguards for posterity.


Ingenium Centre
Ingenium Centre

Diamond Schmitt Architects
T +1 416 8628800
Diamond Schmitt Architects
1050 W Pender St #2010, Vancouver, BC V6E 3S7, Canada