The province is moving forward with its plans to build a new provincial science centre at Ontario Place, issuing a request for proposals for planning and design work last Friday.
The bid documents describe the province's desire for a "unique architectural and energy efficient flagship facility" at Ontario Place, but they also highlight one of critics' key concerns about the government's plan to move the Ontario Science Centre: a lack of space at its intended new downtown waterfront home.
The province has confirmed the new science building is expected to be about half of the size of the current building in Don Mills.
Details about what that will mean for the programming can be found in the request for proposals (RFP), which says Infrastructure Ontario (IO) has a completed "functional program" — a description of the requirements of the facility — that was finished in 2022. That process included a "design test fit" that checked to see if there was sufficient space at the site for all of the required elements. The new science centre is planned to include a new building at Ontario Place as well as its pods and cinesphere.
The RFP then says three elements were initially in the functional program but had to be cut from it "due to a required reduction in the size of the building/square footage, requiring rationalization of the current activities."
Those elements are a large-scale immersive experience, an outdoor experience, and a planetarium, and are collectively referred to in the RFP documents as "OSC Plus" items. A draft agreement spells out that IO will decide whether or not some or all of the OSC Plus work will be done.
The RFP doesn't give up on the idea of including those elements in the new science centre and asks the potential suppliers to review the functional program to investigate if they can be included and then to include them — but only if the cost is approved by Infrastructure Ontario.
The RFP also makes it clear why the three elements are desired, giving glowing descriptions of them and referring to them as "core to the overall experience."
"The Ontario Science Centre offers unique, interactive large scale transformative immersive experiences that the entire family can enjoy," it says. "The TELUS Rainforest at the current site is one example of a large-scale immersive experience. This space in the Living Earth exhibit hall is dedicated to engaging visitors about biodiversity and unique characteristics of plants and animals living in a rainforest. The functional program does not currently contemplate the opportunity for a large immersive space that replicates the experience of the TELUS Rainforest."
The outdoor experience it envisions is described in equally effusive terms, as "an adventure playground and iconic climbing/risky play structures throughout a large defined space."
"Some activities will be for all ages and include large-scale experiences that are iconic both visually and experientially," it says. "Some experiences will be specifically for children and create an area for fun and adventure. It will be designed for use all year long, with some areas free and others pay-to-play. It will complement the other activities on the OP site but also be a destination unto itself. It will take advantage of the natural environment and beautiful lakefront location."
The RFP says the Ontario Science Centre is proposing a large planetarium at the new site.
"An immersive state-of-the-art modern new planetarium is core to the Science Centre experience. Planetariums are invaluable tools for science communication and sharing the riches of the night sky with everyone. There are more than 1,000 planetariums in North America alone. There is currently no public major-sized planetarium in Toronto."
Norm Di Pasquale, co-chair of the advocacy group Ontario Place for All, said the RFP shows that "there's simply no way" a science centre at Ontario Place could accommodate all of what the current centre does today, even though it's expected to be a five-to-seven storey building that would, according to Di Pasquale, block views of Ontario Place's iconic pods and cinesphere.
Di Pasquale has run federally for the NDP in Spadina—Fort York, which encompasses Ontario Place. He is also the director of communications for the Ontario NDP's overlapping provincial riding association.
Ontario Place for All also accuses the province of "jumping the gun" and pushing ahead with the plan before obtaining city approval — the new building is to be on city-owned land — or approval from the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel, "or any form of community endorsement." The group believes the province adopted the science centre plan as an excuse to build a parking lot for Theme's spa and waterpark, Di Pasquale said.
Instead, Ontario Place for All wants to see the province bring additional Ontario Science Centre programming to the pods at Ontario Place — focusing on water science, to take advantage of the location — while maintaining the original centre in Don Mills.
"But what we're going to get is obviously a diminished version of the science centre," said Di Pasquale.
The RFP is set to close on Aug. 22. Infrastructure Ontario will choose the supplier based on a rubric that scores 70 per cent on technical matters including the experience of the proponents and the understanding of the assignment, and 30 per cent on costs. Questions to the office of Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma and Infrastructure Ontario went unanswered by deadline.
