Ontario Science Centre

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Completed Teluscape. A series of pathways, including a water walkway, extend radially from the water pipe organ (fountain), which is the main centerpiece of Teluscape. The circular pathway around the pipe organ is known as "Centennial Walkway". The path of the main entrance passes between the two organ consoles (the two halves of the fountain) and organ pipes, and runs perpendicular to the water walkway.

Ontario Science Centre, showing construction of Teluscape, and excavation for the main centerpiece (a new fountain) out in front of the building.

Ontario Science Centre (OSC) is a science museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, near the Don Valley Parkway about 11 km northeast of downtown on Don Mills Road just south of Eglinton Avenue East. It is built down the side of a wooded ravine formed by one branch of the Don River.

Planning for the centre started in 1961 during Toronto's massive expansion of the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1964 the famous Toronto architect Raymond Moriyama [1] was hired to design the site. The innovative design, consisting of three main buildings connected by a series of bridges and escalators, follows the natural contours of the Don River ravine, into which the Centre descends. Construction started in 1966 with plans to make it a part of the city's 1967 Canadian Centennial celebrations. It was officially named the Centennial Centre of Science and Technology. However construction was not complete in 1967, and the OSC did not open to the public until two years later, in September of 1969.

At the time the OSC was famous around the world for its "hands on" approach to science, which was later duplicated in San Francisco's Exploratorium and Detroit's Museum of Science and Technology. Unlike the traditional museum where the exhibits are there to be looked at, the majority of the exhibits at the OSC were interactive, while many others were live demonstrations (metalworking for instance). Its Communications room was particularly well-loved. It had a number of computerized displays, including a very popular tic-tac-toe game run on a PDP-11.

The centre was a huge attraction in the 1970s, but by the early 1980s visiting rates had dropped considerably. Most of the displays were the originals, hopelessly outdated and a fair percentage of the displays were broken or damaged. Layers of bureaucracy made it almost impossible to get money (even small amounts) to fix anything, and the staff basically gave up. By the early 1990s employee morale was so low that it was rated the worst place to work in the Ontario civil service.

During the 1990s these issues were addressed by opening the OSC to corporate funding. Today the decay of the 1980s is gone, and the majority of the displays are new. In 1996 the province's first OMNIMAX theatre opened in an expanded entranceway area, and additional changes soon followed. The most recent of these changes is the $40 million Agents of Change project, the final phase of which opened in June 2006.

There are interactive and passive exhibits throughout the buildings. They feature everything in science and nature. They feature geology, the science of nature (in the west wing), Astronomical science, how to play music and technology in the south wing, some artifacts of science.

Recently, Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds 2: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies was displayed at the OSC. It displayed organs, slices of body parts, and even entire bodies, and has proved to be immensely popular. It was at the OSC until February 26, 2006.

The Ontario Science Center Science School (OSCSS) offers credited grade 12 University Preparation courses in physics, biology, chemistry and calculus. Students from all over Ontario apply and are selected to spend a semester at the OSCSS. The OSCSS offers enriched learning in small and informal classes of no more than 25 students. While at the Science Center, students earn practicum hours through volunteering and interacting with the visitors. They also get a unique chance to participate in the Mentorship Program, aimed at educating the students about the various jobs and career paths available.

1 Ontario Science Centre aquatic play fountain
2 Hours of operation
3 Special events beyond regular hours
4 External links

[edit] Ontario Science Centre aquatic play fountain

Musician playing on the South fountain

Closeup of North half of the new centerpiece of Exploration Plaza that replaced the original water fountain at the front entrance. This fountain is a pipe organ having two consoles, and two visible ranks of pipes (remainder of pipes hidden from view). The organ consoles are hydraulophones that also drive organ pipes by hydraulic action. Because water is a non-compressible fluid, hydraulic action is nearly instantaneous, yet also the organ functions like a tracker-organ in the sense that partial blocking of the water jets provides partial speech at the corresponding pipes. Additionally, subtle changes in the manner in which the water jets are blocked result in subtle changes in the nature of the speech from the corresponding pipes, as well as from the hydraulophone console itself.

The original water fountain at the front has been rejuvenated to become the main centerpiece of Exploration Plaza (Teluscape), which opened to the public 2006 September 20th. The new fountain is also a hydraulophone (and a hydraulic-action pipe organ) in which anyone walking into the space can play. Blocking the flow of any one of the 57 water jets in the fountain forces the water across to a corresponding organ pipe, where it makes a loud sound as the water is forced out through the speaking mouth of the pipe. The lowest 12 notes in each division (north division and south division) of the organ are visible as pipes arranged in a circle. The North Division consists of stopped hydrapaisons (similar to diapaisons but running on water rather than air), whereas the South Division pipes are open at both ends (sound emerges from the ends rather than from a mouth as with the North pipes). The North organ console consists of 12 water jets, whereas the south console consists of 45 water jets.

South fountain has 45 water jets, of which 26 jets are natural tones, and 19 jets are semitones (sharps and flats).

The organ is supplied with water from three Pentair 130 GPM (Gallons Per Minute) pumps, each by way of a three inch diameter water line, as well as air from three Ingersol Rand four cylinder air compressors, each having a 25 horsepower motor. Since the instrument runs on both air and water, it may be regarded as a hybrid hydraulophone and pneumatophone, but because it is played by blocking water jets rather than air holes, it is principally a hydraulophone.

[edit] Hours of operation

Realtime display, just inside main entrance, showing Hours of Operation, 10am-5pm

The Science Centre's official hours of operation are 10am to 5pm, but the Science Centre is also home of one of Toronto's only two 24-hour/day aquatic play facilities, the other being Dan Euser's aquatic play sculpture at Dundas Square.

Aquatic play during a cold and stormy night. The design of the aquatic play experience limits the splash primarily to the fingers, thus making aquatic play possible year-round, during the day or night.

As for duration of the aquatic play season, Dundas Square shuts down near the end of October, whereas in 2006, the Ontario Science Centre's aquatic play facility is still running into December 2006.

[edit] Special events beyond regular hours

Many special events extend the operating hours. For example, during the BodyWorlds exhibit, the exhibit hall was open 24 hours a day. More recently, during Star Stories, the 2006 Halloween party (story telling, stargazing, etc.) the Centre was also open late. All of the outdoor lights were shut down to help increase visibility in the night sky. The event also included readings of ghost stories, and a children's costume party.

Even when there are no special events, Teluscape, the outdoor exhibit space, remains open on a 24 hour basis.