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jje1000 said:
I think that there is still merit in keeping at least some of the structures- the IMAX theatre + auditorium/planetarium are definitely assets, and I think that the Main and the Mid-level buildings could be kept and repurposed (perhaps a new institution through philanthropy?). While the OSC going is unfortunate, there could be some excitement to be seen in the potential birth of a new Toronto-owned institution on this site.
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The OSC theatre is actually OmniMAX (even more immersive than IMAX). The OmniMAX projected images can fill nearly 90% of the surrounding dome theatre... absolutely worth saving!!

And while we're at it (speaking of film), if the Science Centre can't be saved... I'd repurpose the main building into a History of Cinema Museum, with tons of Canadian content such as celebrating the remarkable legacy of the National Film Board (incl. the 70 films of Norman McLaren) and the largest publicly attended film festival in the world (TIFF)... and Canada’s overall impact of the history of cinema:

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Link

Actors - from Oscar-winning Mary Pickford in 1929 and Norma Shearer to Raymond Massey to Geneviève Bujold to John Candy, Dan Akroyd, Jim Carrey, Michael J. Fox... to the world’s favourite 2 Ryans :) etc.

Directors - Norman Jewison, Arthur Hiller, Don Shebib, Claude Jutra, Michael Snow to Ivan Reitman, Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg to Denis Villeneuve, Sarah Polley, Deepa Mehta and of course James Cameron etc.

Producers/Studios - from Mack Sennett & the Keystone Kops (1912), Jack Warner who started Warner Brothers Studios and Louis B. Mayer (born in Russia, grew up in New Brunswick) was the head Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios, to Lorne Michaels (2 dozen film including “Wayne’s World”) etc.

Writers, animators, special effects… etc. etc, you name it. A programmed space with guest speakers, new exhibits through out the year... I'm sure you get my drift.

I can see lots of private and public sector (not to mention streaming companies busy here) folks chipping in to make it happen.💰

Everybody loves movie stuff and we could so much more than just a Walk of Fame. 🍿
 
jje1000 said:
I wonder how much of this might be attributed to different organizational structures? It always has felt like ROM is more of its own organization rather than a creature of the province like the Ontario Science Centre.

Makes me wonder why beyond the early 2000s-spurt of investment that got us a few updated exhibits at the OSC, there hasn't been much since the 2010s. How far back do the plans for shuttering it down stretch to?
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The last traveling exhibit they paid for I believe was mythbusters. They haven’t brought anything significant since Bodyworlds.
 
3Dementia said:
The OSC theatre is actually OmniMAX (even more immersive than IMAX). The OmniMAX projected images can fill nearly 90% of the surrounding dome theatre... absolutely worth saving!!

And while we're at it (speaking of film), if the Science Centre can't be saved... I'd repurpose the main building into a History of Cinema Museum, with tons of Canadian content such as celebrating the remarkable legacy of the National Film Board (incl. the 70 films of Norman McLaren) and the largest publicly attended film festival in the world (TIFF)...
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And to repeat: the primary problem with said solution is that the main building is the part where the original Moriyama scheme has been most effaced, thanks to the 90s+ alterations (including the OmniMAX). And whether one likes it or not, this has played out as a heritage-centric argument with *particular* concern for the original Moriyama fabric, or what remains of it. And those most concerned with the original Moriyama are more likely to regard the OmniMAX as a beginning-of-the-end rather than as a prime point of heritage concern (and a double-barrelled beginning-of-the-end, given how it was the de facto "replacement" for the McLaughlin Planetarium).

Though yes, those aspects which make the front building least satisfying to the Moriyama/Brutalist-heritage crowd might be less jarring for under-40s for whom this has *always* been the status quo--and maybe even more satisfyng for being Y2Kish au courant rather than a Centennial-era mausoleum. (Sort of like in the 70s and 80s, the main building was but a big empty vestibule en route to the main attractions beyond--while subsequently, its revamping might very well have come to *overshadow* what lay beyond, at least for younger visitors.)
 
I would like to see some outreach to the Aga Khan folks who are very involved in education and community services as the population in this area is very Muslim.

I also love the cinema idea. Windfields is close-by and there are several film/cinema departments at all of the colleges and universities that could use extra space. And of course there is the theatre/auditorium!

 
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I mean, if they are not planning on using or maintaining the building further, then I'm not sure what would compel them to accept the offers.
 
How the the province will accept the help given to them to fix this will tell us whether this was a structural or a political decision. That is, if they accept the help, then we can say they where likely sincere in shutting it down and didn't know what else to do. If they don't, it's very likely this was never really about the structural issues to begin with and probably lying like Trump about that. We can only hope it's the former.
 
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