Science World

[Address & Directions]

1455 Quebec Street
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V6A 3Z7

SCIENCE WORLD is located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is easily accessible from both Highway 99 (from Washington State) and the Trans-Canada Highway (from other parts of B.C. and Canada). It is five minutes from downtown Vancouver and are easily accessible via public transit as the Main Street/Science World SkyTrain Station is located just across the street.

[History]

Science World is a hands-on science center in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is a favourite family destination offering entertaining and educational experiences. In addition to the hundreds of interactive exhibits featured in our galleries, it is also home to the Alcan OMNIMAX Theatre and the Science Theatre. The Alcan OMNIMAX Theatre features magnificent science and nature films on one of the world's largest dome screens. The high definition Science Theatre shows spectacularly scenic presentations as well as live performing arts shows.

The building was constructed for Expo '86 and served as the Expo Centre. During the world's fair the pavilion housed the Futures Theatre. The film A Freedom to Move was featured in the Omnimax Theatre.

The Science World "golf ball" is actually a geodesic dome, the design of which was created by American inventor R. Buckminster Fuller (1895 1983). Fuller patented 28 inventions in his lifetime; perhaps the most famous is the geodesic dome which was patented on June 29, 1954. One of the most famous geodesic domes in the world was the American pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal.

The original architect was Bruno Freschi; the architect for the additions made to transform the Expo Center into Science World was Boak Alexander.

The building contains five permanent galleries (Eureka, the Sara Stern Search Gallery, KidSpace, Our World, Visual Illusions), a Special Exhibitions Gallery, the Science Theatre, and the Alcan OMNIMAX Theatre, as well as a variety of Center Stage Shows and a Gift Shop, White Spot Triple O's, and Administration Offices.

The building is 155 feet tall. The building's foundation is reinforced steel in a cement slab.
There are 182 piles supporting the building. The clearance of the deck at high tide is one foot.
There are 185 parking spaces in the guest lots, included four spaces for guests with disabilities.
There are 391 lights and 766 triangles on the Science World dome.
There are 15,000 pounds of extruded aluminum and aluminum panels on the dome. The panels are 1 mm thick and are covered with a vinyl surface.
Science World has a total building area of 10,220 square meters; total exhibit area is 4275 square meters. The building's volume is 36,790 cubic meters.
The center's air-conditioning system uses chilled water for cooling and gas-fired boilers for heating.
The length of the ramp leading to the Alcan OMNIMAX Theatre is equal to the length of two football fields.
The Alcan OMNIMAX Theatre seats 400 people. Its screen is 27 meters in diameter. The theatre's sound system uses high-fidelity, six-channel, two-way sound with sub-bass to create an unparalleled surround sound experience. Twenty-eight speakers are located in clusters behind the theatre's screen. A 45-minute film requires about four kilometers of Omnimax film stock.
The 15,000 watt xenon lamp that lights the screen is so bright that if you placed it on the surface of the moon and focused it at a spot on Earth, you could actually see its light.