• Welcome to the Canada Science and Technology Museum Consultations
• The Canada Science and Technology Museum Today
• The New Museum – A Vision of Transformation
• The Collection – Transforming Canada’s Science and Technology Heritage
• National Outreach and Engagement – Transforming the Way We Connect
• The Associate Program – Transforming the Way We Partner
• The New Museum – Transforming the Visitor Experience
• The New Museum – Transforming the Way We Think About Museums
• What We Heard
• Tell Us What You Think
• Contact Us

The New Museum – Transforming the Visitor Experience

The new Canada Science and Technology Museum will be a welcoming public space that engages visitors in personalized, memorable experiences and offers them greater access to the collection, with opportunities to make their own contributions to content and connect with live research and working scientists. A strong virtual presence via the web site will not only extend the Museum visit but engage citizens across Canada in the Museum's work. Visitors will provide their own stories, "annotate" images and artifacts, and participate in citizen science programs.

The Museum building and its public spaces will be designed for change so that visitors will enjoy new and different experiences every time they return. Exhibits will be refreshed, rearranged and reinterpreted, adapting to new developments and interests expressed by the public.

The Museum's content and programming will be multidisciplinary. Visitors will be able to explore the central theme, transformation, from multiple perspectives (history, art, science, technology, ethics, culture, etc.) so that people with different sets of interests and abilities can approach the topic from their own perspective and comfort level. Exhibitions will be designed for group interaction and as facilitators of conversations.

Clusters of exhibits, each around an arresting artifact, will provide a diverse range of experiences related to different interests of visitors. A family with varied interests and learning styles will find something that will engage everyone's attention and give them all stories to share. Hands-on/minds-on exhibitions will offer spatial, kinesthetic, experiential, visual and other kinds of learning.

The number of artifacts on display will be maximized, so that they become a significant part of every visitor's experience. Along with artifacts integral to the thematic exhibitions, others will be made accessible without elaborate interpretation. This open collection will be changed frequently, with cyclical replacement of artifacts with others drawn from the reserve collection. In this way, visitors will be able to view a much larger cross-section of artifacts with repeat visitation.

An outdoor park will be the Museum's free front-end attraction, with interpretive walks, picnic areas and a number of other possible experiences, such as an outdoor playground featuring whole-body interactives (pendulum swings, large sand clocks, etc.), an open-air gazebo for learning programs, large collection icons and a plaza for outdoor festivals, activities and spaces for a large pavilion tent for significant travelling exhibitions.

The Museum's entrance lobby will be connected to a series of spaces, a "free zone" open to everyone during opening hours at no charge. It will contain information booths, ticketing counters, membership booths and controlled access gateways into the paid admission areas, such as the exhibition halls and presentation theatre, as well as the museum store and the café.