Biodome, Montreal, Canada

Architect	Roger Taillibert
Date Built	Officially opened in April 1976
Location	Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Description
This spectacular building, looking like a giant manta ray beached on land, was originally the velodrome for the 1976 Summer Olympics. In 1989 work began on converting it into an indoor nature museum which recreates four ecosystems, a tropical rainforest, the Laurentian Maple Forest, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Sub-Polar Regions. The museum says of itself that, "The Biodôme, whose name means “house of life,” shows visitors the “true nature” of the Americas, by offering up their loveliest and most amazing ecosystems. When the Biodôme opened in 1992, its “ecosystem” concept was a world first. Twenty years later, this systemic approach still has no equal in the faithful and complex way in which it represents the natural environment (its “rocks,” climates, lighting, etc.) and how both the animal species themselves and the animal and plant species interact."