Designs for the Ontario Agri-Food Discovery Centre have been unveiled.
The board of Canada’s first agri-food science centre held their annual general meeting in Listowel on Thursday.
Designs were created in partnership with Toronto-based Moriyama Teshima Architects, led by Diarmuid Nash.
“We wanted to create a place that would sit very comfortably in this context, but also stand out as something special,” said Olivia Keung, director of sustainability with Moriyama Teshima.
The 10-acre site will house a large, two-storey building made of mass timber with sustainability in mind and several different exhibits.
Initial plan designs include garden space, an amphitheatre, an observation tower, demonstration crop fields, all attached to a central pathway connecting the spaces to the building itself.
Floor plans of the inside include exhibit spaces, a greenhouse, a children’s play area, multipurpose rooms and a food lab for cooking demonstrations.
Discovery Centre Chair Steve Dolson said that unveiling the design of the centre is a significant accomplishment.
“This is a big project,” Dolson said.
He added that they are beginning to put out proposal requests to find consultant firms.
“We’re working on the experience planning, then the fundraising strategy and feasibility study,” Dolson said.
“We don’t expect to have the capabilities to raise $50-plus million just by ourselves.”
Dolson added that the board is trying to make use of whatever grant programs they can find within agriculture, education and tourism to fund the project.
“We would hope that the agriculture and food industry will get behind this project and prove to us that we will exceed our needs,” he said.
