Ingenium Centre
The Ingenium Centre is a state-of-the-art facility designed to protect and showcase Canada’s national science and technology collection.
The building provides controlled environments to properly house and protect the national collection’s artifacts and archives, many of which are fragile, easily damaged, and are one-of-a-kind. Located beside the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, the Ingenium Centre is designed to be one of the most accessible artifact and archive collection storage facilities in the world—for museum professionals, heritage researchers, as well as for the public.
Home to Ingenium's collection
Ingenium cares for more than 150,000 objects of different shapes and sizes within its world-class collection, including railway locomotives, farm tractors, nuclear reactors, plant seeds, and everyday household objects such as porcelain dinner plates and electric toasters. Each item is representative of Canada’s incredible and complex history of science innovation.
Ingenium’s three museums—the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum—are only able to display about 12 percent of the total collection at any given time, and many of the remaining artifacts are housed in the Ingenium Centre. Due to their large size, the majority of Ingenium’s aviation and space-related artifacts (such as aircraft) are displayed in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum or are stored in its adjacent Reserve Hangar.
Key features
Purpose-built storage spaces
To accommodate the wide range of unique objects found in this space, collection storage spaces feature temperature- and humidity-controlled environments. The four-storey Ingenium Centre is equivalent in height to a 10-storey building due to the storage rooms’ high ceilings designed to accommodate very large artifacts and allow for large numbers of related artifacts to be housed together.
With a total floor area of nearly 36,000 m², storage spaces and access to artifacts are further maximized through the use of shelving that moves horizontally to expand and contract the aisles between shelves.
Library and Archives
Research Institute
Our Research Institute welcomes scholars, artists, scientists, students, and researchers to explore the many ways that science and technology are embedded in society, culture, and history. It is a place for Ingenium staff, visiting scholars, students, and guest curators to build communities of knowledge around the national collection, and to inject new ideas and experiences into Ingenium’s public offerings.
Digital Innovation Lab
The Digital Innovation Lab is a collaborative hub for exploring innovative ways to improve access to museums spaces, collections, and experiences for all Canadians. Working with academia, start-ups, visitor-serving industries, and the accessibility community, the Lab explores emerging technologies, user experience and accessible design to create more inclusive experiences for everyone.
Visiting the Ingenium Centre
Learn about opportunities to explore the hidden treasures of the Ingenium Centre.