Expro 1967 The Candian Pavillion

  • 7 years ago
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I only heard about the Expro 1967 I was just boy. I seem most what happen in news and video like this.This Expro 1967 did put Canada on the Map.
The Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal featured an inverted pyramid structure as well as a walk through an attraction called the "People Tree." The pavilion had its highest single-day attendance on Canada Day (July 1), 1967.
The pavilion's large inverted pyramid was called Katimavik, which is the Inuit word for "Gathering Place". The pyramid was nine storeys tall and supported by four columns. The building at its base housed a rotating theatre, which used moving wedge-shaped chambers to bring audiences from one screening to the next, making a complete revolution every half-hour. Smaller linked pyramids at ground level housed the exhibits "The Land of Canada," "The Growth of Canada" and "The Challenge to Canadians and Canada and the World." The pavilion was located on a 30,285 sq metre lot near the southern end of Notre Dame Island. It cost $24 million to build.The inverted pyramid was a 1000-ton structure, with a hollow steel frame. Open to the sky, its four inner sloping walls featured giant sculptures of a sun dial, hour glass, compass and Kyogen and Haida masks.

Expo chief architect Édouard Fiset had initially insisted the Canadian Pavilion be much smaller, confined to a single acre. Architect Rod Robbie felt strongly that Canada's pavilion had to have the largest site on the fair, demanding 11.5 acres. Robbie's vision was ultimately successful thanks to the support of federal minister Mitchell Sharp as well as Canadian Pavilion commissioner H. Leslie Brown.[5]

The inverted pyramid shape of the pavilion came about by chance. Robbie and his team were smokers, and while working with cardboard boxes as models for planned pavilion structures, someone placed a large, green, inverted pyramid-shaped ashtray, amidst the boxes. That became the inspiration for Katimavik