The Montreal Biosphere was built as the United States pavilion for Expo 67, designed by R. Buckminster Fuller with Shoji Sadao and Geometrics Inc. for the United States Information Agency. Cambridge Seven Associates designed the interior structures and exhibits. Construction began in December 1965. The infobox gives 1967, but the text says it opened as an aviary in 1968 and as a museum on June 6, 1995.
It is a double-layer geodesic dome of steel truss and acrylic cells, 249 feet (76 m) in diameter and 203 feet (62 m) high. A sun-shading system failed and was disabled. The escalator is given as 41 m (135 ft) in 1967 reporting and 37 m (121 ft) in later text.
A welding crew sparked a fire on May 20, 1976 that burned the acrylic bubble and left the steel truss. The building stayed closed until 1990. It is now an environment museum, controlled by Space for Life since 2021.
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