The Museum is moving!
The Museum is proud to present its major development project, a dream that will come true in the fall of 2022 with the opening of the new premises, after more than 20 years of work.
From now until the inauguration, this section of our website will be regularly updated to allow you to follow the evolution of this exciting project.
The great relocation and development project at a glance
The project concerns the creation of new premises, of nearly 1800 m2, adjacent to the Laval Cosmodôme. The new site will allow the Musée de la santé Armand-Frappier to continue to stimulate and nurture everyone’s curiosity for science relating to human health.
The Museum, in its new facilities, intends to keep its human scale educational approach and will welcome three times more visitors than in its current premises, with an annual attendance of 50,000 visitors.
With its two (2) exhibition rooms, its four (4) laboratories, and its multipurpose rooms spread over two floors, the Museum will continue to offer dynamic and engaging programming: visits of two exhibitions, scientific workshops in the laboratories, day camps, conferences, and many other activities inspiring discovery and wonder!
Objectives of the relocation and development project
In carrying out this project, the Museum aims to achieve four (4) objectives :
- Improve fulfillment of its mission by offering its visitors more accessible premises that are better adapted to museological functions ;
- Respond to an increased demand for its activities with more spacious premises ;
- Ensure its survival and increase its self-financing due to its increased accommodation capacity and increased attendance, as well as the possibility of offering improved visibility to its partners ;
- Position the institution as a cultural attraction at the local, regional, and national levels.
Partners
A great many partners are making this relocation and development project possible. At the forefront is the Ville de Laval, leading the $14M construction project with its own investment of $11.5M and the support of $2.7M from Canadian Heritage.
The Ministry of Culture and Communications, with an investment of $390,000 in support of the implementation of the permanent exhibition, is also a major sponsor of the project.
Note also our long-standing financial sponsors: Merck Canada, Mr. and Mrs. Gervais Dionne, the TD Bank, the RBC, Servier Canada, and many other precious donors.
Evidently, this project could not have been possible without the partnership of the Cosmodôme, with which the Museum will share the site. In particular, the reception area will be shared to greet visitors from the two institutions.
Brief history of the project
The relocation project of the Musée de la santé Armand-Frappier has been under development for several years. In April 2014, the executive director of the Musée de la santé Armand-Frappier, Guylaine Archambault, and the mayor of Laval, Marc Demers, publicly revealed the location of the future site of the Museum, as well as the construction and redevelopment of its new exhibition space.
Planning for the project began in October 2016 in conjunction with various departments of the Ville de Laval. Construction work began on May 12, 2020.
On August 19, 2021, the Ville de Laval announced the end of construction of the new Musée de la santé Armand-Frappier. This was the first time the city carried out this type of design-and-build project. Read the press release (in french)
On the occasion of the event marking the end of construction of the new building, the president of the board of directors of the Museum, Mrs. Rosemonde Mandeville, mentioned that « since 1994, the Museum has been showcasing the work of Dr. Frappier, a pioneer in preventive medicine and vaccination in the province of Quebec. This new location, adjacent to its partner, the Cosmodôme, will allow the Museum to help reveal this legacy and foster understanding of science as it relates to human health, to an even wider audience of visitors of all ages. »
For her part, our executive director, Mrs. Guylaine Archambault, mentioned that, « these premises were designed to contribute to the delight of our visitors by the city’s teams of professionals and experienced craftsmen, with the precious collaboration of my great team at the Museum. We are grateful and very enthusiastic as we carry out the final preparations that will allow us to welcome our visitors in these beautiful premises in the fall of 2022! »
In May 2022, the first members of our team moved into the new Museum offices to familiarize themselves with the premises and receive the equipment that will be deployed in the new facilities.
In fact, from now until the inauguration of the premises, the Museum team will be busy completing numerous projects: the production and installation of the two exhibitions, the organisation of four laboratories, the development of new educational and cultural activities adapted to the new premises, the implementation of a new online ticketing service, the launching of a new website, the relocation of the Museum’s collections, and several more!
The Museum will open the doors of its new facilities on January 31, 2023.
Feedback on the 2020 consultative process
In order to ensure that the activities planned for the opening of its new premises in 2022 meet stakeholders’ expectations, the Museum decided to consult them. To this end, during the first trimester of 2020, the Museum met with five groups and carried out online surveys. These consultations allowed the Museum to interact with citizens, including young people, representatives of the scientific community, and its partners from the tourism, cultural, and educational networks. Participants were polled on their general expectations as visitors, on programming, on exhibition themes, as well as on the best ways to communicate with them. Among other things, the consultations revealed that the visitors to the Museum wish to:
- Discover new scientific concepts;
- Make their discoveries through active exploration;
- Live a memorable experience thanks to the emotions felt;
- Be offered programmes adapted to to their ages and interests;
- Better understand current events that affect their daily lives;
- Access a quality website to get information on the programme and discover scientific concepts.
The Museum team is currently working enthusiastically to create an opening programme and a new website that will meet current and future visitors’ expectations. We look forward to presenting the result of this work shortly!
Facilitation of the consultation with school stakeholders on January 28, 2020 at the Museum
The future premises
Bright and inviting, the future premises of the Museum will, in addition to some professional space, be composed of:
- a 50 m2 hallway dedicated to the work of Dr. Frappier, a pioneer in the field of microbiology and preventive medicine in Canada;
a 200 m2 permanent exhibition room, the contents of which will be constantly updated and completely renewed periodically; - a 150 m2 temporary exhibition room that will host a new exhibition developed by the Museum team or a partner every year;
- four 50 m2 educational laboratories, able to accommodate 24 visitors at a time, in which all the visitors, including participants in the youth workshops and camps, will be able to put into practice the scientific approach, guided by our moderators;
- three 50 m2 multipurpose rooms in which the visitors may eat, participate in moderated activities, celebrate children’s birthdays, and carry out various other activities. Fitted with modern audiovisual equipment and furniture allowing various room configurations, the rooms will be available to rent for private or corporate events and can be used independently or combined to become 100 m2 and 150 m2 rooms:
- a 50 m2 supply room to store and protect the objects and archival documents from the Museum’s three collections, notably the Armand-Frappier Collection.
- An outdoor terrace, located between the Musée de la santé Armand-Frappier and the Cosmodôme, will be set up for the comfort of visitors.
Programme at the Museum, on the web and extra-muros
Building on the success of the virtual workshops and camps offered to families and school children since 2020, the Museum is presently developing a programme which provides for a continuum: « At the Museum – On the Web – Extra muros », where every aspect will be complementary, integrated, and all equally dynamic. This renewed programme will begin on the day the Museum inaugurates its activities in its new premises in the fall of 2022.
Inspired by the themes of the two exhibitions that will be presented simultaneously at the Museum, science workshops and one-time events will henceforth be offered with accessible science content at the Museum or extra muros, in person or virtually on our future website, our social media sites, notably our YouTube channel, or via video conference platforms.
The contribution of digital content to the Museum’s activities and the increased presence of the Museum on digital platforms will help it to respond to the users’ expectations and needs wherever they are, and to democratize scientific culture relative to human health, the Museum’s main purpose!
An ambitious programme for the opening
The Museum is currently developing an ambitious programme for the opening. Entirely revised and completely adapted to its new premises, it will allow the Museum to accomplish more than ever its mission of fostering comprehension of science issues relating to human health in order to contribute to the well-being of people and communities.
A permanent exhibition exhibition will be presented to the general public in the fall of 2022. True to the spirit of Dr. Armand Frappier, a pioneer of microbiology and public health in Quebec, this exhibition will present human health at various scales – that of molecules, of cells, of individuals, of populations, and of the planet. By pursuing an approach based on learning and discovering, the exhibition aims to help visitors to become aware of health issues, to better understand them, and eventually to take concrete measures to maintain their own health, that of others, of the planet, and other species that inhabit it.
In addition to the permanent exhibition, the visitors to the Museum will be able to visit a temporary exhibition on the topic of pandemics, in the fall of 2022. This exhibition will answer questions raised by the actual pandemic, in an entertaining and rigorously scientific manner: What role do microorganisms play for life on Earth? What is a pandemic? What factors contribute to an outbreak and how can we limit them? How are vaccines developed and what role do they play in the eradication of an infectious disease?
This exhibition will address the population’s concerns by broaching various themes: the universe of microorganisms, the world of microbiology research, the central role of public health, the interveners in a pandemic, and accounts of epidemics and pandemics that have shaken mankind through different periods.
The themes of the two exhibitions scheduled for the opening programme will also be put forward in our educational workshops in the laboratory, intended for families and groups, as well as in the various cultural activities that will be offered in the fall of 2022.
Two laboratories will notably feature new equipment dedicated to the discovery of microscopy, while the two other laboratories will make it possible to carry out experiments related to molecular biology.