The Canadian Pavilion at

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

featured an inverted

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

structure as well as a walk through an attraction called the "People Tree." The pavilion had its highest single-day attendance on

Canada Day Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...

(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 Notre Dame Island (french: Île Notre-Dame) is an artificial island in the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is immediately to the east of Saint Helen's Island and west of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the city of Saint-Lambert ...

. 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

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hour glass An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...

, compass and Kyogen and Haida masks.''For Canada's Sake'', page 120

Design and construction

Expo chief architect Édouard Fiset had initially insisted the Canadian Pavilion be much smaller, confined to a single acre. Architect

Rod Robbie Roderick "Rod" George Robbie, (September 15, 1928 – January 4, 2012) was a British-born Canadian architect and planner. He was known for his design of the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67 and Toronto's Rogers Centre (SkyDome). Biography and ...

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 Mitchell William Sharp (May 11, 1911 – March 19, 2004) was a Canadian politician and a Companion of the Order of Canada, most noted for his service as a Liberal Cabinet minister. He did, however, serve in both private and public sectors dur ...

as well as Canadian Pavilion commissioner H. Leslie Brown. 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.

Architects

The Canadian Pavilion was designed by architects

and

Colin Vaughan Colin Vaughan (30 June 1931 – 1 January 2000) was an Australian-born Canadian television journalist, architect, urban activist and alderman serving the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was best known as the political specialist for the ...

of the firm Ashworth, Robbie, Vaughan and Williams Architects and Planners,

Paul Schoeler Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

of Schoeler, Barkham and Heaton Architects and Planning Consultants, and

Matt Stankiewicz Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

of Z. Matthew Stankiewicz Architect, with consulting architects

Evans St. Gelais Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...

and

Arthur Erickson Arthur Charles Erickson (June 14, 1924 – May 20, 2009) was a Canadian architect and urban planner. He studied Engineering at the University of British Columbia and, in 1950, received his B.Arch. (Honours) from McGill University. He is known ...

. According to Robbie, his firm was selected over such competitors as John C. Parkin and

Arcop Arcop (also ARCOP) was an architectural firm based in Montreal, renowned for designing many major projects in Canada including Place Bonaventure, Place Ville-Marie and Maison Alcan. The firm was originally formed as a partnership under the name Af ...

People Tree

The People Tree in front of the pavilion was composed of images of Canadians printed on orange and red nylon sheets, with the colour representing a

maple tree ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

in autumn leaf colour. Sixty feet in height, the People Tree consisted of a thousand such "leaves," with half bearing silk screened images of Canadians at work and play. The tree was accessed via a spiral staircase.

Other structures

To the northeast of the main pavilion, an Arts Centre featured a 500-seat theatre, a displays of art and handicrafts, and a reference library. The site also had a Children's Creative Centre, and a restaurant, "La Toundra". The Canadian composer Otto Joachim composed a four-channel

electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a genre of popular and Western art music in which composers use technology to manipulate the timbres of acoustic sounds, sometimes by using audio signal processing, such as reverb or harmonizing, on acoustical instrumen ...

composition that was played throughout the period of Expo 67.

References

{{Commons category, Canada Pavilion Expo 67 Modernist architecture in Canada World's fair architecture in Montreal Demolished buildings and structures in Montreal Inverted pyramids Symbols of Canada Buildings and structures completed in 1967