The steel-framed sphere was covered with transparent acrylic panels.
Unfortunately the system never worked properly.
Instead valves were installed in the center of the acrylic panels for the pavilion to ventilate.
The pavilion was originally designed to be dismantled.
However, to cut cost, the metal tubes were welded and not bolted as proposed by Fuller.
This made the structure impossible to dismantle.
So after the fair ended, the US government donated its pavilion to the City of Montreal.
For several years, the Biosphere was used for recreational activities and as a public attraction.
For some time it became an oasis of plants and birds.
In 1976, during repair works, the structure’s acrylic sheet caught fire and was completely destroyed.
The sheet was never replaced.
The museum was opened in 1995.
Photo credit:www.worldsfaircommunity.org
The fire of 1976.
Photo credit: Archives Canada/spacing.ca
Photo credit:Hamidreza/Wikimedia
Sources:www.ec.gc.ca/www.montrealenvironment.ca
