What do you seek?

Building 21 is an interdisciplinary idea lab supporting McGill undergraduate and graduate students in pursuit of bold and original ideas.

McGill's interdisciplinary idea lab

See who we are

Scholars of all levels & disciplines

Discover our scholars

Join the pursuit of daring research

Get involved

180+

Scholars pursuing interdisciplinary projects

$600, 000+

Funnelled to fellowships and programs

40+

Different disciplines hosted at B21

900+

Workshops, community gatherings & speaker events
"Building 21: McGill's Interdisciplinary Lab" screening at the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2024, London, UK.

Who we are

Leading scholars across disciplines to bring unconventional ideas to life.
Learn about our mission
For the sake of discovery
Projects at Building 21 are pursued for the sake of discovery. There are no credits, no grades. Only the pursuit of knowledge.
Safe haven for original ideas
We give scholars no-strings-attached resources to facilitate their exploration. Scholars collaborate to advance the most unconventional ideas.
A community of explorers
We run cohort-based fellowships that connect the most curious seekers to a tight-knit community. We offer structure, mentorship, and networks.
Our alumni are pushing the boundaries of knowledge and creativity at these institutions

"

"B21 is rigorous and free, radical and welcoming, at once wildly exploratory and close to home."
Isabella Chiaravallotti
PhD Plant Science, McGill University
Drawing a poster on a the floor with dogs!

Scholars

We’ve supported hundreds of McGill undergraduate, Master's, and PhD students across all disciplines in their exploration.
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Innovation in paradigms
Mathilde Papillon first bridged physics and dance as an undergraduate at B21. This led to Mathilde pioneering a new subfield of Topological Deep Learning as a PhD candidate at the Geometric Intelligence Lab @ UCSB.
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Enabling new paths
Rasha Lama piloted a series of spatial sustainability projects at B21, completely unrelated to her business degree. This contributed to Rasha receiving a graduate scholarship in Land Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
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From idea to impact
Kat Kavanagh developed the ideas for a citizen science non-profit at B21 that now monitors over 5,000 waterbodies across Canada and has trained over 25,000 Canadians on how to conduct water quality tests.
Read more
See all scholars

What's On

Come experience Building 21 yourself at 651 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal.
Google Maps
A event at Building 21
See what's on

"

B21 showed me what obtaining a university education is all about: exploration, collaboration, and challenge.
Vincent Van Duong
BS Math & Physics, McGill University
Drawing a poster on a the floor with dogs!

Events

Our community hosts a variety of events at our space.
Lightning Talks⚡
Tuesdays & Fridays
Eclectic idea sharing with crowd-sourced critique from the interdisciplinary community.
Soup & PhD 🍲
Thursdays
Are you doing a PhD and finding it hard to meet other students? Find your community over a bowl of warm soup.
McGill Neurotech
Team-based
Creating brain-computer interface (BCI) applications from start to finish with a yearly team.
Encode Justice Canada
Monthly
AI Ethics and Policy. Fighting for human rights accountability and justice in the age of AI
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Join us

We’re always looking for brilliant scholars and organizations to advance our mission.
Get involved
A event at Building 21

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