Featured artwork generously provided by Cosmodernism, Seeing Into The Unknown, Artificial Life Environment, Jules Roze.
McGill's interdisciplinary idea lab
See who we areScholars of all levels & disciplines
Discover our scholarsJoin the pursuit of daring research
Get involved$700 000
Grant funding provided to scholars
180
Undergraduate and graduate students who pursued a project at B21
43
Different disciplines at Building 21
849
Events held gathering scholars all over McGill and beyond
Since 2017, hundreds of scholars all over McGill have come to Building 21 in pursuit of ideas they can't explore elsewhere.
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
Programs
Our Beautiful, Limitless, Unconstrained Exploration (BLUE) programs offered yearly to McGill students.
Learn more
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Scholars
We’ve supported hundreds of McGill undergraduate, Master's, and PhD students across all disciplines in their exploration.
See all scholars
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 moreWhat's On
Come experience Building 21 yourself at 651 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal.
Google Maps
"
B21 showed me what obtaining a university education is all about: exploration, collaboration, and challenge.
Vincent Van Duong
BS Math & Physics, McGill University
Special Guests
We invite a diverse range of people at the forefront to engage with our community.
Discover our faculty and special guests
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
Join us
We’re always looking for brilliant scholars and organizations to advance our mission.
Get involved
