Building 21

Featured artwork generously provided by Cosmodernism, Seeing Into The Unknown, Artificial Life Environment, Jules Roze.

180+

Scholars who pursued a project at B21

$600 000+

Funding for projects and programs at B21

40+

Different disciplines of scholars

900+

Events held gathering scholars of all backgrounds

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, no evaluations. Only the pursuit of knowledge.

A 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 programs 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

What's On

Come experience Building 21 yourself at 651 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal.

See upcoming events

Programs

Building 21 offers multiple programs for scholars to create new knowledge wherever they seek.

BLUE Fellow

9-week fellowship with $3,000 in funding to pursue a project of your own

B21 Scholar

Pursue your idea with our space, mentorship, and community

Tanenbaum Open Science Institute Fellow

9-week fellowship with $3,000 in funding for a project building towards a future of open science

Cordelia Dingle Fellow

9-week fellowship with $3,000 in funding to explore the future of environments

"

It’s immensely gratifying to pursue an idea of my own with the right community and support that I couldn’t find anywhere else than at B21.

Elena Frie

BS Earth System 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.

Discover

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.

Enabling new paths

Rasha Lama initiated a series of spatial sustainability projects at B21, unrelated to her commerce degree, which led to receiving a graduate scholarship in Landscape Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Fostering creation

Yigu Zhou built a prototype of a Brain-Computer Interface with the NeuroTech community at B21 and is now a MD-PhD student at McGill studying epilepsy at the Montreal Neurological Institute.