Adapted from Canadian author Emily St. John Mandel's 2014 novel of the same name, the HBO miniseries Station Eleven really stayed in touch with the post-apocalyptic storyline's roots in Canada: the fifth episode of the dystopian miniseries introduces the location of the Severn City Airport, scenes in the atrium of which were shot at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto.
Last month, Ontario's Ministry of Infrastructure abruptly announced the institution's closure due to concerns about the structural integrity of the neglected building after an engineering report showed that parts of the roof could collapse. There's since been talk of temporarily relocating the Science Centre, but it wouldn't open until 2026 and the costs could equal — or triple — the funds necessary to repair the roof, as per Canadian Architect.
While Doug Ford's Ontario government pursues a new building on the waterfront (and probably the return of its crowning achievement, Buck-a-Beer), many are worried about the building's possible demolition. In a new interview with Azure Magazine, the creative team behind Station Eleven have made a plea to save the iconic landmark.
"When I first saw a story [about the closure] on my phone, it was just unadorned news coverage, but I had an immediate emotional reaction to it," showrunner Patrick Somerville told journalist Eric Mutrie. "That place is where I experienced some of the most joyous, intense, difficult and moving moments of my life, and I love it deeply. It's not just that we shot there, but what we shot there. And the fact that it was only possible because it was closed for the pandemic. You could never get a location like that for filming otherwise."
Production designer Ruth Ammon added, "It was so important to us for our storytelling, and we chose it because it's such an incredible building that reflects the theme of our show: When all else fails, we have art, we have culture and we have history. We have those things in places like the Ontario Science Centre that elevate us as human beings. And that's all there from the beginning in [architect] Raymond Moriyama's intention for the building."
She continued:
Raymond Moriyama is a world-renowned Canadian architect. So let's just start with that legacy. People become known as great architects because their buildings mean something to the people who experience them. I have spent my life travelling the world and going to the great cities of historic architecture. Both in America and in Canada, we need to hold onto these things. We need to protect and take care of them. Because you can't get those things back.
Toronto is an incredible city with incredible history, but many of the new buildings have no meaning and no perspective — it's massive, cheap stuff that entertains the eye for half a second. Whereas the Ontario Science Centre has these gorgeous brass handrails that you just don't get anymore. The craftsmanship, the detailing and the consideration for the curves in the combed concrete — there is every single reason on earth to save this building.
The show aired in 2021 so, as Somerville noted, COVID closures during filming were to the production's advantage — all of which made the plot about survivors of a devastating super-flu rebuilding the world incredibly timely. Although supplementary scenes were shot at Pearson Airport, the fictitious Severn City Airport came to life at the Ontario Science Centre. (The early part of St. John Mandel's book is also fittingly set in Toronto.)
In the show, the airport gains mythical status, as a group of stranded travellers remain quarantined there for 20 years and build a community. Word even spreads to those survivors far and beyond, with a visiting theatre troupe staging a production of Hamlet in the heart of the airport — a.k.a. the Ontario Science Centre's Grand Hall — in the final episode.
