Few projects at Concordia have inspired as much anticipation and enthusiasm as 4TH SPACE. The next-gen, multi-purpose venue was officially inaugurated in the presence of elected officials in January 2019. 4TH SPACE is a versatile and daring new platform for a rotating selection of research projects.
Everyone involved is buzzing with excitement. “It’s part living lab, design showroom, exhibition space, science centre and performance venue,” says Nadia Bhuiyan, vice-provost of Partnerships and Experiential Learning. “Through rotating residencies and curated programs, researchers and students will present work that is designed to engage the public.”
Sharing research to benefit society
The result is a sharing of cutting-edge research in an interactive and engaging environment that greatly differs from a more traditional, static academic setting. And that’s the goal, says Graham Carr, provost and vice-president, Academic. He considers 4TH SPACE an opportunity to make Concordia visible to the external community and a vitrine onto what typically happens in labs. He views the space as fundamentally representative of the university itself.
“Our mission as a university is to teach students — yet ultimately, it’s about using our research to benefit society,” Carr says. “We have some amazing research taking place here, and by showcasing it, we can nurture a real engagement with both our students and society at large.”
The street-level venue, once the main floor of the Concordia Bookstore, has taken on a new vocation after two years of planning, consultations and a $1.9-million investment.
While academic research is commonly shared through academic journals and conference presentations, “here is a space where you can show your research — and stimulate interest, exchanges and conversations across disciplines, bringing people together from different faculties,” says Justin Powlowski, Concordia’s associate vice-president of Strategy and Operations, Research and Graduate Studies. “It’s a way to make research more accessible through a nonstandard way of disseminating information.”
Powlowski is counting on the space’s unique ability to be different things to different people. “Its flexibility and multi-purpose functionality are what everyone is hoping leads to experiential learning and enhanced collaborative thinking,” he says.
Looking at food differently
The What is Food? installation is a superb example of a non-conventional, collaborative program that encourages participants to question how they think about and see the familiar through a different lens. During labs, participants were encouraged to sample foods and think about industrial versus artisanal fermentation, how our senses shape our food expectations, the trust we place in its preparation, how culture-dependent our food choices often are, and their overall thoughts on the edibility of food.
In the New Year, 4TH SPACE opened with an exploration of cities to investigate an important question: “What makes a city sustainable, resilient, liveable and playable?” Concordia city cluster researchers are tackling such big questions. They are combining forces across the university’s four faculties and examining ways to bolster renewable energy sources, smart technology and the fight against climate change. The Cities Project at 4TH SPACE draws from the university’s invaluable interdisciplinary strengths and treasure trove of expertise that can teach and inspire.