Beyond Building 21 — The Search For What's Next

Recent signers:
Simon Giustini and 19 others have signed recently.

The Issue

*This is not a petition against McGill. This is to collect signatures to document the impact B21 has made over the years and to support a possible reemergence of B21 in the coming future.

✍️ Any signature to show your support is deeply appreciated. SPREAD THE WORD: likes, shares, reposts, messages, stories all help.

TL;DR On 1st May 2026, Building 21 has been asked by the administration to vacate the space and no additional funding will be allocated to this project. After 9 beautiful, daring years being hosted at McGill University in Montréal, Canada, we are now in search of what's next. 

Sign if

  • 👉 B21 has impacted you in some way!
  • 👉 You care about interdisciplinary third spaces!
  • 👉 You are interested to receive an announcement if/when there is news about B21's future

Last Glimpses of B21 at McGill. Experience B21 yourself!

What is Building 21? Take a look

 

 

Dearest Reader,

Since 2017, Building 21 at McGill University has represented not only a space for deep inquisitive research, but also a ground for students to develop their field of expertise in a space where all disciplines have collided.

By trusting young minds and bringing together world-class thinkers, leaders, and artists, we have stumbled upon a model that not only works, but has created the conditions for unlikely paradigms, new inventions, accidental discoveries to emerge, such as:

  • Mathilde Papillon’s Topological Deep Learning AI/ML architecture, and AI research in Major League Baseball (MLB)
  • Kat Kavanagh’s WaterRangers project, that now monitors over 9,000+ international waterways using community science
  • Hannah Derue’s “neuroscience-based startup that uses AI and art to help people communicate and manage chronic pain” (McGill Reporter, 2025)

Building 21 became something rare: a place where ideas are allowed to exist before they make sense, where the future is not predicted but prototyped, where failure is a method, not a risk.

After 9 years of Beautiful, Limitless, Unconstrained Exploration (BLUE), over 300 scholars across 52 disciplines pursuing interdisciplinary research, and a timeless amount of experimentation, serendipity, and rigour, we are now open to the prospect of continuing external to McGill. We believe Building 21 deserves not only to continue, but to grow!

We are hoping to find the right connections within the next month that could help us with what's next. It’s our time to shine!

We thank you for your continued support throughout the years.

— With love, from behind the Big Green Door
651 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1E3
building21.ca​ | LinkedIn​ | info@building21.ca

 

 

 

 

229

Recent signers:
Simon Giustini and 19 others have signed recently.

The Issue

*This is not a petition against McGill. This is to collect signatures to document the impact B21 has made over the years and to support a possible reemergence of B21 in the coming future.

✍️ Any signature to show your support is deeply appreciated. SPREAD THE WORD: likes, shares, reposts, messages, stories all help.

TL;DR On 1st May 2026, Building 21 has been asked by the administration to vacate the space and no additional funding will be allocated to this project. After 9 beautiful, daring years being hosted at McGill University in Montréal, Canada, we are now in search of what's next. 

Sign if

  • 👉 B21 has impacted you in some way!
  • 👉 You care about interdisciplinary third spaces!
  • 👉 You are interested to receive an announcement if/when there is news about B21's future

Last Glimpses of B21 at McGill. Experience B21 yourself!

What is Building 21? Take a look

 

 

Dearest Reader,

Since 2017, Building 21 at McGill University has represented not only a space for deep inquisitive research, but also a ground for students to develop their field of expertise in a space where all disciplines have collided.

By trusting young minds and bringing together world-class thinkers, leaders, and artists, we have stumbled upon a model that not only works, but has created the conditions for unlikely paradigms, new inventions, accidental discoveries to emerge, such as:

  • Mathilde Papillon’s Topological Deep Learning AI/ML architecture, and AI research in Major League Baseball (MLB)
  • Kat Kavanagh’s WaterRangers project, that now monitors over 9,000+ international waterways using community science
  • Hannah Derue’s “neuroscience-based startup that uses AI and art to help people communicate and manage chronic pain” (McGill Reporter, 2025)

Building 21 became something rare: a place where ideas are allowed to exist before they make sense, where the future is not predicted but prototyped, where failure is a method, not a risk.

After 9 years of Beautiful, Limitless, Unconstrained Exploration (BLUE), over 300 scholars across 52 disciplines pursuing interdisciplinary research, and a timeless amount of experimentation, serendipity, and rigour, we are now open to the prospect of continuing external to McGill. We believe Building 21 deserves not only to continue, but to grow!

We are hoping to find the right connections within the next month that could help us with what's next. It’s our time to shine!

We thank you for your continued support throughout the years.

— With love, from behind the Big Green Door
651 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1E3
building21.ca​ | LinkedIn​ | info@building21.ca

 

 

 

 

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Petition created on April 1, 2026