Building 21 — Helping Build What's Next
Building 21 — Helping Build What's Next
The Issue
*This is not a petition against McGill.
TL;DR After 9 beautiful, daring years being hosted at McGill University in Montréal, Canada, we are now in search of what's next. On May 1st 2026, Building 21 has been asked by McGill to vacate the space and no additional funding will be allocated to this project.
Sign to:
- 👉 Show your love for 9 years of B21!
- 👉 Stand up for interdisciplinary third spaces like B21
- 👉 You will receive an announcement if/when there is news about B21's future
Last Glimpses; experience B21 yourself!
- 🏡 Scholar Showcase #1 | Thu 3 - 6PM, 9th April: [eventbrite link here]
- 🏡 Scholar Showcase #2 | Tue 3 - 6PM, 21st April: [eventbrite link here]
—
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)
- And hundreds more examples across every discipline imaginable: quantum physics, circus performance, religion, medical technology, archeology, computer & cognitive sciences, poetry & mathematics
Building 21 became something rare: a place where ideas are allowed to exist before they make sense, where failure is not a risk but a method, where the future is not predicted but prototyped.
After 9 years of Beautiful, Limitless, Unconstrained, Exploration, 300+ interdisciplinary research projects across 52 academic disciplines supported at Building 21, we are now preparing for what's next and are open to the prospect of continuing external to McGill.
We are hoping to find the right connections within the next month that could help us going forward.
✍️ Any signature to show your support is deeply appreciated. SPREAD THE WORD: LIKES, SHARES, REPOSTS. 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
118
The Issue
*This is not a petition against McGill.
TL;DR After 9 beautiful, daring years being hosted at McGill University in Montréal, Canada, we are now in search of what's next. On May 1st 2026, Building 21 has been asked by McGill to vacate the space and no additional funding will be allocated to this project.
Sign to:
- 👉 Show your love for 9 years of B21!
- 👉 Stand up for interdisciplinary third spaces like B21
- 👉 You will receive an announcement if/when there is news about B21's future
Last Glimpses; experience B21 yourself!
- 🏡 Scholar Showcase #1 | Thu 3 - 6PM, 9th April: [eventbrite link here]
- 🏡 Scholar Showcase #2 | Tue 3 - 6PM, 21st April: [eventbrite link here]
—
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)
- And hundreds more examples across every discipline imaginable: quantum physics, circus performance, religion, medical technology, archeology, computer & cognitive sciences, poetry & mathematics
Building 21 became something rare: a place where ideas are allowed to exist before they make sense, where failure is not a risk but a method, where the future is not predicted but prototyped.
After 9 years of Beautiful, Limitless, Unconstrained, Exploration, 300+ interdisciplinary research projects across 52 academic disciplines supported at Building 21, we are now preparing for what's next and are open to the prospect of continuing external to McGill.
We are hoping to find the right connections within the next month that could help us going forward.
✍️ Any signature to show your support is deeply appreciated. SPREAD THE WORD: LIKES, SHARES, REPOSTS. 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
118
Petition created on April 1, 2026