A wind tunnel lab, hydroponic systems creating living walls, fungus building seats for public transit, and a solar panel bus shelter – it’s all part of Concordia’s new exhibition venue called ‘4th Space.’

The venue is trying to bring the university closer to the community and showcase its research.

“Normally knowledge from a university comes out in publications or you go to a lecture or there's a poster presentation. It's high-level academic, but what we want is a space where anyone can walk in and start a conversation,” explained 4th Space programmer Prem Sooriyakumar.

It’s an opportunity for researchers to share their work and get feedback in tangible ways.

The research themes will rotate every few weeks, with CITIES: Urban Essentials on until Jan. 23. On Friday, the group spoke about making cities more sustainable and resilient, using a screen featuring data from the Montreal Trajet app.

“The data that's being shown on the map is all the participants from one of the surveys over the course of a day. So we see their travel patterns throughout the day and this data ideally would be used in planning the transportation system in the future,” explained Zachary Patterson, an associate professor of geography, planning and environment.

Concordia's Centre for Creative Reuse collects unused materials from around campus and offers them free of charge to the public.

“As people leave with materials for new projects, we put it on a scale. We weigh it, and then we also ask them how much they might have spent on the materials, so we get an idea of cost savings,” said the centre’s Arrien Weeks.

Many of the exhibits are immersive and interactive, and there are even workshops on how to build certain items.

The 4th Space is found at 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W (corner Mackay St.) All events are free and open to the public.