Graffiti artists take over Canada Science and Technology Museum construction site

The Canada Science and Technology Museum may be primarily a construction site these days, but museum officials are ensuring it's at least a colourful one.

Dozens of aspiring artistsgathered Saturday at the St. Laurent Boulevard siteto design a nearly 170-metre-longmural on the construction wall.

• Canada Science and Technology Museum launches mural contest to adorn construction site

The project is the end result of acontest the museum launched in April. They asked Canadian students between the ages of fourand 19 to submit their designs for the wall.

On Saturday, professional graffiti artistswere on-hand to make the mural a reality thanks to a partnership with the House of Paint festival.

"You don't just do science without being creative," said AlexBenay, president and CEO of the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation.

"We wanted to see, from an artistic perspective, how youth across Canada were engaged with science and tech. And they came up with some pretty cool drawings."

The museum was forced to close its doors in September 2014 after maintenance workers discovered mould in its walls, following years of complaints about leaks in the roof.

It's expected to reopen in the fall of 2017.