Elsa Brobbey, Author at LEES+Associates

Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre design team announced

LEES+Associates will provide landscape design for the long-awaited Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre in Iqaluit. The winning design team of Dorte Mandrup (Lead Architect), Guy Architects (Architect of Record), LEES+Associates, EXP Services, Adjeleian Allen Rubeli, Pageau Morel, Altus Group, and Indigenous consultants Kirt Ejesiak and Alexander Flaherty was announced on July 9^th 2023 following an international design competition.

Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre - Exterior Visualizations — *Exterior Visualizations: MIR*

LEES+Associates is excited to have been chosen for this important project that will promote greater awareness of Inuit culture and support cultural healing and reconciliation between Inuit and non-Inuit. The centre will offer a place where Inuit can reconnect with this important part of their cultural heritage and collective past through objects, stories, and activities.

Jury Statement

The winning proposal convinced the jury with their beautiful and poetic response to the requirements outlined in the Feasibility Study and during the March Design Week in Iqaluit. Jury members felt that Mandrup heard and understood community perspectives regarding Inuit Traditional Knowledge and the healing potential for the NIHC. The reference to kalutoqaniq resonated with the jury, the prevailing wind causing shapes and patterns in the snowdrifts. They appreciated the reference to Inuit wayfinding and integration into the landscape. They liked the idea of the building growing from the land, and the glowing lights in the landscape, for the eyes of the people of Nunavut. They liked the living green roof and the idea of having the more protected functional spaces set deeper into the hill. They thought the design and shape were interesting and that the building had an efficient footprint.

Dorte Mandrup explains the concept: The design of the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre is inspired by the landscape and the movement of the snow and the wind. Following the topographic curves and distinct longitudinal features of the terrain, the building sits parallel to the prevailing north-western winds. It carves into the rocky hillside overlooking Iqaluit with the large roof continuing the lines of the landscape and forming a new public space and a viewing platform from which visitors can enjoy the uninterrupted views towards Frobisher Bay and Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park. By taking advantage of the protective rock, the building naturally creates a shelter over the sensitive collections and exhibitions while the expansive window gesture offers a space filled with daylight and generous views towards the south-west for future gathering and activities.

Elk Falls Cemetery

The development of the expansion of Elk Falls Cemetery has reached an exciting point!
The LEES+Associates cemetery design team was recently in Campbell River, BC to review the clearing and top soil grading at the Cemetery.

The concept is for a series of lawned burial pods or ‘rooms’ nestled within the existing forest. The cemetery driveway linking the burial pods has just been installed with hydroseeding of lawns and meadows slated for this week.

Section names, markers, and benches will be installed through the fall. It is hoped burial lots will be made available for sale around fall 2022.

When completed, this will be a stunning tranquil and beautiful gladed landscape for families to lay their loved ones to rest.

For more information on the design, please reach out to the LEES cemetery design team headed by Richard Cook, Principal and Patrick Beech, Landscape Designer.
Local partner Outlook provided civil engineering services for the cemetery driveway.

Cemetery Business Planning : The Basics

Join Erik Lees, founding principal of LEES+Associates, and Jennifer Thibert, CPA, CMA, for an introduction to cemetery business planning.

This webinar was offered in partnership with Western Canada Cemetery Association (WCCA) and LEES+Associates as a part of the WCCA conference.

In this one hour webinar, you will learn:

The importance of understanding market demand, disposition trends, and inventory vs. land capacity;
The unique considerations of cemetery business planning;
Business planning tools for cemeteries, and
Translating a business plan into actions.

Woodlands: The Burden of Gravity

The Burden of Gravity, an anthology of poems by Shannon McConnell “challenges readers to consider how we, in the aftermath of de-institutionalization, choose to remember institutions like Woodlands School”.

LEES+Associates in collaboration with many individuals who gave generously of their time and ideas, designed a memorial garden to serve as a beautiful gathering place honouring former Woodlands residents.

The Woodlands Memorial Garden project involved the recovery of some 3,000 previously removed headstones marking the graves of former residents of the Woodlands School. This work has extended over several years from guiding the concept development process, design development to construction of the Woodlands Memorial Gardens.

Work on this project remains ongoing as more headstones are discovered offsite.

Links:

The Burden of Gravity – Shannon McConnell

Review: Shannon McConnell challenges her readers to witness the burdens of memory, abuse and erasure – from the Vancouver Sun

Woodlands Memorial Garden – Project Page

Planning Makes Perfect: An Introduction to Cemetery Master Planning

In June of 2020, LEES+Associates began offering e-learning opportunities for those new to the wonderful world of cemeteries and for those more experienced and wanting to ensure they are abreast of best practices and the latest training available.

We are excited to present the last in the series, Planning Makes Perfect: An Introduction to Cemetery Master Planning!

In this focused webinar, you will learn:

The many benefits of having a plan;
The unique considerations of cemetery master planning;
Master planning tools for cemeteries and,
How to translate a plan into action.

Join Erik Lees, founding principal of Lees+Associates, as he integrates over 40 years of cemetery planning and design in this fast paced webinar.

Missed the other webinars? Watch them here.

Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden Opening

Our team had a great visit to the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden to check out the first phase of improvements at the garden.

In 2016, LEES+Associates was retained by the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden Society to create a master plan and detailed plans for the Phase 1 improvements.

The Botanical Garden had a series of small openings to keep with physical distancing, so we were thrilled to be part of a very intimate ribbon cutting ceremony.

It was really nice to see all the thinking come to life from our team’s work on this;

– Bench in the ‘welcome plaza’
– Entry signage
– Entry gate (simplified but effective)
– Pedestrian entry gate on ‘welcome plaza’
– Fencing
– Concrete edging on parking lot
– Walking path
– Infiltration edge and planted berm to protect pond
– Grass pave on emergency access lane

It felt the way that we had hoped it would feel when we started this undertaking 4 years ago at the design charrette.

Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden

Green Burial: From Concept to Reality

In our second Introductory Cemetery Webinar Series titled Green Burial: From Concept to Reality, Erik takes us through another fast paced webinar.

In this focused webinar, you will learn:

The foundations of green burial: from concept to reality;
Why more individuals and cemetery operators are opting for green burial, and
How to incorporate a green burial section into a new or existing cemetery.

Check out our YouTube channel for more videos in our cemetery webinar series.

Cemetery Trends: How They Will Affect Your Cemetery

In the first of our Introductory Cemetery Webinar Series, Erik Lees integrates over 40 years’ experience in cemetery design, planning and management, in this fast paced and interactive webinar. This 45-minute session covers current trends in cemetery design, operations, and interment options.

You will learn:

How current interment and memorialization trends are affecting cemetery managers;
How cemetery operations are responding and planning for burial surges and;
the foundations of cemetery business planning.

Check out our YouTube channel for more videos in our cemetery webinar series.

Ocean View Cemetery, Astoria, OR

On March 16^th, 2020, the City Council of Astoria, Oregon unanimously approved the Ocean View Cemetery Master Plan. This comprehensive Plan was prepared by the Vancouver office of LEES+Associates with support from the Portland office of David Evans Associates Ltd and was intended to help foster sustainable operation and development of Astoria’s remarkable, 123-year-old cemetery.

Ocean View Cemetery is situated on an aging sand dune about 2 km. from the Oregon Coast. The rolling site contains a 1915 community mausoleum designed by renowned Portland architect, Ellis F. Lawrence, and an intriguing 30’ tall conical mound set within the Civil War veterans’ burial section. While there are no known burials inside the mound, it features a set narrow set of steps leading to a flagpole and memorial plaque at its apex, from which there are panoramic views over the site and its Cemetery Lake.

Near the end of the project, the LEES+Associates design team came across an image suggesting that Ocean View’s original landscape architects had borrowed the idea of a conical mound from a strikingly similar feature at The Mound Cemetery, in Marietta Ohio.

The Marietta cemetery was constructed around a burial mound (or “barrow”), which had been built by the indigenous Adena people that had inhabited the area from about 100 BC to 500 AD. This ancient landform is reported to contain prehistoric human remains and is believed to be the last of many similar mounds that were once scattered across the American Midwest.

The Marietta mound was saved from destruction Marietta pioneers, who chose to to establish a cemetery around it. They surrounded the landform with the graves of more Revolutionary soldiers than are buried in any cemetery in the country. The Marietta cemetery, with its iconic mound, remains active to this day.

As cemetery designers, finding hidden connections like this is among the greatest pleasures of our work— always amazing “hidden treasures” to discover!

Announcement: New Leaders at LEES+Associates

We are delighted to announce that after 22 years, Erik and Kathi Lees have reached an agreement with their long-standing management team to transfer the ownership of the firm to new principals: Megan Turnock, Heidi Redman and Richard Cook. This team has been with the firm for a combined total of 30 years and have been actively involved as practice leaders and in the management of the firm.

“We are excited about continuing the good work that forms the legacy of the firm and exploring new ways to connect people with meaningful landscapes.”
Erik will continue to be deeply involved in the work we do, continuing in his role as Founding Principal. “I am delighted that Megan, Heidi and Richard are taking the reins. They are bright and capable, have demonstrated their leadership and vision over the years and enjoy the confidence of the whole LEES team.”

Megan Turnock, MSc, MLA
Megan has a multidisciplinary background in environment and landscape architecture with 20 years of professional experience. She works on all things parks, recreation, trails, ecology, and engagement and has a passion for exploring new approaches to building communities that connect us and help lift everyone up.

I’ve found my niche at LEES+Associates because of the wonderful variety of projects where I can meld all my skills, learn new things every day, and make meaningful contributions to communities large and small.

Heidi Redman, MLA, AALA, BCSLA, NuALA, CSLA
Since joining the firm in 2007, Heidi has led a wide range of open space, outdoor recreation and cemetery projects, and proven herself to be a skilled designer and project manager, experienced in managing multi-disciplinary teams. Her skills enhance our team’s ability to develop solutions responsive to client needs and community vision. Heidi holds a passion for northern landscapes, and heads LEES+Associates northern office in Whitehorse.

I am thrilled to be able to continue to build on the meaningful legacy of work done by LEES+Associates, and shape communities at the site and community wide scales.

Richard Cook, BA Hons DipLA, CLMI, BCSLA, NWTALA
Richard is a Registered Landscape Architect with 20 years of professional experience in both local government and private consultancy. He has led multi-disciplinary teams on a blend of prestigious contemporary and historic park, trail, cemetery, and public realm projects across Canada and internationally including the London 2012 Olympics. Richard is currently playing a key role in numerous planning and design projects for the firm including cemetery master planning and detailed design, and custom cremation garden designs.

It is deeply satisfying to help our clients attain solutions to problems in an evermore complex world and I look forward to continuing the great work our dynamic and talented team is doing.

These three new owners are part of the LEES+Associates team of 17 professional staff, who are committed to bringing diverse skills and experience to the planning and design of open space at every scale.