Project Description:
The award-winning new Iqaluit Cemetery celebrates the arctic while providing the community with a sacred space to bury and commemorate their people. The design process was based on a two year collaboration of landscape architects, engineers, municipal leaders, residents, and Inuit elders, whose contribution invested the design with a unique understanding and appreciation of the site. Through the use of local materials, artifacts and iconic symbols of the Inuit, the cemetery has established a strong connection between the land and the people it will serve.
The Iqaluit Municipal Cemetery project was awarded 2017 Canadian Society of Landscape Architects’ (CSLA) National Awards of Excellence, and in 2018 the project was recognised with an Honor Award from American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in the General Design category.
Client/Location:
City of Iqaluit, NU (2014)Project Innovations:
- Bowhead whale bones create a culturally and spiritually significant cemetery feature.
- Preservation of delicate tundra ecosystem.
- Cemetery maintenance for northern climate incorporated in the design.
Project Related links:
City officials host opening ceremony for new cemetery
Iqaluit Municipal Cemetery wins CSLA Award
Iqaluit Municipal Cemetery wins 2018 ASLA Award
Project Sub-consultants:
- Coffey Geotechnics
- V3 Companies of Canada
- BPTEC Engineering
- Cameron DeLong, NuALA