yukon Archives - LEES+Associates

Tse’k’wa Amphitheatre Project

The Tse’k’wa Heritage Society commissioned LEES+Associates to design an amphitheatre at the Tse’k’wa National Historic Site as part of their initiative to incorporate interpretive elements into the site.

The site’s location, on the plateau of the Peace Region near the City of Fort St. John, lies along early routes of northward migration for the Dane-zaa First Nations; they consider the site to be a hallmark of their long history in the Peace River region.

Tse’k’wa means “Rock House” in Dane-zaa/Beaver language and has been the gathering place of the Dane-zaa people for more than 12,500 years. Discoveries at the Tse’k’wa site, such as this fluted stone point (pictured left) found at Tse’k’wa in the 1980s, are among the earliest evidence of people living in the Americas. The Dane-zaa people have always known that Tse’k’wa was a significant site. In 2013, three local Treaty 8 Nations—Doig River, Prophet River, and West Moberly First Nations were incorporated into the Tse’k’wa Heritage Society to collaborate as stewards of the site. Under their leadership, Parks Canada designated Tse’k’wa as a national heritage site in 2019, making it one of very few Indigenous-owned and managed national historic sites in Canada.

Close collaboration with the three Dane-zaa Nations informed our design approach for the site. The amphitheatre was envisioned as part of a larger initiative to welcome people to the Tse’k’wa lands, share the Dane-zaa culture, and bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples together for cultural learning, sharing, and celebration. In designing the amphitheatre, we were inspired by the shapes and forms of the cave.

The amphitheatre provides a storytelling and performance space for gathering, drumming, interpretive events, outdoor classrooms, and presentations. We incorporated natural materials into the design, focusing on native plants with traditional and medicinal uses. For example, a band of wild rose and edible berries were planted to frame the seating area and native aspen trees provide a backdrop to the amphitheatre. We sourced some of the plants from Twin Sisters, an Indigenous-owned native plant nursery.

In designing the amphitheatre, the key design consideration was aligning the space with the Dane-zaa worldview and culture. The shape of the amphitheatre emphasizes the shape of the horizon and incorporates views of the sun and moon, which are both significant in the Dane-zaa worldview. The amphitheatre’s shade sails are also meant to remind viewers of a drum, reminding them of the cultural activities that will take place in the space.

Due to the site’s archaeological significance, our design minimizes ground disturbance and works with the natural slope of the site to minimize any potential damage to archaeological evidence still below the surface. Archaeological digs are ongoing at the site.

Construction on the amphitheatre was finished last year. Since then, the site has been actively welcoming visitors to learn about the Dane-zaa and their culture.

Looking Forward: Kwanlin Dün First Nation Community and Education HUB in Whitehorse, Yukon

LEES+Associates has been working with Reimagine Architects and the Kwanlin Dün First Nation (KDFN) since 2018 on redeveloping and expanding the landscapes and spaces around their civic buildings in Whitehorse, Yukon. The KDFN consists of peoples of Southern Tutchone, Tagish, Tlingit, and other diverse backgrounds who live in the lands that define their traditional territories along the headwaters of the Chu Níikwän (known today as the Yukon River). Their name comes from what their ancestors called the area, “Kwanlin,” which means “running water through canyon” in the Southern Tutchone. The Kwanlin Dün have lived, hunted, fished, and traded in the region for millennia; they have discovered stone tools in the region dating back approximately 5000 years.  The design of their new civic buildings aims to reflect the KDFN vision of their traditional lands by preserving as much of the surrounding forest as possible as well as by incorporating water elements and natural materials.

The recently completed KDFN Kashgêk’ Building includes the nation’s chief and council offices, supportive services, and office administration for the nation. The Education HUB, currently in the detailed design phase, sits across the street and will feature an immersion play area and cultural learning outdoor classroom along with a natural play area for the KDFN’s Dusk’a Play children’s program.

The Education HUB Building blends a traditional plaza with a more park-like design approach that serves as a multi-functional gathering and events space. Blending the Yukon River into the site of the building, the dry riverbed runs from the Kashgêk’ Building and along the front of the Education HUB building. This riverbed will be fed with snowmelt and rainwater, culminating into a basin within the central courtyard and visible from the windows of the HUB’s healing room.

The Education HUB will sit across the street from the Community HUB. A circular building that starts with a single story and slowly builds to a second floor symbolizes the growing enlightenment and education that the building will enable.

The site reflects how Indigenous communities have traditionally used the land. Buffered by forest, the Education HUB highlights the larger river theme continuing from the Kashgêk’ Building across the street. Featuring a central courtyard, this Education HUB’s outdoor space will use natural materials, such as boulders, logs, and embankments, to create seating and a stage for ceremonial gatherings.   Around the outside of the building, organized by a perimeter path, there will be two play areas featuring natural elements. A cultural teaching area will provide space for traditional activities such as hide tanning, drying fish, and canoe carving.

The landscape design for these two interconnected sites aims to create a place that reflects and celebrates KDFN culture and values, responds to the needs of families, children, visitors, and staff, and is rooted in the values of language, culture, and lifelong learning.

Kwanlin Dün Community Hub Landscape Design – Project page

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.