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The design for the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre draws inspiration from the patterns formed in snowdrifts by the prevailing wind—“kalutoqaniq” in Inuit, which also serves as a natural wayfinding system for Inuit—to create a non-intrusive structure which seamlessly integrates into the landscape.

The building will carve into the rocky hillside overlooking Nunavut’s territorial capital, Iqaluit, and follow the curves and longitudinal features of the landscape. What the building takes away from the land, it gives back with a generous roof that merges with the landscape and offers a new natural outdoor gathering place with unhindered views over the vast tundra. The roof will be covered in rock and turf, dissolving the lines between the building and the terrain, while ensuring continuous movement across the landscape. By taking advantage of the protective rock, the building structure forms a shelter that naturally embraces the sensitive collections and exhibits beneath. An open slit in the hill creates a daylit space for the different activities and gatherings taking place in the centre.

The Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre in Iqaluit will be built to honour the federal government’s commitment to the Nunavut Agreement, which identified an urgent need for a territorial heritage facility. The centre will encourage the growth of local heritage and foster a network of cultural centres across the territory where the Inuit can reconnect with their heritage and find a stronger sense of identity and culture.

It will provide a venue for several activities and serve as a gathering place for the preservation and celebration of Inuit culture and heritage. Apart from the exhibition spaces, the centre will house a cafe, workshop area, conservations lab, shop, daycare centre, hostel, and offices. It will also connect to a large outdoor area that offers spaces for traditional practices such as carving, kayak building, tool making, and berry picking.
Danish architecture studio Dorte Mandrup together with the architect of record, Guy Architects, worked on the design of the project.

Other collaborators on the project are landscape architect, LEES+Associates; Indigenous consultants, Kirt Ejesiak, CEO of Arctic UAV and CEO of Panaq Design, and Alexander Flaherty, founder of Polar Outfitting; structural engineer, Adjeleian Allen Rubeli Limited; civil engineer, EXP Services Inc.; mechanical, electrical, and sustainability, Pageau Morel et Associés; and the cost consultant, Altus Group Limited.

The selection of the team came through an international competition to design the centre.
“The Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre is an extraordinary project that we are very proud and humbled to have been selected to be part of. Working within this context requires both extreme sensitivity and consideration of landscape and its cultural significance. The community has been working tirelessly for a long time to establish a place for Inuit to collect precious heritage and share unique, specialised knowledge that remains imperative for future generations and is in severe risk of vanishing. We are looking very much forward to listen, learn, and be the link between thought and form,” says Dorte Mandrup’s founder and creative director.