South Haven Centre for Remembrance, Edmonton, Alberta Community Building, Canada Architecture Images, Architect

South Haven Centre for Remembrance in Edmonton

22 Apr, 2023

Architects: SHAPE Architecture

Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Photos: Ema Peter Photography

South Haven Centre for Remembrance, Canada

The new South Haven Centre for Remembrance creates a new non-denominational landmark destination for the City of Edmonton. The design features a symbolic thirteen-meter tower which emerges from the prairie landscape which makes reference to the existing grave sites, monuments, columbaria and the latent memory that they embody. The new facility conceives to memorialize moments in time and spatially capture the quality of the seasons through the interplay of light, shadow and darkness.

The color and overall character of the building considers the relationship of modulating light patterns within the building interior throughout the seasons as well as the long crisp winter shadows that are cast from the building edges. The combination of black hot rolled steel panels and a black charred (shou sugi-ban accoya) skin provide a counterpoint to the snowy winter conditions and the changing relationship of the building in the landscape throughout the year.

The main entrance sequence provides a compressed moment of darkness prior to opening the oversized steel pivot doors which reveal the light luminous interior spaces which feature honed limestone floors with Baltic birch millwork and walls. A full height glazing wall in the lobby frames a view of the downtown skyline through the winter-garden courtyard.

The tower is characterized by a large triangular clerestory which allows diffuse north light to enter the meeting rooms. The form and development of the tower evolved through multiple iterations to optimize the quality of light and more specifically; how light and shadow casts within the tower on the summer solstice. The word Solstice is derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still) and the reverence of light and shadow within the tower are celebrated on this annual datum.

Our memory of visiting a cemetery is marked by time; the position of the sun, the quality of light and the weather on that particular day. For some, it may be a solitary visit for a ceremony; for others, it may be experienced through ritual visits which span the rest of their lives.

The South Haven Centre for Remembrance is the recipient of the 2020 Governor General Medal in Architecture.

What were the key challenges?
Constrained budget due to funding mechanism which required ongoing “Iterative Value Engineering” to eliminate any cost overrun

What are the sustainability features?
This new 100% wood structure meets Wood First Initiatives.

How is the project unique?
– Project has been honored with numerous local and international awards including the 2020 Masterprize as “Best in Best” in the Cultural Category.
– Symbolic architectural expression
– Multidenominational Centre with complex overlapping programmatic requirements

Key products used:
The exterior facade is clad in shou-sugi ban charred cedar