Photo credit: Dorte Mandrup
The team of Dorte Mandrup Architects and Guy Architects Ltd., has been announced as the winner of an international architectural competition to design the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre.
Located in Iqaluit, the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Centre (NIHC) will be constructed to honor the Government of Canada’s dedication to the Nunavut Agreement and Bill C-15, the UNDRIP Act.
Spanning 55,000 square feet, the facility will facilitate the return of the Nunavut Collection, consisting of ancestral and cultural items that are currently stored in southern facilities. The Centre will also offer a venue for exhibitions, performances, workshops, and other programs, and foster healing and reconciliation.
Additionally, the NIHC will provide training and assistance for the development of cultural facilities in other communities across Nunavut. A committee including members from the Inuit Heritage Trust (IHT), Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI), the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA), the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KitIA), and the Kivaliq Inuit Association (KivIA) is overseeing the project.
“We have waited many years for this opportunity and have never been this close to realizing our dream. The need for a territorial heritage centre was first identified in the Nunavut Agreement and thirty years later we are still without a place of our own,” said IHT executive director, William Beveridge.
“As a result, many items made by our ancestors are ...