Designing a mourning space carry both the profound significance of ritual and the fragility of transitional moments. In collaboration with La Seigneurie Funeral Home, the team completely reimagined the spaces associated with grief, creating a gentle and unprecedented experience. Natural light and vegetation shape fluid, calming environments that support families and loved ones.

When the client approached ultralocal architects and Perron Design to transform and expand their building in Quebec city, in use for over twenty years, the brief was initially to double its area with an additional floor. Early in the project, the team proposed a more compelling solution: a lateral expansion instead of a vertical one. This approach reorganizes circulation around the existing structure, highlights natural light, warmth, and greenery, and connects a new entrance to a central circular core illuminated by a skylight.

The central core and transitional space mediate the atmosphere, balancing solemn reflection with moments of reunion. Carefully designed transitional spaces allow contemplation and gentle movement, enabling visitors to navigate grief with dignity. User feedback confirms the project succeeds in creating a space that comforts, accompanies, and supports individuals through profound vulnerability.

The requalification of the funeral spaces at La Seigneurie Funeral Home goes beyond mere design; it embodies the delicate intersection of ritual and architecture. This project is a profound response to the need for spaces that not only honor loss but also support the human experience of grief, offering both sanctuary and reflection. In partnership with an open and visionary client, the design team redefined the essence of mourning spaces, creating a deeply soothing environment that invites contemplation and healing.

Led by ultralocal architectes and Perron, the intervention is rooted in a comprehensive understanding of the site's history within the urban fabric of Vieux-Beauport in Quebec city. Rather than pursuing a conventional vertical expansion to double the building’s footprint, the architects embraced a lateral extension, allowing the building to spread gracefully across the site. This horizontal approach fosters a harmonious relationship with the surrounding context, promoting intuitive and serene circulation around the existing built core.

At the heart of this intervention lies a new spatial narrative—one that speaks to the ritual of mourning in both its complexity and simplicity. A luminous, linear corridor, punctuated by intimate interior gardens, leads visitors towards a central circular core. Above, a skylight bathes this space in natural light, creating a serene focal point that bridges the inner world of reflection with the outer world of connection. This central space becomes a sanctuary where light, form, and atmosphere converge, evoking both the solemnity of remembrance and the warmth of reunion.

The project explores concepts of threshold, rhythm, and temporality, with particular attention given to spatial transitions. Every space, every transition, is intentionally crafted to allow users to move at their own pace—from quiet moments of reflection to the shared joy of remembrance. These pathways, both literal and metaphorical, guide visitors through a sequence of spatial experiences that honor the full spectrum of emotions involved in loss.

The thoughtful integration of natural light, tactile materials, and vegetation is more than aesthetic—it is instrumental in creating an environment that nurtures the spirit. This design seeks to provide not only a physical place for mourning but a profound emotional refuge. The resulting space is one where architecture becomes an active participant in the grieving process—supporting, guiding, and offering solace through its design.

In creating this transformative environment, the team’s vision was clear: to design a place where memory, healing, and human connection are interwoven. A space that offers dignity in moments of vulnerability and fosters a renewed sense of peace in the face of loss.