A major renovation and expansion project has transformed La Seigneurie Funeral Home in Quebec City's Beauport neighborhood, demonstrating how thoughtful architectural design can enhance spaces dedicated to grief, remembrance, and healing. The project, completed in 2024 by ultralocal architectes, reimagined the building's layout and user experience through a horizontal expansion approach rather than conventional vertical construction.
In late 2020, La Seigneurie Funeral Home approached ultralocal architectes with an initial request to double the existing floor area by adding a second level to their 450-square-meter facility. However, the architectural team proposed an alternative vision that would prove more meaningful and functional. Instead of building upward, they recommended expanding horizontally, creating opportunities to completely rethink the user experience and reorganize the building's programmatic elements.
This lateral expansion strategy offered significant advantages beyond simply adding space. The new configuration enabled a clearer, more intuitive circulation flow while carefully choreographing transitions between areas designed to accommodate a wide spectrum of emotions - from mourning and solitude to reunion and comfort. The architectural language emphasizes softness and warmth through strategic use of natural light, tactile materials, and integrated greenery throughout the interior spaces.
A central design feature of the renovation is a linear interior passage that runs along the main façade of the existing building, connecting new spaces across both floors. This luminous corridor, lined with full-height windows and punctuated by interior gardens, serves as the project's backbone, subtly guiding visitors toward the heart of the extension. Each transition point has been thoughtfully designed to offer moments of peace, allowing visitors the freedom to pause, reflect, or move through the space at their own comfortable pace.
Natural light plays a fundamental role throughout the facility. Direct and indirect sunlight animates raw textures and architectural details, bringing depth and softness to the interior atmosphere. The result creates a space that feels warm, grounded, and alive rather than institutional or cold. Working in collaboration with Perron Design, the interior architecture embraces curved elements as a means of promoting continuity and calm, with gestures that are both subtle and expressive, imbuing the space with emotional resonance and meaning.
At the heart of the architectural plan, a generous circular opening carved into the floor and crowned by a skylight creates a strong spatial and visual connection between the building's levels. This central void functions as a transitional zone between different functions, allowing diverse uses to coexist while maintaining their distinct purposes. On the second floor, this opening connects to a furnished outdoor terrace where visitors can enjoy fresh air and natural light, or extend social functions from the reception room during warmer months.
The programmatic expansion includes several new specialized areas designed to serve the facility's diverse needs. A meditation room features skyward views specifically designed for ceremonies, while a large meeting room can be subdivided according to specific requirements. The addition also incorporates family lounges, private consultation rooms, a dedicated play area for children, and a new columbarium that doubles the existing capacity for memorial services.
The design creates a clear distinction between the building's two levels in terms of atmosphere and function. The ground floor maintains a quiet and contemplative character, making it ideal for reflection and remembrance activities. In contrast, the upper level offers a warmer and more social ambiance, centered around a reception space specifically designed to bring people together during gatherings and memorial services.
Surrounding the building, carefully planned landscaping reinforces the overall sense of care and architectural coherence. Parking areas have been discreetly integrated into the site design and softened through the addition of green islands and strategic tree plantings. New pedestrian pathways guide visitors gently from the street to the building entrance, framing views and enhancing the approach experience in a way that prepares visitors for the sacred nature of the spaces within.
This sensitive and deeply human architectural project received significant recognition for its thoughtful approach to funeral home design. In May 2025, the La Seigneurie Funeral Home renovation was honored with a Prix d'excellence en architecture by the Ordre des architectes du Québec, acknowledging the project's successful integration of functional requirements with emotional and spiritual considerations. The award recognizes how the design successfully addresses the complex needs of a facility that must serve grieving families while providing spaces for celebration of life and community gathering.
