Arctic College provides a wide variety of education to the population of Nunavut, which covers about half of the Canadian High North, and its key role is in the preservation and dissemination of Inuit culture and language. Teeple Architects were commissioned to design a new wing for this college, more specifically its Nunatta campus, located in a single building in Iqaluit, the largest settlement and capital of the Nunavut territory.
The building is inscribed in the rocky terrain of Baffin's Land Island; its shape was also determined by the direction of the winds - to avoid the formation of snowdrifts and to protect the southern facade with the main entrance. The oblique line of this side of the building is parallel to the adjacent
inuksuku, emphasizing its meaning.
Spaces for Inuit research and the design and manufacture of fur products are central to the interior: they are highly visible to visitors and serve as a kind of showcase for the college.
The circular lobby also plays the role of the main public space, classroom and party space.
In a polar climate (although Iqaluit is located significantly south of the Arctic Circle), the architects tried to provide the interior with natural light and effectively insulate it. The solution was the use of fiberglass, Solera translucent glazing and three-layer glass units, which significantly reduced heat loss.
Glazing is concentrated on the southern façade and on the upper level; the rest of the building has narrow openings. The "slot" in the roof provides sunlight to the center of the building.
Wood is widely used in the project: siding of stained western thuja and giant thuja on the facade, open-plan construction of glued beams of coniferous species, solid white oak window frames, panels and staircase railing made of Weymouth pine, tinted to lighter and darker shades …
Due to the location of Iqaluit, the delivery of materials and finished parts and the order of work were completely subject to the restrictions imposed by the climate. The main part of the cargo was brought not by plane, but by water, but the Arctic Ocean is navigable here only in summer and at the very beginning of autumn, so delivery was possible only in three "calls".
Climatic and transport conditions also determined the order of work, and even the development of BIM was primarily aimed at developing an optimal construction algorithm, and the manufacturers of wooden and metal parts of the structure were engaged in it, and architects and engineers only made their own adjustments.
