La Seigneurie Funeral Home / ultralocal architectes

In late 2020, La Seigneurie Funeral Home approached ultralocal architects to undertake a major renovation and expansion of their building in the Beauport neighborhood of Québec City. The initial request was to double the existing floor area by adding a second level. However, early in the design process, our team proposed a different, more meaningful approach: to expand horizontally rather than vertically.

This house was built in the 1980s, following the design codes of the time: a semi-subterranean ground floor housing the garage and boiler room, a raised floor above the garden for the living areas, and an attic converted into bedrooms. In the early 2000s, an extension was built on the garden side to accommodate a large living room, but it quickly showed signs of deterioration. After a decade of legal proceedings, the owners were finally compensated for the damages suffered. They then decided to move on from those difficult years by considering the construction of a new house. However, the architect proposed a different approach: to retain as much of the existing structure as possible and demolish only the damaged sections.

In a world facing ecological exhaustion and spatial saturation, the act of building has come to represent both creation and consumption. For decades, architectural progress was measured by the new: new materials, new technologies, new monuments of ambition. Yet today, the discipline is increasingly shaped by another form of intelligence, one that values what already exists. Architects are learning that doing less can mean designing more, and this shift marks the emergence of what might be called an architecture of restraint: a practice defined by care, maintenance, and the deliberate choice not to build.

As an extreme coastal beach environment, the park site must solve for flooding and constant salt spray. The park had to solve for multiple issues related to permitting and flooding.