VA Peterson is a family-owned business in transition from one generation to the next. As part of this, the existing partners asked us to help extend their facilities, creating a new gathering space for services, new resting spaces and an enlarged mortuary. In preparation, we spent time observing the business’ day-to-day logistics. Acoustics became an important factor in our design with a deliberate quiet allowing clients privacy in their experience of losing a loved one. Natural light filters through the building and culminates in a secular service space where it reflects down from ceiling windows among circular lamps, guiding the eye upwards in contemplation. At the entrance is a new colonnade for visitors to gather before and after services. Looking out to the trees beyond, the benches are sheltered by cedarwood, preserved in its rich colour out of reach of the sun.