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Case Study

SFU First Peoples’ Gathering House

Year Completed

2025

Capital Cost

$25M

Total Size

15k sqft.

About This Project

The First Nation Peoples’ Gathering House is a new cultural facility at the heart of Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus. Designed as a modern interpretation of a Coast Salish longhouse, it provides a dedicated and culturally appropriate space for Indigenous students, faculty, and staff to gather, practice traditions, and share knowledge.

The project directly responds to a Call to Action from SFU’s Aboriginal Reconciliation Council, fulfilling a long-standing need for a ceremonial heart for the Indigenous community and campus.

The facility is organized around a central Great Hall that accommodates up to 300 people for ceremonies and events. Supporting spaces include an Elders’ room, a wellness room, a classroom, a multi-generational lounge, and a kitchen, all designed to foster community and cultural continuity.

A defining feature of the design is the Great Hall’s orientation. While the wider campus is aligned off the cardinal axis, the Hall deliberately faces true east, an alignment that honours Coast Salish tradition and reinforces a strong sense of place.

Scope of Services

As the acoustical consultant for this culturally significant project, BKL ensured that the sonic environment would support and enhance the building’s diverse functions – from loud, celebratory gatherings to quiet, reflective ceremonies.

BKL’s scope included a comprehensive approach:

  • Room acoustics design: Optimizing reverberation time and the acoustic character of the large ceremonial hall to ensure exceptional speech intelligibility for storytelling and announcements, while supporting the resonant qualities of drumming and singing.
  • Sound isolation: Designing high-performance partitions and construction assemblies to maintain privacy in spaces such as the Elders’ room and wellness room, and to prevent noise transfer between the ceremonial hall and other sensitive areas.
  • Building noise control: Specifying noise criteria and providing design advice for the HVAC systems to maintain low background noise levels, ensuring an atmosphere of quiet reverence throughout the facility.

Our team collaborated closely with the architects and stakeholders during the early design phases. We delivered detailed design recommendations and performance specifications tailored to the unique cultural and functional needs of each space, ensuring the integrated acoustical solutions would align with the architectural vision.

Project Benefits

BKL’s acoustical design was integral to creating a functional and respectful environment. Our solutions directly addressed the core activities of the Gathering House by:

  • Enhancing ceremony and storytelling: Optimized room acoustics ensure every spoken word, song, and prayer is heard with clarity and dignity, honouring the oral traditions central to Indigenous culture.
  • Supporting privacy and tranquility: Sound isolation strategies create acoustically private environments, providing the quiet and seclusion necessary for sensitive conversations, healing practices, and cultural protocols.
  • Maintaining calm and focus: Careful control of mechanical noise establishes a low ambient noise floor, allowing the building to function as a true sanctuary for community, culture, and connection.

BKL’s work helps ensures that the First Peoples’ Gathering House serves as a lasting source of pride for the Indigenous community and SFU, preserving the integrity of cultural practices for generations to come.

Read the full story behind our acoustic design on our blog here

If you’d like to connect with our team or learn more about our work, please reach out to us here

Sources:

[1] Simon Fraser University. “SFU opens doors to First Peoples’ Gathering House on Burnaby Mountain.” SFU opens door to First People’s Gathering House on Burnaby Mountain.

[2] BC Gov News. “New SFU First Peoples’ Gathering House is reconciliation from the ground up.” BcNew SFU First People’s Gathering House is reconciliation from the ground up.

The People Behind Our Work

Our Technical Leads

  • Paul Marks
    Paul Marks

    M.Sc., MIOA

    Vice President, Project Delivery

    Paul Marks

    Paul Marks, M.Sc., MIOA

    Vice President, Project Delivery

    Paul Marks joined BKL in 2013. He is a full corporate member of the UK Institute of Acoustics and the Canadian Acoustical Association. He has over 20 years’ experience in the measurement, analysis, and assessment of noise, vibration, and acoustical matters and is a former member of the technical advisory team working with the UK government on noise and statutory nuisance issues. During this time, Paul has undertaken major projects within Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

    He has experience in a wide range of multi-disciplinary environmental assessment projects including highway, rail, and air transportation infrastructure, mixed-use and brownfield regeneration schemes, renewable energy facilities, and power generation plants.

    Paul also has experience in a broad range of building and architectural noise assessment projects including the design of residential, office, educational, and commercial buildings. He has also undertaken acoustical studies for major infrastructure developments including work in the design of appropriate sound-fields for room-spaces in multi-occupancy buildings, including atriums and performance spaces. His work regularly involves close liaison with other acoustical engineers, planning consultants, architects, designers, and a variety of specialist environmental consultants.

    Paul is an experienced expert witness within the UK and has a broad experience of planning, licensing and statutory nuisance proceedings as well as being responsible for the successful design of a variety of impact mitigation measures including detailed engineering solutions, lay-out design, and administrative regimes where it has been necessary to closely liaise with clients, designers, and regulatory bodies in order to provide developments in accordance with sustainable principles.

  • Katrina Scherebnyj
    Katrina Scherebnyj

    M.A.Sc., P.Eng., MIOA

    Technical Director, Building Acoustics

    Katrina Scherebnyj

    Katrina Scherebnyj, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., MIOA

    Technical Director, Building Acoustics

    Katrina Scherebnyj started consulting in acoustics in 2007 in England and joined BKL in 2014. Her experience covers architectural acoustics, mechanical noise control, and environmental noise control, and she has worked on major projects in Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

    In architectural acoustics, Katrina has worked on a range of new builds and refurbishment projects including schools, universities and higher education facilities, hospitals and healthcare facilities, performance spaces, cinemas, laboratories, office buildings, hotels, and residential buildings. She has provided acoustical design services in relation to sound insulation, room acoustics, and noise control.

    Katrina was a co-author of Music Accommodation in Secondary Schools: A Design Guide, published for the UK Department for Education in 2010. Researching the guide, she carried out acoustical measurements in the music departments of several schools and interviewed music teachers and students on the suitability of their music spaces.

    Katrina has extensive experience modelling internal sound fields and has carried out numerous models of performance spaces, lecture theatres, and other spaces where acoustical design is critical. She also has experience modelling outdoor noise propagation and has constructed and reviewed noise models for Columbia Containers in Vancouver, BC Children’s and Women’s Hospitals, the Pinnacle (once planned to be London’s tallest building), Crossrail, and other transportation projects.

    Katrina is a member of the Canadian Acoustical Association and the Institute of Acoustics (UK).

  • Henning Schlechtriem
    Henning Schlechtriem

    M.Sc.

    Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

    Henning Schlechtriem

    Henning Schlechtriem, M.Sc.

    Managing Specialist Acoustical Consultant

    Henning Schlechtriem, M.Sc., joined BKL in February 2020. He has 8 years of international project experience working as professional acoustical consultant in the design and assessment of residential and non-residential buildings.

    Henning has a Master’s Degree in Acoustics with Environmental Applications and a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering with specialization in building physics and acoustics. His professional expertise focuses on the fields of architectural and environmental acoustics. He is a proficient with software such as Odeon, SoundPLAN, STRUTT, Insul, Rhino+Grasshopper, Max/MSP, and with measurement equipment from Brüel And Kjær, NTi and Norsonic.

    He has worked together with architects, investors, municipalities, as well as structural and mechanical engineers, covering a wide range of projects including office, residential, and mixed-use buildings, hotels, hospitals, schools, and cultural venues. His work has involved the acoustical design and on-site assessment of room acoustics, sound insulation including flanking transmission, environmental noise and noise from building services.

    Henning has given presentations to architects and technical planners to share his knowledge about the acoustical design of masonry, concrete and lightweight constructions, timber-concrete hybrid buildings and general acoustical challenges during the design of buildings.

    He is a member of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Akustik, the German Association of Acoustics (DEGA) and is an Approved Assessor for Acoustics and Building Physics at the Chamber of Engineers in NRW and Hessen (Germany).

  • Andrew Williamson
    Andrew Williamson

    P.Eng., B.S.M.E.

    Specialist Acoustical Consultant

    Andrew Williamson

    Andrew Williamson, P.Eng., B.S.M.E.

    Specialist Acoustical Consultant

    A graduate of the University of Victoria, Andrew Williamson holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and has practiced as an acoustical consultant in BC for over two decades. He joined BKL in 2023.

    During his career, Andrew has worked on numerous projects involving environmental noise assessments, building noise and vibration control, and architectural acoustics. As a project manager, Andrew has led acoustics teams on a variety of projects across sectors including cultural and recreation, education and research, health care, industrial, commercial, and residential.

    Andrew has attended public meetings, open houses, and government-sponsored working groups to present and discuss technical information with the public, municipal councils, and members of the government and other organizations. In addition, Andrew has acted as an expert witness in BC Supreme Court and participated in a joint review panel hearing for the environmental assessment of a major infrastructure project.

    Andrew is a Professional Engineer registered with Engineers and Geoscientists BC.