The Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre, gateway to all things touristy in Nunavut, is getting a complete makeover.

Work begins in mid-February that will see the 12-year-old exhibits -- focusing on south Baffin Island life -- get the heave-ho for displays that represent what Nunavut is now.

In the words of Heather Gosselin, "The exhibits will be Nunavut-ized."

The parks and planning manager for the ministry of sustainable development has been mentoring the four-year process to enact the changes.

"We had an open house one-and-a-half years ago to offer multiple concepts to see what the public liked or didn't like," Gosselin says.

What people liked were the large animals.

The centre is operated by Nunavut Tourism, but the Sustainable Development Department helps pay the maintenance bills. Iqaluit company Laird Environmental Planning & Design won some of the contracts to do the work.

"They're quite dramatic," principle owner John Laird says of the polar bear and narwhal dioramas.

The centre's side gallery is going to be totally redone, Laird says. It currently shows off the narwhal, an igloo and a shopping cart of now-dated groceries and their prices.

Instead, the space will feature a caribou with mannequins wearing leather clothes and other artifacts.

The upstairs gallery will be opened more to allow for travelling exhibits.

"There was an interest in having a space where displays will change," Laird says.

The overall design theme will be based on the Inuit idea of a year having six to eight seasons.

What's staying is the above-mentioned drummer sculpture that dominates the lobby, as well as many other art pieces. Outside, the centre will get a display showing off Iqaluit's services and attractions. The first stage of the renovation will close the back galleries for two weeks or longer to ditch the contents.

"Then we'll shut down the front part," Gosselin says. "Everything is to be completed by summer."

Go ahead, take a look: - it'll all be different in a month. The Unikkaarvik Centre is open year-round.