A space of dialogue between the living and the dead

Location

The project is located on the border of the cities of Tarnowskie Góry and Bytom (Silesia, Poland), in the crater of the Bobrowniki Quarry, a former open-pit dolomite mine. It takes advantage of the groundwater outflow source located there and the flooded area by reclaiming the space and giving it new life. The crematorium is also to be complemented by a burial function - columbaria, while the psychological aspects of the cemetery will be provided by a regeneration garden.

Idea 

The goal of the project is to design a facility that provides a space for dialogue between the living and the dead - a space that gives visitors the opportunity to take a journey into themselves during the mourning process, allows them to work through the loss of a loved one, and provides an opportunity to establish a ritual of farewell for agnostics. It is intended to be a place that will help visitors come to terms with the loss of a loved one and allow them to release difficult emotions through the influence of architecture and therefore accelerate the process of recovery (recovery from mourning). 

Terrain

The first stage of the project is to change the terrain, i.e. to create a platform to create the entrance zone, an embankment to hide the crematorium and a depression where the columbarium buildings will be built.

Building

The crematorium building will be cut into the created embankment, and water flowing from the existing spring will be routed through it. It will accompany visitors from the pre-entry area until the ceremony of laying the ashes in the columbarium located at the end of the route. 

Waterfall

The journey of water through the building is topped by a waterfall that gradually fills a depression in the terrain, increasingly covering the columbarium buildings. Flooding ends when the sheet of water is flush with the level of the upper edge of the buildings thanks to the use of water drainage in their walls. 

Gardens

The final stage in the evolution of the building during its operation is the development of gardens on the roofs of the columbaria. This stage involves the active participation of visiting mourners.

About project

Visiting mourners from the entrance plaza will be guided by a stream of water that will accompany them throughout their journey through the building. The water has a soothing and calming effect - both the sight of it and the sound of the water's noise. Relatives of the deceased will pass through one by one:

- Entrance area 

- The waiting room 

- The farewell room 

- The "Hope" room

- The room of "confusion" 

- "Return to balance"

The farewell room is adjacent to the cremation room, and they are separated by movable walls. This allows the cremation process to be carried out both without the deceased's loved ones being seen and in front of them. Such flexibility allows the individual needs of the users to be respected - for some, the sight of a loved one's cremation may be too brutal, while for others it will be necessary in order to say a full farewell to the deceased and come to terms with their passing.

Subsequent rooms are meant to map the stages of experiencing mourning. One of the biggest problems in experiencing mourning affecting the prolongation of the recovery process is the suppression of difficult emotions within oneself, holding back from experiencing the loss of a loved one. The building was shaped to influence the emotions of visitors and allow them to externalize. 

 The last room is already open to a footbridge leading to gardens designed according to the principles of therapeutic garden design.

Therapeutic or regenerative gardens are intended to provide an environment conducive to stress reduction, emotional restoration and increased vitality. When designing a regenerative garden, the focus should be on the psychological, physical and social needs of the users. 

The benefits that being in a therapeutic garden can bring:

- improving health - lowering blood pressure, improving sleep quality, synthesizing vitamin D, reducing aggression levels, lowering stress levels and the neurotransmitters responsible for stress i.e. cortisol and adrenaline, strengthening the immune system; 

- improvement of emotional state - a feeling of renewal, reduction of depression, hope for improvement;

- sensory stimulation - stimulation of all senses (touch, smell, hearing, taste, sight, balance), which has a soothing effect on the nervous system;

- Improved social function - increased opportunity for social interaction, conversation, socialization, bonding.

The "Supportive garden" theory proposed by Roger Ulrich describes the principles of designing such gardens in accordance with the Stress Reduction Theory to fulfill their role. The following factors are important:

- Sense of control, access to privacy - it is important for the garden user to know that he or she has a choice.The green area should give the chance to choose between: secluded places or full of people; in the sun or in the shade; secluded and sheltered from the wind or spacious, open places; a variety of walking routes, etc.

- Social support - in order to make the garden conducive to social gatherings, it is necessary to design several garden interiors separated informally (e.g., by hedges), provided with a sufficient number of seating areas (e.g., benches or gazebos) to create a meeting zone. 

- Movement and active contact with nature - in therapeutic gardens it is advisable to design a communication system offering varied types of meandering garden walking paths enriched with interesting views (terrain therapy) or areas that allow gardening (hortiterapy)

- Natural stress distractors (abundance of nature) - garden arrangements with an emphasis on the abundance of ornamental plants, shrubs, trees, flower meadows are recommended, because it distracts attention from problems, arouses delight. To maximize the potential of a therapeutic garden, it should be composed of a variety of plant material, also attracting insects, birds and other animals.

The classic cemetery, in addition to the special function of burying the dead, also has a psychological function (therapeutic, building and maintaining a relationship with the deceased).

According to C. Forest McDowell and Fricia Clark-McDowell (1998), in order for green spaces to have therapeutic properties, the following elements are important:

- water elements - the possibility of active and passive use in the therapeutic process (hydrotherapy); water has a multidimensional effect on the senses - direct touch, calming sounds, aestheticization of the environment. The flow of water can also be interpreted as a symbolic representation of the transience of human life.

- The natural character of the space (exposure of the natural environment, natural materials).

Not without significance are also the colors used - human tastes are shaped by nature, and therefore the colors of the earth are preferred - clay, clay, stones, gravel, sand or moss.

The composition of the cemetery and the associated symbolism are also important in the therapeutic process. The landscape should fill the visitor with hope, be a place of refuge. The proper arrangement of the cemetery space allows emotions to evolve from feelings of shock, through feelings of conscious loss, sadness, acceptance of death, to maintaining the memory of the deceased.

"The variability of the vegetation throughout the year, the seasonality of cemetery scenery illustrates the cyclical nature of life, the ephemeral, and tames death." 

- Rival, 1998

"Contemplating the variability of nature in a cemetery plays an important role in the process of accepting the transience of man."

- Francis, Kellaher, Neophytou, 2005

The gardens are also intended to fulfill this psychological function of the cemetery, which is usually not fulfilled in the case of columbariums. The gardens will be a place jointly developed by visiting mourners, which they can take care of and thus show their care and remembrance of the deceased (horticulture as a substitute for placing wreaths and candles at the tombstone). 

Mental suffering is associated with experiencing various types of fears and anxieties, loss of a sense of control and meaning of life, injustice, grief and bitterness, guilt, shame or depression, but also rebellion and aggression expressing disagreement with the departure of a loved one. In view of the above, representatives of psychology emphasize not so much on defining death as on recognizing the dynamics of experiencing the process of dying and mourning, and emphasize the need to create a space-time for their full experience.

Loss is a destructive experience and affects us on many levels. It leaves wounds, disintegrates, traumatizes and, above all, is irreversible in the process.

The development and change of building over time are meant to show the transience of human life. As time passes, the pain of the passing of loved ones also passes, and we gradually learn to live in a world without them.