Resonanting Memories

1. How do you foresee faith in the context of future? (will it diminish/sustain/alter/vanish/be more evident) As the world begins to globalise merging facets of people, culture and tradition an inclusiveness will be established. Following this, distinctness is removed from religion, introducing a new faith of general good-will and conscientious. This diminishing faith is evident in our understanding of the world in which could be underlined in the ethos of epistemology. Against the particular knowledge upheld by faith previously, being explained and understood in the concepts of technological advances. This diminishing of faith increases the functions and advances of human civilization, and adhere to a new ideology of death in which it focuses on the loved ones left behind, rather then the sanctity and the glorification of the deceased.

2. What are the concepts behind your design ideology? In the evolving world, death will no longer be taboo and with the cohesion of faith, a new universal ritual is created to remember the dead. With a mind to create a more sustainable practice, the burial and remembrance of the deceased is condensed into a singular chime that holds the ashes of the deceased. The weight of their souls will manifest through the resonating sounds of each individual chime. Challenging the lack of public usage for a public space, we envision cemeteries as places for people to gather and socialise over food, thus incorporating various food stalls and restaurants. This project refines the urban cemetery as not only a traditional place for mourning but correspondingly a place to socialise and gather, which in turn fosters the urban life. Integrating play as a ploy to reinvision the use and cultural acceptance needed for the sustainability of the cemetery. Food is known to be a source of unification, where mass amounts of cultural diversity can be accepted and placed in the same zone without the aftereffects of offense or hierarchical stratification.

3. How does your design incorporate a sustainable method of burying/cremating the deceased? Our design focuses on a more compact way to contain the deceased with newer sustainable methods of commemoration. Our concept is to contain ashes within a wind chime that is architecturally incorporated into a vertical cemetery system. With this newer system, the act of remembrance becomes simplified into ringing the chime and letting the sound of the soul resonante. This newer way of ‘burying’ and commemorating the deceased removes horizontal sprawl and material usage. Accepting the densification of the urban city as a design challenge, and turning that into a way in which the burial for the deceased is reinterpreted like the various facets of the brief.

4. How is your design scalable for growth and cater to the growing population? Due to its repetitive structure, it can work with a modular system that can be implemented for vertical growth. The densification and the mix-use agenda (cemetery + market) challenges newer urban spaces under the increasing population and city centers. We imagine that economically, the market space could also act as a support for maintenance and growth from the vertical tower above. This hybridization of space and its compaction can only function coherently with the repurposes of each of the systems of the market and the cemetery. The vertical alignment of chimes instead of the spanning sprawl of headstones also accepts the densification of urban spaces.

5. What are the strategies adapted in your design for making it inclusive. The project does not specify any religion but is rather created as a space for all thus creating a homogenous respect that comes from the connection of the deceased and the living. Furthermore, the cemetery becomes not only exclusive for those to pay respect, but also serves as a functioning public space to gather and socialise in the market spaces/ urban spaces. Cemeteries, and events of death has always been a time for congregation therefore the project challenges new opportunities for urban cemeteries as places to socialise on an everyday basis. The spaces and locations are not indicative of a particular religion or faith, as faith has been simplified in its iconology via food and consumption as a motif.

6. How does your design balance the density and quality of space for the visitors? The challenge for designing an urban cemetery is addressing issues of public and private spaces. Although being generally more public in manner, the project provides architecturally designed visual barriers for the crematorium which provide not only privacy but also intimacy for the families. The choice of architectonics and lighting of these private spaces create a more solemn atmosphere suitable for its role. The public realm follows a promenade up the various rings of market spaces to the central tower that leads to the platforms holding the chimes of the deceased. Extending from the tower are more quiet platforms that visitors to ring the chimes and pay respect to their loved ones.