True death may begin with the drifting of memories.
Article Source: Kendo Tsukuge ArchiDogs
ID：ArchiDogs-AD
Author: LINGFEI K
Edit: Twins
Qingming Festival is also called The Qingqing Festival
At the turn of mid-spring and late spring
This is both a solemn festival of tomb sweeping and ancestor worship
It is also a beautiful time to enjoy spring
Among two customs that seem to be of opposite nature
It doesn't just contain people's mourning for their ancestors
It also contains the desire for eternity and continuity
Yarkon Cemetery (Overview), Tel Aviv, Israel.
© Eli Anderson
"Dead space" is not a common topic in life
In a long history
It all represents pain, fear, confusion and sadness
however
As the concept of the cemetery and the perception of the visitors continue to change
Cemeteries and some places of worship
Gradually becoming one of the unique elements of the urban landscape
In addition to respecting the inevitability of death and the transience of freeze-frame death
Tombs and worship are the process of reshaping the social role of the deceased
It has become a place to witness the eternal memory
© Finbarr Fallon
Old Latin for "Memento mori" (remember you will eventually die)
As an expression of valuing life
Today, we are in one
More than ever, we need to face up to the era of "death"
Face the impermanence of the world
We might as well go into the "dead space" of those cities.
Travel through time and space
Feel the eternity and rebirth born of death
Springvale Botanical Cemetery
© dailyoverview/nearmap
01
Souls meet and spiritually continue
"Don't weep at my grave,
I wasn't there, I wasn't dead. ”
- "Into a Thousand Winds"
In the poetry of the bard, "death" is never the end of life, but only a turning point. In another way, the soul will survive in the earthly world, and the cemetery is only a place for the body to rest, a sacred place that carries the memories and actions of the living and creates a special atmosphere. Different cultures have different understandings of "death", which has also spawned different forms of burial patterns. But whether it is the Christian church tombs born at the end of the 18th century, the imperial tombs of ancient China, or today's park cemeteries, commemorative installations, they all have symbolic and commemorative significance about religion, family, society, etc., carrying the soul, memory, and spiritual continuation.
Zunyi Monument to Organ Donation
Lin and architecture studio
© Octopus sees Tsuki
The project was created to mourn and honor donors of human organs (human body, cornea tissue, etc.). In addition to demolishing some fitness equipment, the design fully retains the facilities and basic layout of the rest pavilion of the square to maximize adaptability to intervene in the surrounding environment, take into account the local natural features, and show the humble and friendly and open humanistic spirit.
With the concept of "light", the design creates a place radiating outward from the center, symbolizing the light of the donor's life, whether strong or weak, they are scattered into the world to illuminate a beautiful and quiet corner of the world. The terraces and staircases that run along the walls subtly connect the high and low mountains, forming a path of commemoration and visitation, and providing a place for quiet contemplation. This also allows the new building to blend into the environment in a rustic and understated manner. When people stand on the flower platform and look back at the bustling lights of the city, they can feel the beauty of life between meditations
Kamakura Yukishita Church Cemetery, Japan
Hosaka Mamoru Architects Urban Design Office
©KOJI FUJII / TOREAL
Unlike the semi-public welfare project of the Donor Monument, the Cemetery Under the Snow, which was transformed from the background of the church, shows the spiritual elements and faith sustenance of religion with a "cross". On the basis of the underground public burial chamber, the design reconstructed the ground floor for the funeral, in order to make people feel the light of resurrection emanating from behind the cross.
The huge cross floats horizontally in the air and is loaded and supported by three cross-shaped columns. It is difficult for the average person to see the cross in a horizontal floating posture at the height of the eye, which makes the appearance of the cemetery become abstract. The cross, on the other hand, is directed towards the deceased, its back facing the sky, the sun and the moonlight (the light of the resurrection in heaven), thus casting a huge shadow and proclaiming the gospel to the visiting guests.
Si'an Cemetery, South Korea
IROJE Architects & Planners
©IROJE Architects & Planners
The Si'an Cemetery in South Korea still considers the deceased to be one of the city's residents. They simply transformed the space of their lives, and the Si'an Cemetery is an urban community that brings tens of thousands of souls together in the name of death. Each individual building mass is distributed in a stepped manner in the form of terraced houses in the site, connected by a path on the slope and steps. The lawn-covered roof shapes the site into a green park in the city, enveloping the unique atmosphere of silence in an ordinary shape.
If you think about it, the cemetery was not actually built for the deceased. It is not the deceased who lives here, but the memories of the living who have died. The cemetery seems to be a place to go back to memories and examine oneself, and the tomb sweep can also be considered a confirmation of the authenticity of life. By burying the body and flesh of the deceased, we unveil the mystery called "death", and here we introspect and reminisce, and taste the beauty of life.
02
Tiny specks of dust in grand narratives
"Everyone has the right to own her or his own little box,
Come and take care of her or his own tiny fall. ”
—Michel Foucault
Behind the great events of history are countless individuals and tiny stories. The monumentality of the grand narrative, when conveyed through the individual, will bring the audience a deeper shock. As "one flower, one world, one leaf and one bodhi" said, they are originally an ordinary grain of dust, but they have gathered into thousands of joys and sorrows in the world, as well as indelible history and memory.
Public space of the Holocaust Victims' Names Monument in the Netherlands
/Rijnboutt + Studio Libeskind
© Kees Hummel
Following the Berlin Jewish Museum, Lieberskin once again designed the Holocaust Memorial in the Netherlands. Located in Amsterdam's Weesperstraat, the monument is close to important Jewish cultural buildings and closely linked to the history of Amsterdam's Jewish community. Adjacent to the Protestant Deacons' Gardens and the Hermitage Gardens in Amsterdam, the site provides the conditions and environment for this series of monumental (semi-) public green outdoor spaces.
Through the choice of design, materials and vegetation, this public space is constructed into a continuous urban garden. The brick walls inscribed with the names of the victims of the Massacre and the natural stone laid on the ground complement each other in tone and texture, creating a calm and solemn atmosphere for the space. It is worth mentioning that these natural stones are crushed to allow water and air to pass easily, so there is no need to set up additional drainage ditches, expansion joints and other facilities in the space, which also makes the "seamless repair" of future underground pipes possible.
Mausoleum of the Polish Martyrs
Nizio Design International
© Marcin Czechowicz
In 1943, in memory of the devastation that took place in Michniów and other Polish villages in Poland during World War II, Nizio Design International designed the monument. The spatial form is broken down into rows of ruptured country huts, giving a familiar yet unsettling visual impact.
The exterior of the building is full of strong sculptural feelings, like the ruins of the ruins left behind by the fire, dramatically showing the process of the fragmentation of some kind of "world order". Both the tension-inducing incisions and holes in the façade, as well as the light and the design of the exhibition, are modeled on the historical events and dramatic reconciliation processes of the time, and are a figurative expression of the repression of Polish villages during World War II and the Nazi and Soviet occupations.
This is not only a historical exhibition hall, but also a collective "mausoleum". In fact, this land was once a collective grave during the occupation period (1945), where wandering souls in the wilderness will find refuge and redeem, peace and tranquility under the broken roof.
Babilah Holocaust Memorial Centre
On September 29 and 30, 1941, Babyn Yar, a gorge in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, witnessed the massacre of more than 33,000 Jewish men, women and children. Since then, Babiard has become synonymous with the Holocaust by Bullets. In this "shattered" landscape, the public is eager to find a few words from the place to learn, commemorate and mourn the history of the place and the story of the bullet massacre.
© BYHMC
The Babiyar Foundation was born and led the launch of the BYHMC, the design competition and construction of the Babilar Holocaust Memorial Centre. Nick Axel of the Building Advisory Committee said: "Just one story doesn't give an overview of Babil at all. Here, at least 100,000 stories need to be told. There is at least one story behind every victim killed here. "This makes the memorial center not just a museum of narratives and exhibitions, but also a think-provoking generator of life and atrocities."
The park of life is currently made up of three main projects: the Mirror Field memorial installation, the Papuar Synagogue designed by architect Manuel Herz, and the weeping crystal wall designed by performance artist Marina Abramovic. While presenting the artistic atmosphere, they allow visitors to participate in history in a new way, interact deeply with the story, and explore the reasons behind the tragedy.
Babyn Yar Synagogue, © BYHMC
Crystal Wall of Crying, © BYHMC
Among them, the "Mirror Field" memorial device is the first project built in the park. The round mirror surface is covered with 10 columns with bullet holes, symbolizing the brilliant and fragile tree of life, and the round platform is equipped with an electroacoustic pipe organ composed of 24 tubes, which converts the names of the victims into corresponding tones and sound waves, forming a tragic and solemn background sound that reverberates in the place.
Mirror Field , © BYHMC
03
A hidden wind catcher
If people are divided into four parts: "body", "flesh", "spirit", and "soul", when the "body" and "flesh" are buried in the tomb, they eventually disappear with the dust; or they are burned to ashes and rest in a corner; and the "spirit" representing the will, emotions and passions is also extinguished with death, then the only "soul" that can survive from death is no longer limited by the flesh and becomes a breeze in the world.
South African Funeral Memorial Masekela
Adjaye Associates
© Alexi Portokallis
Contrary to the practice of placing objects such as tombstones in the spiritual beliefs of African cultures to worship the deceased, the design shaped a place where families and tourists gathered and remembered together. Inspired by African funeral rites and customs, the seemingly simple spatial structure actually follows the traditional lekgotla ("gathering place", Soto) order, expressing the values, spirit and practices of pan-African heritage and culture.
The perforated pavilion roof design mimics local plants and echoes the surrounding canopy and projections. This detail becomes a gap in the capture of light and breeze, allowing visitors to connect with those who left the material world.
Czech 'mirror' animal crematorium
Petr Hajek Architects
© Radek Úlehla / coatmen
The Deniv air defense base, once built to protect Prague, was converted into a military museum after it was discontinued. However, some of the smaller, service bunkers for communication remained unused, and investors decided to transform one of them into a crematorium for animals, poetically naming it "Věčná loviště (hunting ground)".
In order to preserve the unique natural atmosphere of this wilderness, the architect installed a large mirror in the landscape to reflect the surrounding environment and highlight the existence of nature. The combination of hexagonal mirrors will remind visitors of the door to another dimension, beginning to trace memories deep in their minds. Each mirror has a different tilt angle, thus refracting the flickering picture and adding to the mystery of the wilderness.
The permanence of the tomb of memory
PHYD Architecture
© emontenegro / architectural photography
The design of the tomb is a unique proposition that requires the creation of spatial images that can bear the weight of memory. Human time is a established linear sequence of birth, growth, and death, but it also coincides with the changes of the seasons and the cycle of nature. By containing the eternal temporal attribute of life memory, the tomb becomes its own eternity.
The project is based on a 3x2x1.20m stone structure on one side, consisting of 87 individually designed stone blocks. The overall building is like a three-dimensional puzzle, which ends up as a memory "crystal" through rigorous measurements and carefully considered transitions, as well as the meticulous design of fitting, grooves and joints.
© PHYD Architecture
In "The Three-Body Problem", human beings eventually carved civilization on stone in pursuit of long-term survival. Stone, in some way infused with life, turns into eternal memory in erosion and wear over time. In the simple association of the tombstone and the cemetery, the enclosed space will be interspersed with the site of remembrance and commemoration, and the memory will be crystallized, so as to retain and circulate for a longer time.
© emontenegro / architectural photography、
04
One with the earth
Polish funeral chapel
Jakub Turbasa + Bartlomiej Pyrzyk
© Jakub Turbasa & Bartłomiej Pyrzyk
The chapel emerged to create a place of final farewell in the new area of the old cemetery, as a way to perpetuate the ancient, slow-moving tradition of saying goodbye to the dead. The building consists of a chapel for prayer, and an arched space covered with green vegetation, and contains auxiliary functional rooms such as places where corpses are refrigerated, technical rooms, utility rooms, public toilets, etc., fully encompassing functional spaces related to the sacred and the secular.
The design combines two traditions of Christian monumental architecture: the concept of the road – i.e. from the secular world to the sacred world; and the concept of the place – a common prayer space through a central layout. Jesus' "Passion" is symbolically expressed in architecture. With the evolution of "Crucifixion", "Death" and "Resurrection", the architectural space moves from a dark vestibule to a prayer space full of light. When people gather around the dead, their attention will no longer be focused on death itself (i.e., the cross and the dead), but in the direction of eternal life.
Through contemporary translations of tradition, classic traditional chapels with eaves appear in a more minimalist image. The construction of the church uses natural materials, such as wood and stone, allowing visitors to open up the multi-dimensional dimensions of the space through the senses (touch, smell, hearing, etc.), embracing the people praying here with a gentle gesture, and placing familiar and profound memories in the hearts of the people.
Renovation of the old Muslim cemetery kirkhlyar
Internships Architectural Bureau
© Grigory Guryanov, Kristina Neletova
Kirkhlyar (Fortieth) Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Djerbin. The funeral space enclosed in its center is a traditional place of Worship for Muslims. To this day, it still plays an important role in this multicultural city. As the city's public spaces develop and to showcase the local tourism potential, kirkhlyar cemetery also faces the challenge of renovation. Praktika Architects has tailored strategic renovations to meet the daily needs of local communities while maintaining tradition, and rethinking the attractiveness of venues as urban public spaces and historic landmarks for visitors.
A new network of trails is distributed in cemeteries, connecting places of worship and grave areas. As a meeting and meeting place, shadow galleries, toilets, small prayer rooms, information desks and souvenir shops are fused in open entrance pavilions that connect the cemetery to the main nodes of the city. The local Gelbin shell stones and Caspian pebbles with warm yellow tones define the visual tone in the scene. Imperfect handmade pebble plaster finishes that help create a lively and relaxed atmosphere.
Master plan, © internships
The main entrance and Taziyat Square are surrounded by mysterious vaulted galleries that have been redesigned in a form typical of the Islamic architectural tradition. The renovated Taziyat Square, where traditional funeral rites began, is a key element in providing a ceremonial function for the cemetery and serves primarily the local community.
In this series of "dead spaces," we perceive that "death" is not the end of all things. True death may begin with the drifting of memories. These buildings related to death are like memory containers of different sizes, always reminding the world of stories about history, about families. Clarity is coming, let us mourn and relax for the deceased, and enjoy the beauty of life more seriously.
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