REST IN PEACE

This is a crematorium for the future situated in Limhamns limestone quarry outside of Malmö in Sweden. It is a building complex in an artificial archipelago. The architecture consists of volumes above and below water with different types of spaces. Parts of these are covered by a perforated ceiling that is a space between inside and outside. Visitors are offered two different ways depending on what the reason for your visit is. 

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One route starts from the chapel for those arriving for a funeral. This procedure may follow the deceased through the final steps to ashes to reach the burial. The funeral will be held from a boat rowed out on the lake, under the transparent, light filtering outdoor roof and then goes out into the open air. The idea is to help the bereaved in the grieving process by exposing her for the last steps before the body finally get it’s peace through the funeral.  When arriving with heavy chest one moves through the large, dark, immersive spaces. One goes in a certain pathway through these rooms until the body has become ashes: the entrance, the chapel, the resomation room and the pathways in between that leads from one space to the other. Then one gets out by boat and sees the light from above filtered through the perforated ceiling. The funeral will be held under the roof and the boat continues its path out into the open air after the ashes are strewn in the water. You have now left your loved one in a good place where she can REST IN PEACE and it is here that the relief as well as the light strikes the mourners as the boat continues out into freedom.

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The other path leads between practices in the archipelago and memorial locations that are linked by bridges, which are for those who come to remember and mourn their departed relatives. There are both interior and exterior spaces that are for worship and reflection.

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The end product came thru a longer design process that consisted of an inspiration trip to Turkey and computer workshops. From mutations of a flipper to making artifacts for a fashion show to making a structure. This boiled down to the two strongest and most interesting qualities that came to be my leads for the final assignment; transparency and changeability. This was something I tried to capture and translate it into architecture.

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This project was made by me as my bachelors project at Lund University, Sweden, in 2013.