Vertical Columbarium by JPH from usa

The intention of this project is to accept both mortality and the natural cycle between life and death. The building, ostensibly a columbarium, merges crafted materials and modern technology to create a series of spaces in which to mourn and commemorate the memories of deceased loved ones. The structure is self-contained and vertically stacked, providing multiple visitor spaces above a cinerary archive, which contains the remains of the deceased. Each individual cinerary archive is transferred to a viewing space (the memory room) for personal reflection. As this structure can be placed in a variety of sites, it offers a new paradigm for the architecture of remembrance, eliminating the space constraints that hinder traditional cemeteries.

The intersection of life and death is manifested in the intersection of spaces that create a procession, by which I am presented with a variety of places of respite.

Approaching the building, what first appears to be a blank wall becomes a textured concrete surface and along one side is a woven brick wall with interspersed translucent gaps that allow an obscured view into the space in which I will soon stand. I step down into a dark void; I can see nothing but an access panel. I scan the access panel with my unique key card and the magnetic latch on the door gently releases. I push the door open and find myself in the portal sanctuary. Here, in a raw concrete space, I can pause for reflection, while my loved one’s remains are transferred up by the archival lift. A large circular portal directs my gaze across a reflecting pool into the wood-clad memory room. To get to the memory room, I must proceed downstairs under the reflecting pool and then ascend into the space. Now in the memory room, I walk to the corner, where the polished brass cinerary archive of my beloved rests. This archive contains an urn, and perhaps tokens of remembrance. I can place these items on a table and take time to reflect. When I am ready to leave the space, I place the items back in the archive, and as they are transported below I now walk upstairs, coming to a bridge over the reflecting pool. Peering down, I can see through the pool ripples to the vault below, containing the many archives of the columbarium. Crossing the bridge, I am now at a stepped roof terrace. Here I sit under a tree and look beyond the planted roof garden at my surroundings. When it is time to leave, I walk downstairs and out through the same dark void, which while still mysterious, has lost the sense of foreboding that I initially felt. Having completed the processional cycle, I feel a lessened fear of death and a comfort in the renewed memories of those I’ve lost.