UNITE THE DIVIDED The Transition Between Death and Life UNITE THE DIVIDED The Transition Between Death and Life
Qing Shi RISD INTAR Thesis Book Spring 2020 UNITE THE DIVIDED The Transition Between Death and Life
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Design in Interior Studies [Adaptive Reuse] in the Department of Interior Architecture of the Rhode Island School of Design
By Qing Shi
2020
Approved by Master’s Examination Committee:
______Markus Berger Julia Bernert Associate Professor, Department of Interior Architecture, Critic, Department of Interior Architecture Primary Thesis Advisor ______Francesca Liuni Heinrich Hermann Critic, Department of Interior Architecture Senior Critic, Department of Interior Architecture, © 2020 Secondary Thesis Advisor & Thesis Chair ______QING SHI Liliane Wong ALL RIGHT RESERVED Department Head, Department of Interior Architecture Acknowledgments
Ernesto Aparicio Critic, Department of Graphic Design, Consultant, Graphic Design
Nick Heywood Critic, Department of Interior Architecture, Adviser, Writing and Thesis Book
Paul Mayencourt Critic, MIT Department of Architecture, Consultant, Structural Engineering
Stephen Turner Critic, Department of Interior Architecture, Consultant, Energy, Systems and Sustainability
Br. Christopher Stephen Jenks Clerk of the Cathedral Works, The Diocese of Rhode Island, External Advisor Content
Part I Abstract 3 Part VI Design 43 01 Design Concept Part II Timeline 5 02 Intervention Process 03 Beneath - Churchyard 04 Elevator and Bridge Part III Death and Life 9 05 Crematorium 01 Artwork Interpretation 06 Columbarium Wall 02 Memorial Space Interpretation
Part VII Precedents 72 Part IV Cemetery and City 19 01 Cemetery in Western Culture Part VIII Annotated Bibliography 74 02 Cemetery in Providence
Part IX Image Credits 76 Part V Site 29 01 Documentation 02 Analysis Abstract
The modern era has marginalized death by actual moment of physical transition. Eutha- professionalizing the care of the dying in hos- nasia, Living Funeral, the Vigil … these rituals pitals and the dead in funeral homes. Today a practiced in the space close the gap between growing number of families reject de-personal- the social and biological death by transforming ized, alienating funeral experiences and instead, this once-sequestered stage of life into a social, Life is pleasant. seek rituals that are more related to pre-modern spiritual, and self-growth journey. practices. Past practices developed when death Death is peaceful. was still omnipresent, and people performed The thesis explores how landscapes and archi- It’s the transition their own authentic expression of the individual tecture can embed spaces for the final farewell. self and interpersonal relations. Bringing spatial, Inspired by the city Eusapia in Calvino’s Invisible that’s troublesome. physical experiences of rituals back by personal- Cities, the intended design strategy is to keep the izing a previously institutionalized occasion, the upper surface of the landscape untouched as freedom of being able to choose the way we live much as possible, but create a spatial condition has been extended to self expression in death of the churchyard downwards. This strategy is Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) and mourning. aimed to create a juxtaposition of the two sides of the world separated by death. The below By adapting the disused churchyard of St. John’s condition is created by a tunneling technique that Episcopal Cathedral in Providence, I survey creates an earthy quality in the spaces, empha- the transition between life and death. Unlike sizing the reality of being underground, beneath traditional rituals, this space provides a person- a churchyard. alized journey allowing the bereaved, even the deceased, to present their interpretation of the
3 Timeline as structure
The two groups of antithesis, death and life, perceive death as a marginalized and profes- cemetery and city, are the perfect metaphor for sionalized object under the frame of reason each other. How we read the cemetery in urban and medicine. It is also within that period Rural context, mirrors our changing perception toward Cemetery Movement was taking place, which death. And how we comprehend death as the led to the physical segregation of the cemetery living, also reflects upon the arrangement of from the city, and also embodied the isolation of cemetery. death from the living. As the direct consequence of the movement, there was a significant grave This proposal book utilize timeline as the struc- relocation happening in providence,altering the ture to conduct research. By juxtaposing these urban context of the city and the burial culture of two groups of concepts in historical context society. chronologically, I’m seeking for inner connec- tions hidden behind documented facts. The mu- tual transformation between notion(death and life)and practice (cemetery and city) also pro- vides us with unique insight of the topic, which results from multidimensional association.
The cut-out on the previous page is an example of how these connections accomplished. During Cut-out from timeline with inner the second era of our notion of death, people connection
5 First Era: Second Era: Third Era: Invincible Death The Dying of Death The Revival of Death
Timeline 16 0s Late 1700s 1 73 1969 as Index The mathematical Doctor took control from the dying All deaths had to be registered Internet created
DEATH AND LIFE DEATH notion of probability man or woman and from the priest in England 1 04 1 31 After Civil War(1861-1865) 1960s The first rural The first rural Professionalization and institutionalization has The emergence of unconven- 1600s 1700s cemetery cemetery in US come to death. Cemeteries that time was tional memorials, and the Before 17th century, the dead were buried anonymously in the In 18th century, well as children, were buried established in isolated not only physically, but also socially increasing number on eld well outside village limits of city walls. and culturally. Increasing numbers outside within the walled Paris everyday memorials for From 17th century, certain saints started to be buried within or of people, particu- churchyard. celebrities and ordinary beneath the church. P20- larly the poor, as Memorial Park people. P23 Civil War 1760-1 20 Industrial Revolution Lawn Cemetery Mid 1 00s
In Western Culture In Western Rural Cemetery Movement 1636 1700 1756 17 1 1950 Providence was North Burial Ground Family burial West Burial Ground Providence became CEMETERY AND CITYCEMETERY lots removal established 1 4 founded was designated for Removal of bodies and stones to a modern city P26- town burial ground Swan Point Cemetery, North Burial Ground and other spots. P27 163 Family burial lots were distribut- 1 In Providence ed with home lots. 1722 1754 1794 1855 1905 1967 P40- Kingʼs church built. First church- 1776 Renamed to St. Johnʼs Church Chapel Added Expansion Diocesan Building yard burial built SITE Independence 1 10 P41 Day New construction 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
6 7 Death and Life
Artwork Interpretation FIRST ERA: INVINCIBLE DEATH THIRD ERA: THE REVIVAL OF DEATH -
「花を活ける骸骨」北斎と暁斎
The Triumph of Death is an oil panel painting inscrutable will of the Lord. We as human could FIRST ERA: by Pieter Bruegel painted at 1562, presenting do nothing other than accepting it. And the death Invincible Death a picture of the end of the world, reflecting the that time is also much more common and “daily” horror and uneasiness of the Black Death after until the late eighteenth-century rationalization the Middle Ages. and medicalization were brought into the notion of death. It belongs to an art artistic genre called Dance of SECOND ERA: Death, which aims to represent the universality The Dying of Death of death: no matter one station in life, the Dance Macabre(Dance of Death) unites all. “The oil painting shows a panorama of an army of skeletons wreaking havoc across a blackened, des- Fig 3.2 olate landscape. Fires burn in the distance, and the sea is littered with shipwrecks. A few leafless trees The notion of death that time belongs to The First stud hills otherwise bare of vegetation; fish lie rotting on the shores of a corpse-choked pond.”1 THIRD ERA: Era of how we think of death, when death is still The Revivle of Death invincible. The language of death that time was the communal language of religion, and death
1. “The Triumph Of Death”. 2019. En.Wikipedia.Org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Death. 10 11
The anatomy lesson in the painting can be dated The medical gaze pictured in the oil painting FIRST ERA: back to 1632 when only one public dissection objectified the human body and deconstructed Invincible Death was permitted in Amsterdam functioning as a death from the frame of mystery and fate to the practice lecture to students, colleagues, and the frame of reason and medicine. general public.
Rembrandt’s depiction of the anatomy lesson SECOND ERA: foretells how medicalization is going to contrib- The Dying of Death ute to the Dying of Death, during which peo- ple possessing medical knowledge were being transformed from a role as merely predicting the In the portrait, Dr. Nicolaes Tulp on the right is pictured explaining the musculature of Fig 3.3 timing of death to someone providing relief to the arm to medical professionals in a public dissection in Amsterdam. THIRD ERA: The Revivle of Death the suffering, even cure. “Death ceased to be a spiritual passage and became a natural process overseen by doctors.” 1
1. Tony, The Revival of Death, 19.
12 13
Death is a very badly kept secret; such an unmentionable topic that there are over 650 books now in print asserting that we are ignoring the subject. - Simpson 1979:vii
The title is half of the artwork. We are so afraid Damien Hirst threw out a question that every of death because we are still unable to accept it, audience has his own answer, with a provocative while the artwork itself is a counter-attack to its moment that nobody can evade responding. FIRST ERA: own title. The intuition of hunting of a deadly creature, Invincible Death presented by its suspended dead body within a This art piece is witnessing the Revival of Death. beautiful water tank, titled with a philosophi- Although we have fallen out of practice when it cal name, all of these contradictions force us to comes to the ‘everydayness’ of death and dead confront mortality and none of us could avoid SECOND ERA: bodies, death is more and more talked of and thinking of it. The Dying of Death more personal than it used to be. This installation artwork was created in 1991 by Damien Hirst, an English artist . It Fig 3.4 consists of a tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde in a vitrine.
THIRD ERA: The Revivle of Death
14 15 Memorial Space Interpretation
FIRST ERA: FIRST ERA: FIRST ERA: Invincible Death Invincible Death Invincible Death
SECOND ERA: SECOND ERA: SECOND ERA: The Dying of Death The Dying of Death The Dying of Death
THIRD ERA: THIRD ERA: THIRD ERA: The Revivle of Death The Revivle of Death The Revivle of Death Fig 3.5 Fig 3.6 Fig 3.7
“The chilling image - pile of skulls about to tumble out of the eaves directly Forest Lawn Memorial Park is the Death is invisible instead of invin- A ghost bike is a bicycle roadside memorial, placed where a cyclist has over the central portal - in front of funeral chapel by Jean-Charles Dela- epitome of The Second Era: the cible that time, which later result been killed or severely injured. It is usually a junk bicycle painted white, fosse transport us into a world of death radically different from own. It aims Dying of Death. The owner of the in not only the physical isolation of sometimes with a placard attached, and locked to an object which is close to remind us of our doomed mortality, and shock the viewer into an appre- memorial park, Eaton, spent his death, but also socially and cultural- to there the accident happened. ciation of Christian eschatology.” 1 professional life try to rid his burying ly isolation. grounds of any sign of death. He Ghost bicycle represents today’s attitude towards death, which belongs to removed nineteenth-century “stone- The Third Era: the Revival of Death. People are not afraid to express their yards“, and put memorial flush to pain of losing the one they loved in public. Publicity was also involved in the ground, open up the grounds, such everyday memorials, and mourners feel the public should recognize dotted the burial sections with the tragedy of their pain. carefully chosen large institutional 1. Etlin Richard A, The architecture of death: The Transformation of the Cemetery in monuments. Eighteenth-Century Paris (The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1984), 4 16 17 Cemetery and City
Churchyard in the West The cemetery and city in western culture have always been in a close relationship to each other. The rural churchyard, or the city cemetery, is an Cemetery In America inverted image or miniaturized simulacrum of the - The Birth of Modern Cemetery village, town or city itself. - After Civil War When Sigurd Lewerentz was asked to design a - The Revival of Death new cemetery for Malmö in 1916, a commenta- tor argued that the modern cemetery’s scale and Cemetery In Providence atmosphere should fulfill the destiny of an urban - Urban Fabric Evolution population’. In short, Ken Worpole commented in his book
In this section, by investigating into the pace of the evolution of both cemetery and the city, from country scale down to city scale, we could better understand which historical stage the Church- Fig 4.1 Cemetery of the Holy Innocents, Paris yard of St.John belongs to, and how it became a Detail from the Plan Turgot, 1379 frozen moment of that time period till now.
1. Worpole Ken, Last landscapes: The architecture of the cemetery in the West (Reaktion Books, 2003). 19 Churchyard in the West 16th Century 1 th Century to “The illegible tombstones are all lop-sided, 19th Century the grave-mounds lost their shape in the rains There are still people buried inside There were large burial pits in some of a hundred years ago, the Lombardy Pop- 17th Century the church, but increasing city churchyards reserved for poor lar or Plane-Tree that was once a drysalter’s numbers of people, particularly people, and not covered until they the poor, as well as children, were daughter and several common-councilmen, In churchyard, most headstones and other memori- were completely full Today buried outside within the walled als are of the 17th century at the earliest. has withered like those worthies, and its de- churchyard. The burial of certain saints within or beneath the Today the churchyard, like the However, until the 19th century parted leaves are dust beneath it. Contagion church encouraged a new attitude towards burial: ‘ church itself, has become as much common law a rmed the right of an icon of heritage and past of slow ruin overhangs the place.” From now on, every church had tomb inside its every inhabitant of a parish to be manners and styles as it is a walls and a cemetery next to it. The osmotic functioning institution. - Charles Dickens,
Fig 4.2 Before 17th century, the Burial Burial Place Churchyard dead were buried Place Detournelle, anonymously in the Cemetery, 1800 Section through the Field well outside village communal grave limits of city walls. 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800
1. Ken, Last landscapes, 64. 20 2. Ken, Last landscapes, 66. 21 Cemetery in America 1 31 Establishment of Mount Auburn Cemetery Third Era (1960 - ): The Revival of Death First Era (1 31-1 70s): Death has become more personal, which also The Birth of Modern Cemetery changed the way of how we mourn. We have seen the emergence of virtual cemeteries, online memori- The modern cemetery “transformed from the Second Era (1 70s-1970s): als, and the increasing number on everyday unkempt burial ground to a picturesque cemeteries memorials for celebrities and ordinary people. and reinforced the idea that the dead should be After Civil War separated from the living”.2 In the aftermath of civil war, professionalization and institu- Some of these new practices are divorced from The cemetery was becoming a destination space tionalization has come to death. Cemeteries that time was traditional sites of mourning, but most of them are which one had to seek out on purpose. isolated not only physically, but also socially and culturally. Fig 4.3 in intended to complement traditions. 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1200 Civil War
Rural Cemetery Lawn-Park Memorial Park Cemetery
Table1 1 th Century Burial Ground Modern Cemetery Si e Less than an acre 10 to 500 acres Location Middle of town, farms Suburban, urban fringe Aesthetic Not designed Well organized from master plan Burial Lot Si e 1-2 graves, family genera- 10 to more graves; single graves tions separated marginalized 1906 194 1. Sloane, Is The Cemetery Dead, 7. Memorial Style Elaborate family monuments and 2. Solane, Is The Cemetery Dead, 8. Vertical, standing individual Establishment of Forest Lawn 19,000 funeral homes memorials mausoleums 3. Pov. “Economics of the Funeral Industry: Homegoings: POV: Memorial Park, which marked the opened by 1948, doing over PBS.” POV, January 17, 2013. http://archive.pov.org/homegoings/ 3 Ownership Family, public, or faith based Public or nondenominational,non- epitome of the second era. $500 million of business. economics-of-the-funeral-industry/. pro t organizations Fig 4.4
22 23 Cemetery in Providence After the first settlement in 1636, the early home lots are placed ple populated also started to extend toward the other side of the linearly along the northeast side of what is now Moshassuck river through Weybosset Point, base on which the city of provi- Urban Fabric Evolution River. As time went by, in addition to expanding along the water dence kept developing outward in the following years. and deep into the northeast, the town with most the most peo-
Fig 4.5 Middle of the 18th Century Fig 4.6 1803 Fig 4.7 1823 Fig 4.8 1850 Fig 4.9 1899
24 25 Burial Ground Evolution 163 16 3 1756 1 4 - 1 The distribution of Roger Williams Family burial Removal of the bodies home lots and died and was lots removal and stones farming lands to the buried in grave Some years elapsed before A lot of burial grounds settlers. in the rear of his the construction of the Back were vacated between home lot on the street commenced, owing to 1848 and 1888, Towne Street, the continued opposition on following the removal of later the Dorr the part of owners of the the bodies and stones to estate on Bene t home lots who resented the Swan Point Cemetery, removal of the family burial Street. North Burial Ground and The home lots extended in lots which had been located other spots. a row from the Towne on the hillside for many years. Street (North and South Eventually the opposition Main) over the hillside, yielded, the lines of the street terminating at the a were established in accor- 1950 “highway,” so called, later dance with a new plat drawn Providence became identi ed as the highway in 1756(Image left) and work 1 60 Benefit St at the head of the lots, on the highway, later identi- a modern city Roger William’s now Hope Street. The lots, ed as Bene t Street, was 52 in number, varied in 2 grave relocated Fig 4.11 undertaken. width from 100 feet to to NBG 135 feet, in length from Fig 4.10 1600 to 3000 feet.1 1630 1650 1670 1690 1710 1730 1750 1770 1790 1810 1830 1850 1870 1890 1910 1830 1950 Main Factors Affecting Burial Ground in Providence Mid 1900s: Rural Family Burial Ground West Burial Ground 1636 1700 17 1 established Cemetery North Burial Movement Urban Replanning Settlement of Providence, rst church was organized. Ground was WBG is composed of a number designated for town of independent cemeteries. Rural Cemetery Movement burial ground Its design is in line with the 19th 1631 century rural cemetery movement 1 46 where cemeteries become public 1. Cady, The development of Providence,7 Roger Williams Swan Point Cemetery Found 26 arrived Boston parks and places. 2. Cady, The development of Providence,36 27 Site
Documentation - Site Plan / Site Section - Design Parameter - Churchyard Images / / Entrances Images
Context - The Neighborhoods of Providence - Historical Burial Ground - Urban Fabric Context - Historical District
Site Timeline
29 Documentation
Site Plan Site Section
A Benefit St
Church St Church Benefit St Star St Star N Main St
A N Main St N
30 31 Design Parameter
A Landscape: Benefit St - Churchyard of Cathedral of St. John; - Public Entrances on Benefit Street and Church Street; - Parking Lot
Architecture: - The extension of the Cathedral; (Previous Library Building. Now Art
Studio.)
Church St Church Star St Star
A N Main St Fig 5.1
32 33 Image of Churchyard Image of the Entrance
Benefit St
Church St Church Star St Star
N Main St
Benefit St Church St Church
Star St Star Entrance on N Main St Entrance on Benefit St Entrance on Church St
N Main St
34 35 Context
The Neighborhoods of Providence Neighboring Historical Burial Ground
1. North Burial Ground 2. Saint Patricks Cemetery
NBG is the first public cemetery dat- Established in the 1844, St. Patrick Charles St. John’s Wanskuck ing back to 1700. With a 110-acre Cemetery s the oldest cemetery Churchyard burial ground, it is one of the larger maintained by Catholic Cemeteries, St. John’s 1 Elmhurst Blackstone Churchyard municipal cemeteries in Southern and was primarily used by the early Hount New England, and it is still an Irish immigrants of Rhode Island. Mount Hope Smith 2 activate cemetery accepting 220 to Manton Pleasant Hill 225 burials per year. College Valley Wayland Hill 4. Elder Pardon Tillinghast Burial Ground Olneyville Federal Hill Down- St. John’s Churchyard towm Fox Point 3. Annmary Brown Library Ceme- Hartford Family burial ground with 30 burials Providence in Mid 1700s Providence in 1803 tery Under between 1718 to 1777. Silver Lake South Prov. General Rush Christopher Haw- West End Providence was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, followed In 1994 only the monument stands. kins gave his rare book collection Lower with the linear home lots and farming land distribution to the South Prov. 3 and the money to build a library to Elm- settlers in 1638. wood Brown University in 1905, on the 5. Grace Church Cemetery condition that he and his wife could Reservoir Washington Park The site, King’s Church burial ground, now St. John’s Church- 4 be buried there. Triangular shaped cemetery, be- yard, was located within the first delimited town area on the longs to Grace Church in Prov- South north end, witnessing the development of Providence from the Elmwood idence. 8800 burials with 5000 very beginning. Activating between 1739 to1948, it has 400 inscriptions from 1768 to 2000. burial with 326 inscriptions. Today’s Providence 5
“Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission”. 2019. Rihistoriccemeteries.Org. http://rihistoriccemeteries.org/Default.aspx. 36 37 Urban Fabric Context Historical District
Rhode Island State House First Baptist Church in America
The home of the state’s General The meeting house of the oldest Baptist Assembly, one of the largest marble congregation in America, which was domes in the world. gathered by Roger Williams in 1638.
Antram-Gray House Antram-Gray House
St ohn For almost 300 years, this building has Brown University Rhode Island Churchyard witnessed the growth and transforma- State House Prospect Park tion of Providence. One of the country’s oldest universities. Roger Williams National Memorial Prospect Park The Old State House Providence Founding Stone St. John’s Churchyard Roger Williams statue that marks his Providence resting place. Providence Founded here in 1636 Founding Stone
Cathedral of St. John sits east to Moshassuck River, the two of First Baptist Church Waterplace them are only separated by Roger William National Memorial. in America The Old State House Park It is also located on the boundary of a residential area in col- Stand where Rhode Island declared its lage hill, featured with intensive individual houses on the right independence on May 4th, 1776, two of the dashed line, and public infrastructure area(e.g. train months before the rest of the colonies. station) on the Left.
38 39 1 93 Timeline Parish House A brick parish house was built on north main street, 1790 1 55 ust north of the cathedral. 1722 1754 An enclosed passageway Kingʼs church built. Previous Burial The Episcopal Chapel connected the parish house Diocese of Rhode The Library building to the Cathedral at the v level A wooden structure Mr. Checkley died Island was formed was added to the through what is now the west which is the gift from and was buried in window on the north facade. Nathaniel Brown the front of the east of the church. church, between it Fig 5.5 and the road. 1794 Renamed to 1905 Fig 5.2 St. Johnʼs church Expansion A small chapel, matching the eorgian design of the chancel, was installed in the south transept. 1700 1725 1750 1775 1800 1825 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000
Wooden Church New Structure Renovation
1 10 1 6 1929 1967 St John's Church was Renovation The cornerstone Expansion designated the A new, two-story Diocesan office for St. John's Episcopal seat and building was built to the north of Church was laid was renamed the the 1893 Parish House, which John Seville Higgins, A Narrative of King’s Church St. John’s was demolished and replaced by Church The Cathedral of St. John 1722-1972, (Rhode Cathedral of St. Island: Ninth Bishop of Rhode Island). John. the present one-story administra- Fig 5.3 tion building.
40 Fig 5.4 41 Design
Design Concept - Inspiration - Translation
Process Diagram
Beneath - Churchyard - Plan and Program - Circulation - Respond to Site - Materiality and Process
Elevator and Bridge
Crematorium
Columbarium Wall
43 Design Concept Inspiration Translation
“…the inhabitants have constructed an identical copy of their city, under- ground (for those who died). “They say that this has not just now begun to happen: actually it was the dead who built the upper Eusapia, in the image of their city. They say that in the twin cities there is no longer any way of knowing who is alive and who is dead.”
- EUSAPIA
The concept is inspired by a novel called
44 45 Process Diagram
Existing condition Remove the construction which is in bad Exposing the retaining wall behind Tunneling beneath the churchyard Lift up fron underground by elevator, Adapting the retaining wall into a colum- condition transform the construction into a crema- barium wall torium
46 47 Beneath - Churchyard 5 Plan and Program
1. Staff 2. Waiting room 3. Auditorium 4. Mortuary 5. Family room 6. Crematorium 7. Columbarium wall 7 6 4
1
2 1 3
Churchyard Level
48 Underground Level 49
10ft 50 Auditorium 51 52 Family Room 53 Circulation
Facilities open: Facilities close: To keep the public feature for the whole route, even the facilities are closed, the main circula- tion will keep open. So it can also be a public education of death.
54 55 Tunneling Process
0. Existing 1. Excavation 2. Spray concrete For traditional tunneling technique, which is spraying concrete after initial excavation. It is viable but quite unexciting because everything will be smooth and perfect at last and its initial rough contour will be all gone.
However I do need such roughness and an earthy profile to em- phasize the actuality of being underground, and also to highlight the contrast with the later stage of elevator lifting. So what I did is I pre-excavate two parallel tunnels. And after all the necessary structural enforcement, the space between two tunnels was caverned out to create a larger vault.
So by doing this, I reverse the previously hidden rough profile outwards, and the concrete which was sprayed on that profile is now functioned as interior partition.
3. Cast-in- place concrete 4. Partially open the concrete lining 5. Excavation between two tunnels
56 57 Tunneling Process Respond to the Site Design / Beneath - Churchyard / Material and Process Tunneling Route
Roughness/Earthy
The interior layout and design is also affected by the Roughness/Earthytunneling technique. Based on three initial parallel tun- neling routes, the vaulted ceiling rhythm is also settled, which is diagramed in this Cross Section. The outline of the underground plan is directly projected from the churchyard above it. In order to not disturb the person who rests here, and also to introduce natural light downwards, the pathway and ditch along the Cathedral’s wall is the only place could be intervened.
CrossCross Section Section 58 59 Respond to the Site
Ditch along the Cathedral’s wall Partial Section Pathway Partial Section
60 61 Elevator and Bridge
After the journey beneath the churchyard, the elevator will lift us with our beloved up from underground. It is also a threshold of final farewell. No mat- The bridge connecting the elevator and ter who are on each side, the survivors will crematorium has a mirror shelter to reflect the stay underground and watch their loved one surroundings. So even the people lying on the being lift up from underground and fading bed can feel being companied by the nature away in the light. and the one they love.
62 63 Crematorium
A A
The idea of placing the cremation oven in the center is based on the concept of viewing the oven room as the chapel itself, ensuring large groups of visitors to attend the committal in a suitable setting with limited space.
Main Level Lover Level A-A Section
64 65 Columbarium Wall
Partial Elevation
The outline of the niche units respects the retainning wall’s original stone patterns. The stones which are taken out will be accumulated at the underground entrance to form this exhibition wall sequence, and also introduce you to the underground space. It’s not only for the reuse, it also signifies eventu- ally what was left at the end will be brought back to the beginning, and the journey will be closed as a loop.
66 67 Entrance 69 70 Section 71 Precedents Fig 6.4 Fig 6.5
Cemetery of San Cataldo Albes Cemetery Extension Adaptive Reuse of an Existion Cemetery Extension of an Existing Cemetery
Modena, Italy, 1971-1984 Bentoform, Viabizzuno ALdo Rossi Stefano Peluso Architecture
Aldo Rossi built his new cemetery on the ground This project is an extension to an existing cemetery. of architect Cesare Costa’s work carried out from Following the initial geometrical shape as well as its 1858 to 1876. During the construction of the new topography, the adding space functioned as a visi- cemetery, Aldo Rossi has gone through a automo- tor center. By creating a clear contrast between the bile accident and he translated that experience Fig 6.1 old cemetery and new construction, the extension into his concept, “the question of the fragment in General plan for new cemetery: on the right, Costa’s neoclassical cemetery; in the center, the Jewish highlights the historical cemetery and enhances the architecture is very important since it may be that Cemetery, services, and the new entrance arcade as hinge dialogue between old and new, past and present, only ruins express a fact completely... I am thinking passed and living. of a unity, or a system, made solely by reassembled fragments”.1 This concept was also expressed in Fig 6.2 Fig 6.3 What inspires me most is how it use architectural his design. Rossi took fragments of formal composi- language to bring spirit into the site. To emphasize tion within existing cemeteries and transformed or the sacredness of this space, “a large skylight was Fig 6.6 Fig 6.7 reduced specific elements to represent them in his inserted which acts as a pivot between the space of own plan. the columbarium and the retaining wall to the north. The zenithal light that comes from the large truncat- What inspires me here is the representation of typol- ed pyramid on the surfaces of concrete walls create ogy study, which leads to the translation of the past, a changing and ephemeral geography of shad- and integration with the present. ows.”1 Space is the embodiment of abstract spiritual “The Modena Cemetery” Interior Views of Columbarium cognition, which we can use to deliver the message through our intervention.
1. Arnell, Peter, and Ted Bickford. Aldo Rossi: Buildings and Projects. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. 1. “Albes Cemetery Extension / Stefano Peluso Architecture”. 2019. Archdaily. https://www.archdaily. com/920947/albes-cemetery-extension-stefano-peluso-architecture?ad_source=search&ad_medi- um=search_result_all.
72 73 Annotated Bibliography
“Albes Cemetery Extension / Stefano Peluso Architecture”. 2019. David Charles Sloane, Is The Cemetery Dead? London: The Universi- Pov. “Economics of the Funeral Industry: Homegoings: POV: PBS.” Wm McKenzie Woodward, Edward F. Sanderson, Providence: A City- Archdaily. https://www.archdaily.com/920947/albes-cemetery-exten- ty of Chicago Press, 2018. POV, January 17, 2013. http://archive.pov.org/homegoings/econom- wide Survey of Historic Resources. Rhode Island Historical Preservation sion-stefano-peluso-architecture?ad_source=search&ad_medium=- This book is a comprehensive investigation into the death by ics-of-the-funeral-industry/. Commission, 1986 search_result_all. chronicling how Americans are inventing new or adapting old This article provides data and information on funeral homes, Along with The civic and architectural development of Providence, Precedent resource. traditions, burial places, and memorials, and their changing atti- reflecting the fast development of the industry. it is a detailed documentation of the city development of Provi- tude towards the notion of death. It also provides us with a future dence. Arnell, Peter, and Ted Bickford. Aldo Rossi: Buildings and Projects. New vision of cemeteries becoming more sustainable and responsive “Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission”. 2019. Rihistoriccem- York: Rizzoli, 1991. institutions. eteries.Org. http://rihistoriccemeteries.org/Default.aspx. Worpole, Ken. Last landscapes: The architecture of the cemetery in the Precedent resource. This website has a clear documentation and status report of the West. Reaktion Books, 2003. Etlin, Richard A. The architecture of death: The Transformation of the cemetery in Rhode Island, which enables me to understand the Specifically tracing the history and design of burial places Cady, John Hutchins. The civic and architectural development of Provi- Cemetery in Eighteenth-Century Paris. The Massachusetts Institute of cemetery neighborhood and community, throughout Europe and the USA, this book provides insight into dence, 1636-1950. Book Shop, 1957. Technology, 1984. the cult and celebration of death and memory, and brings cultural This book provides a detailed phase of architectural and urban This book brings us with more classical thinking of cemetery and and religious identity into the memorialization, planning development of Providence from its settlement to the city by focusing on 18th century Paris when death and religion “The Triumph Of Death”. 2019. En.Wikipedia.Org. https://en.wikipe- modern time, helps understand the relationship and interaction were still tightly bonded. Looking into history in Europe also dia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Death. between the cemetery and city it belongs to, how do they co-de- allows me to trace back the source, which is based on dominant Introduction of the painting. velop, and provide historical and physical context for the site. western culture. Walter, Tony. The revival of death. Routledge, 2002. “Cimetière de Sablonceaux Extension en site protégé “, https://a6a. John Seville Higgins, A Narrative of King’s Church St. John’s Church This book takes a sociological look at the revival of interest in fr/#033-cimetiere-de-sablonceaux The Cathedral of St. John 1722-1972. Rhode Island: Ninth Bishop of death, by focusing on the hospice movement and bereavement Precedent resource. Rhode Island,. counseling we can comprehensively examine this revival and This brochure provides detailed documentation and information bring modernity and postmodernity into this field. about site history.
74 75 Image Credits
Death and Life Fig 4.2: Etlin, Richard A. The architecture of death: The Transforma- tion of the Cemetery in Eighteenth-Century Paris (The Massa- Fig 3.1: Published from http://bfwm.jugem.jp/?day=20130504 chusetts Institute of Technology, 1984), 298. Fig 3.2: Published from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_ Fig 4.3: Published from https://www.planning.org/greatplaces/spac- of_Death es/2013/mountauburncemetery.htm Fig 3.3: Rembrandt van Rijn, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, Fig 4.3: Published from https://www.trip.com/travel-guide/burnaby/ oil on canvas painting, 1632, (Mauritshuis in The Hague), forest-lawn-memorial-park-50560807/ https://arthistoryproject.com/artists/rembrandt-van-rijn/the- Fig 4.5-4.11: John Hutchins Cady, The civic and architectural devel- anatomy-lesson-of-dr-nicolaes-tulp/ opment of Providence, 1636-1950. (Book Shop, 1957) Fig 3.4: Published from https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/story- damien-hirst-shark/ Fig 3.5: Etlin, Richard A. The architecture of death: The Transfor- Site mation of the Cemetery in Eighteenth-Century Paris (The Fig 5.1: From Google Earth Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1984), 4. Fig 5.2-5.5: Wm McKenzie Woodward, Edward F. Sanderson, Prov- Fig 3.6: Published from https://www.trip.com/travel-guide/burnaby/ idence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources. Rhode forest-lawn-memorial-park-50560807/ Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1986 Fig 3.7: Published from https://www.planetizen.com/node/91276/ mapped-ghost-bikes-chicago Precedents Fig 6.1-6.3: Arnell, Peter, and Ted Bickford. Aldo Rossi: Buildings and Cemetery and City Projects. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. Fig 4.1: Published from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mo- Fig 6.4-6.7: Published from https://www.archdaily.com/920947/al- liere_maison.jpg bes-cemetery-extension-stefano-peluso-architecture?ad_ source=search&ad_medium=search_result_all.
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