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 160s Late 1700s 173 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 104 1831 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 1760-120 Industrial Revolution Lawn Cemetery Mid 100s In Western Culture In Western Rural Cemetery Movement 1636 1700 1756 1781 1950 Providence was North Burial Ground Family burial West Burial Ground Providence became CEMETERY AND CITYCEMETERY lots removal established 148 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- 1888 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 110 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 - <The Triumph of Death> Death used to be a communal language of reli- From late 20th century we are experiencing the gion. From the 15th century to the 17th century, third era - a revival of death - which is “increas- - <The Anatomy Lesson of death is capricious, invincible, determined only ingly being shaped by neither the dogmas of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp> by the will of the Lord. Mortal illness could strike religion nor the institutional routines of medicine, - <The Physical Impossibility of Death in the any one ant any time. but by dying, dead or bereaved individuals them- selves.” 2 Mind of Someone Living> SECOND ERA: THE DYING OF DEATH Death has become more personal than it used In this second era, new institutions began to to be. The feelings of people who are dying or Memorial Interpretation play important and culturally specific roles. We bereaved are now to be listened to and taken - Church with Cemetery for Chaux professionalized care for the dying to the hos- seriously. pital, allow ourselves to follow the rituals and What’s more, people are no longer willing to fol- - The Ruriden Columbarium instructions of churches and funeral homes, even low modern institutions instructions and let them - Ghost Bike though these formal institutions can sometimes decide how they should do and how they should be alienating and cold. mourn. In this post-institutional era, their wishes At that time, death was “commoditized, stan- of “live my own way” as been extended to the dardized and marginalized“1. We repressed requirement that “I die and mourn my own way”. death to the point of it being hidden, resulting in Death Taboo which intensify and aggravate the repression of death, resulting in the vicious circle. 「花を活ける骸骨」北斎と暁斎 <Skeletons that make flower> 1. David Charles Sloane, Is The Cemetery Dead, (London: The University of Chicago Press, 2018), 9. 2. Walter Tony, The Revival of Death, (Routledge, 2002), 21. Fig 3.1 9 Artwork Interpretation <The Triumph of Death> 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.