Death and the Detail: Moments of engagment along a Catholic cremation ritual procession

A thesis submitted to the University of Cincinnati Division of Research and Advanced Studies For partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Architecture School of Architecture and Interior Design 2012

By Charles Bucheit B.S. Architectural Studies University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2009

Committee Chairs: John Hancock Jeff Tilman Terry Boling

Abstract

Contemporary architecture is increasing being reduced to a singular image of a building, which often lacks articulation of its parts. This disengages architecture from the poetic expressiveness of its nature rooted in construction and negates the detail in the process. Adapting the typology of detail engage- ment from Edward R. Ford’s book, The Architectural Detail, this thesis will use the detail to express issues of structure, construction, performance, and program use. Focusing on the human narrative presented by the Catholic ritual of cremation, this project seeks to create meaning and engagement through corresponding moments of detail within the design of a crematorium facility in Delhi Township (Cincinnati) Ohio. While engaging the user in realities of the building as a construction, these details mark, accentuate, and support moments of the funeral procession which culminates in a hilltop committal of the ashes overlooking the Ohio River Valley. The richness of space and clarity of design expressed through the detail helps to prepare the bereaved for the difficult thoughts and emotions and create a sense of engagement. This thesis design presents several moments that, while articulated in different ways, create a family of details that resonate with one another. The richness of the detail family helps generate and articulate the building design at all scales beginning at the smallest.

2 2 Acknowledgments

I would like to sincerely thank all of the people who helped me along the way.

To my parents, I could not have made it here without your tireless support, encouragement, and love.

To Elizabeth, for understaning all of my grumpiness, distraction, and crazy schedules. You always responded with love.

To Max and Liz, for being my long distance support and critics. Your friendship and support is inseparable from my architectural education.

To Terry Boling, for introducing me to the architects and projects in this thesis, for teaching me how buildings go together, and encouraging me along during this project.

To my thesis advisor John Hancock, for being a calm and steady voice of encouragement.

4 Contents

Abstract 3 History of Crematoria 39

Acknowledgments 4 Case Studies of Crematoria 40

Figure Credits 6 Institution & Project Aims 46

Introduction: What are details? 9 Program From Ritual 48

Types of Details 10 User Flows 52

Detail as Abstraction 12 User Activities & Spatial Flow 55

Detail as Joint 15 Selected Program 56

Detailing 16 Project Site 58

The Role of Details 19 Existing Conditions 67

Detail as Expression of Construction 19 Site Response Strategies 69

Detail as Expression of Structure 22 Site Plan 71

Detail as Expression of Use or Program 25 Design 72

Detail as Expression of Performance 26 Bibliography 92

Where Details Occur 29

Processional Paths 30

Traditional Catholic Death 32

Cremation 36

Cremation & The Church 37

Catholic Cremation as a Modern Ritual 38 Procession

4 Figure Credits

Fig. 1 Slatted Door Carl-Viggo Holmeback - Mortuary at Asker Fig. 35 Ramped procession Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier — Image Crematorium ­— Architecture + Urbanism, Aug. 2000 by Max Bemberg Fig. 2 Door Detail Carl-Viggo Holmeback - Mortuary at Asker Fig. 36 Framed terrace view Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier — Image Crematorium ­— Architecture + Urbanism, Aug. 2000 by Author Fig. 3 Door Detail Carl-Viggo Holmeback - Mortuary at Asker Fig. 37 Notre Dame du Haut, Le Corbusier — Image by Author Crematorium ­— Architecture + Urbanism, Aug. 2000 Fig. 38 Notre Dame du Haut, Le Corbusier — Image by Max Fig. 4 Barcelona Pavilion Column ­— Image by Author Bemberg Fig. 5 Cranbrook Bridge by Dan Hoffman —­ Image by Author Fig. 39 Notre Dame du Haut, Le Corbusier — Image by Max Bemberg Fig. 6 San Giovanni Laterali —­ Image by Author Fig. 40 Ceremonial Door, Notre Dame du Haut, Le Corbusier — Fig. 7 Post-war Villa Savoye —­ http://arttattler.com/Images/ Image by Max Bemberg Architecture/Modernism/VillaSavoye.jpg Fig. 41 Igualada Cemetery by Enrique Miralles and Carme Pinós Fig. 8 Pickle Hut by Dan Hoffman —­ Image by Author — Zalbalbeascoa, Anatxu. Igualada Cemetery Enrique Miralles Fig. 9 Pickle Hut by Dan Hoffman —­ Image by Author and Carme Pinós Fig. 10 Drawing recreated by Author ­— Original drawing from Fig. 42 Mary statue at Notre Dame du Haut, Le Corbusier — Anne-Catrin Schultz Carlo Scarpa : Layers Image by Bobby Deddens Fig. 11 Installation by John Pawson — http://deardesigner.co.uk/ Fig. 43 Original Diagram Plan Montage with images — Zalbal- wp-content/uploads/2011/01/john-pawson-installation-at-the- beascoa, Anatxu. Igualada Cemetery Enrique Miralles and Carme design-museum.png Pinós Fig. 12 Quirini Stampalia Travertine Door — Andrew Carr via Fig. 44 Glazed ceramic urn — http://urnsthroughtime.com/images/ Flickr add_171/add.jpg Fig. 13 Olivetti Showroom by Carlo Scarpa — Image by Author Fig. 45 De Nieuwe Ooster Columbarium by Karres en Brands in Fig. 14 Holy Water Font Scarpa — http://www.flickr.com/photos/ Amsterdam — Architecture + Urbanism Magazine October 2004 leonl/6106658976 Fig. 46 The Rookwood Crematorium — Wikimedia Commons Fig. 15 Peter Rose Architects, Brookside Lower School — Image by Fig. 47 Urn being carried — http://www.artistswithaids.org/ Author artery/centerpieces/bronski/bronski_urn.jpg Fig. 16 Detail Engagement — Original diagrams by Author Fig. 48 Historic cremation apparatus — Curl, James Steven. Death Fig. 17 Chapel of St. Ignatius — Holl, Steven. Chapel of St. and Architecture. 2002 Ignatius Fig. 49 A Modern crematory room in Belgium — Architecture + Fig. 18 McCormick Tribune Campus Center by Rem Koolhaas — Urbanism Magazine October 2004 Image by Author Fig. 50 Hidemark's Lilla Aska Crematorium — Heathcote, Edwin. Fig. 19 The diamond-shaped steel connector in Fay Monument Builders: Modern Architecture and Death. Jones Thorncrown chapel — http://www.flickr.com/ photos/19melissa68/2646484340/ Fig. 51 Original diagram by Author Fig. 52 The floor plan of Hidemark's Lilla Aska Crematorium — Fig. 20 Villa Mairea by Alvar Aalto — http://www.flickr.com/ Heathcote, Edwin. Monument Builders: Modern Architecture and photos/ieatpeas43/4416358997/ Death. Fig. 21 Aalto, Säynätsalo Town Hall — Ford, Edward. Details of Fig. 53 Hidemark’s Lilla Aska Crematorium — Heathcote, Edwin. modern architecture vol 2. pg 148 Monument Builders: Modern Architecture and Death. Fig. 22 Column in Villa Mairea http://www.flickr.com/photos/ andrewpaulcarr/270629212/ Fig. 54 Site Plan View — Bing Maps Fig. 23 Wood handrails in Aalto's Viirpuri Library — http://www. Fig. 55 Stone Cross at Woodland Cemetery — http://www.flickr. flickr.com/photos/48397460@N06/5095074992/ com/photos/mcaven/4278156325/ Fig. 24 Igualada Cemetery path detail by Enrique Miralles and Fig. 56 Main Chapel at Woodland Cremetorium, Gunnar Asplund Carme Pinós — Zalbalbeascoa, Anatxu. Igualada Cemetery — http://www.flickr.com/photos/seier/1037283225/ Enrique Miralles and Carme Pinós Fig. 57 Original diagram by Author Fig. 25 Site plan — Zalbalbeascoa, Anatxu. Igualada Cemetery Fig. 58 Main Chapel at Woodland Crematorium, Gunnar Asplund Enrique Miralles and Carme Pinós — http://www.greatbuildings.com Fig. 26 Scupper, Chapel at Ronchamp — Image by Author Fig. 59 Site Plan View — Bing Maps Fig. 27 Aranoff Center by Peter Eisenman — http://www.flickr. Fig. 60 Woodland Cemetery Plan, Asplund and Lewerentz — com/photos/sarah_jane/28203360/ Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunnar Asplund Fig. 28 Scarpa's ziggurat detail — http://www.flickr.com/photos/ Fig. 61 Floor plan of Woodland Crematorium Addition, Johan leonl/6106078761/ Celsing — http://www.arkitekt.se/s52071 Fig. 29 Peter Zumthor, Kunsthaus Bregenz — http://www.flickr. Fig. 62 com/photos/trevorpatt/6254594934/ Original diagram by Author Fig. 63 Fig. 30 Facade Clip detail — http://www.flickr.com/photos/ Heimloen Crematorium — Architecture + Urbanism krss/3178222472/ Magazine October 2004 Fig. 64 Fig. 31 Original diagram of the Kunsthaus Bregenz clip system by Heimloen Crematorium — Architecture + Urbanism Author Magazine October 2004 Fig. 65 Fig. 32 Masonry Floor and mortar joints St. Petri, Sigurd Lewerentz Stamped Concrete in Chapel of St. Ignatius, Steven Holl — — Wang, Wilfried ed. St. Petri Church: Klippan 1962-66, Sigurd Image by Author Lewerentz Fig. 66 Traditional funeral — Original diagram by Author Fig. 33 Quirini Stampalia, Carlo Scarpa http://www.flickr.com/ Fig. 67 Ritual steps — Original diagrams by Author photos/schroeer-heiermann/2401769292/ Fig. 68 Steps of Cremation — Original diagram by Author Fig. 34 The starting point of the procession Villa Savoye, Le Fig. 69 User Flows — Original diagram by Author Corbusier — Image by Author Fig. 70 Site Flow — Original diagram by Author Fig. 71 Spatial flows based on the user — Original diagram by Fig. 120 Original drawing by Author Author Fig. 121 Original drawing by Author Fig. 72 Diagrammatic plan — Original diagram by Author Fig. 122 Original drawing by Author Fig. 73 Map of the Cincinnati area — Google Maps Fig. 123 Original drawing by Author Fig. 74 Topographic Map — http://cagisonline.hamilton-co.org/ Fig. 124 cagisonline/index.html Original drawing by Author Fig. 125 Fig. 75 Site View — Image by Author Original drawing by Author Fig. 126 Fig. 76 Site View — Image by Author Original drawing by Author Fig. 127 Fig. 77 Site View — Image by Author Original drawing by Author Fig. 78 Site View — Image by Author

Fig. 79 Site View — Image by Author Fig. 80 Site View — Image by Author Fig. 81 Image key map — Original diagram by Author Fig. 82 Site View — Image by Author Fig. 83 Site View — Image by Author Fig. 84 Site View — Image by Author Fig. 85 Site View — Image by Author Fig. 86 Flight Path — Image by Author Fig. 87 bedrock conditions — Image by Author Fig. 88 Site section — Original diagram by Author Fig. 89 Site section — Original diagram by Author Fig. 90 Key Plan — Original diagram by Author Fig. 91 Site View — Image by Author Fig. 92 Site View — Image by Author Fig. 93 Site View — Image by Author Fig. 94 View of the northern slope of the ridge — Image by Author Fig. 95 View of the entire northern side of the site — Bing Maps Fig. 96 Key Plan — Original diagram by Author Fig. 97 Existing built environment — Original diagram by Author Fig. 98 Traffic Flows around the site — Original diagram by Author Fig. 99 Retirement Home — Image by Author Fig. 100 Sisters of Charity Motherhouse — Image by Author Fig. 101 Morton Salt Facility — Image by Author Fig. 102 Tool Works — Image by Author Fig. 103 Industrial Storage — Image by Author Fig. 104 Industrial and Agricultural Storage — Image by Author Fig. 105 Riverview Nursing Facility — Image by Author Fig. 106 Area comparison of program to total site — Original diagram by Author Fig. 107 Potential project site zones — Original diagram by Author Fig. 108 Potential project locations — Original drawing by Author Fig. 109 north/south site sections through zone 1 — Original diagram by Author Fig. 110 north/south site sections through zone 2 — Original diagram by Author Fig. 111 north/south site sections through zone 3 — Original diagram by Author Fig. 111 Site plan — Original drawing by Author Fig. 112 Floor Plan — Original drawing by Author Fig. 113 Original drawing by Author Fig. 114 Original drawing by Author Fig. 115 Original drawing by Author Fig. 116 Original drawing by Author Fig. 117 Original drawing by Author Fig. 118 Original drawing by Author Fig. 119 Original drawing by Author 8 Introduction: What are details?

If “details are the basis for, not an accessory to, understanding a building,” as professor of architecture and noted author Edward R. Ford asserts, then there is value in researching what they are and how architects can use details to convey meaning and create better architecture. 1 This thesis seeks to explore the various meanings and definitions of the detail in architecture in search of its role in modern architecture. To begin, the detail must be defined and situated. Details are the small scale and often highly technical design decisions embodied in a building. Ford provides a working generic definition of a detail as not simply the small parts of a building, but specifically the part between the parts.2 These small scale joints are the result of both execution and design; they are where the two meet and entail the realization of architectural ideas into architectural reality. Details are the “how” of architecture; they explain Fig. 1 Sliding wood slat entry door with tensile support. and instruct the realization of a project. Details are the joints or connections in architecture, but they have long been associated with the ornament of a building. The most basic example of a detail is the connection where the column meets the entablature, the critical joint of the post and lintel structural system. This moment of connection, this detail, has long been exaggerated and embellished to create the architectural orders: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. While ornament has traditionally been located at joints, the discussion of joints and details in this thesis will remain distinct from the discussion of ornamentation. Details matter because they show a level of constructional resolution in a building, that is, how the architect engages with the necessity of assembly from a series of parts. This constructional resolution allows for the mark of both the maker – the craftsman – and the designer – the architect. Fig. 2 These bent and formed galvanized steel pieces act Rooting architecture within its own language and expressing meaning as a beautiful focal point and a functional tensile connector. through simple visual and constructional hierarchies is both timeless and basic. Traditional columns are expressive in both a historically associative and constructional way, however it is the constructional expression that is the most clear. The post and lintel structure expresses the weight and permanence of stone, while the capital ornamentation creates only associations. Associations which can and will change with the forward progress of history. Marco Frascari, a professor and theorist of architecture, hints that details are a critical part of architecture: creating, resolving, and harmonizing our environments.

In the details are the possibilities of innovation and invention, and it is through these that architects can give harmony to the most

Fig. 3 Detail drawing that describes the sizes and 1 Edward R. Ford, The Architectural Detail, 13 specifications for the steel manufacturer. 2 Ibid, 306

8 9 uncommon and difficult or disorderly environments created by culture. The notion that architecture is a result of the resolution, substitution, and design of details has always been a latent concept in architects’ minds.3

In a very simple way, details can allow the people who use the building to engage with it. The details are the ways in which architects can explain and display assembly, forces at work, and the ways in which the building was intended to be used and interpreted. Within the context of this thesis, the words joint and detail may be used interchangeably; as the joint refers to the thing, the detail, and its location. The discussion must be further defined in terms of detail, details, and detail- ing. Detail is the singular joint or moment and refers to just one thing. Details refer to a group of individual moments, or more specifically the system that they create. Detailing is the act of resolving the individual joints in the constructional language of architecture for a purpose. Much of the structure of this thesis is indebted to the organization and taxonomy of details found in Edward R. Ford’s, The Architectural Detail. While far from the sole source of information, this book was a critical resource.

Types of Details

Of the many ways to look at details, Ford provides the most basic taxonomy. In contemporary architecture, all three types of detail are used and needed. While there may seem to be a value judgment on each, in reality they must work together.

Literal – the articulated detail that solves the problem and demonstrates the solution.

Abstract – the unarticulated or mute detail that solves the problem and does not demonstrate the solution.

Representative – the ornamental detail that is unrelated to the building’s construction except in a representational way.4

Literal details are the exposed connections or joints. The fact that they are exposed has a few ramifications. First, because a joint is exposed, it needs to be well-crafted and more precise, thus more expensive to construct.5 Second, because it is visible it can be seen and take an active role in the architecture and architectural understanding. The visibility of the exposed detail is paramount to communicate architectural meaning; without understanding of the physical

3 Marco Frascari, “The Tell-The-Tale-Detail”, 23 4 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 53 5 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 147

10 Fig. 4 Abstract column detail, German Pavilion in Barcelona Mies van der Rohe

Fig. 5 Literal detail displaying the forces at work and construction method­, Bridge on Fig. 6 Representative pilaster detail Cranbrook's Campus in Bloomfield Hills, MI

10 11 connection little to no meaning can be inferred. The key to this type of detail is that it is the visual demonstration of the solution. The abstract or unarticulated detail is the opposite of the literal detail, in that its making conceals its solution or construction. This concealment allows for greater performance of the detail, especially in an exterior or wet condition. The abstract joint is often covered or sealed; the most common example of this is caulk or structural silicon that fills the joint. The representative detail is ornamental and unrelated to construction – much like the associations of historical columns in a non-structural context. While these details may demonstrate a solution, they do it in a way that is disengaged from the basic architectural language of construction. There are also very practical reasons for using these representational details, such as describing the issues of weight in a building whose structural members are, by code, covered or encased. The commonality of the abstract and the literal detail is that they both solve a problem. Each of these first detail types can be considered appropriate in that they provide a solution in response to a need. The representative detail, on the other hand, does not resolve a construction problem and so it can be argued that it is not therefore functionally necessary. Ford defined another type of detail as the strongest or most influential. This has many names: the autonomous detail, the articulated detail, the significant detail, or the dissonant detail, but they all refer to the same thing: one which sits most prominently in the hierarchy of architectural information. Ford supports the idea of dissonance: a burst of abstraction in a field of anima- tion or vice versa. Hierarchy is most apparent, that is, most effective, when it is inconsistent; especially when the inconsistency occurs in the one place in which conformity is expected.

Detail as Abstraction

Whether in the modernist buildings of the early 20th century or the resur- gence of minimalism through the work of John Pawson or Peter Zumthor, there are clear examples in which a goal of the architecture is the presentation of a seamless object. This is the process of abstraction, and details play a critical role in its architectural realization.

12 13 Abstraction of a detail, Ford posits, is based on the level of articulation.

A detail is considered articulated to the extent to which it expresses and demonstrates the resolution of the problems of weight,material, connection, and assembly. When it expresses the opposite – absence of weight, an indifference to material, a lack of apparent connection, and an apparent disregard for the elements – it is seen as abstract.6

While the result of abstraction of details is the perception of a clean and simple space, the reality is anything but simple. Extensive work has been put into the construing of these details – the planning of a process that eliminates any trace of its making. The point to such a complete abstraction of details is that the building is allowed to be perceived as an ideal whole rather than its parts.7

The progression of history and technology has some effect on what we Fig. 7 The stained and neglected post-war Villa Savoye perceive as “modern.” The seamless, smooth or curvilinear shapes of some reveals some of the reality of this futuristic abstraction. more expressive modern buildings often do more to create the idea or image of a futuristic building than actual advanced technology. This is accomplished through the suppression of construction information which gives primacy to the “futuristic” image as a symbol. These buildings will always be more success- ful as symbol rather than reality; the seamlessness will at some point yield to the forces of thermal expansion, weathering, and imperfections.8 Ford argues that even if the goal of an architectural project is abstraction, there are still necessary elements that must exist to engage the reality of building. The concealing of every detail, even if technically possible, is rarely desirable. There will always be instances of exposed details which can under- mine the total abstraction of a project. Even if perfect abstractions are in some way fabricated, they will still be take on the natural process of weathering, thus undermining the perfection of the abstraction.9 These abstract details are in no way unnecessary or wrong; there is simply the futility of forcing an ideal into a reality without any form of translation. Abstract details are actually necessary for architectural coherence, because they form the basis of a hierarchy of information. An architecture that exposes every nail in the drywall and every stud in the wall creates no hierarchy, and ultimately expresses nothing. A hierarchy of information is critical for the coherence of architectural meaning to occur. These abstract details are needed to create a body or background for the literal or autonomous detail to have an impact 10

6 Edward R. Ford, Five Houses, Ten Details, 12-13 7 Ibid, 12-13 8 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 225 9 Ibid, 51 10 Ford, Five Houses, Ten Details, 140

12 13 Fig. 8 The frame is diagrammatically distinct from both the concrete base and the skin of shingles.

Fig. 9 The Semperian joint between the stereotomic concrete mass and the tectonic frame is clearly demonstrated in this small hut.

14 Detail as Joint Butt Joint Details are joints and also occur at joints. Marco Frascari, author of “The Tell-the-tale-detail,” notes that, “Any piece of architecture that can be defined as a detail is always considered a joint.”11 A joint is the place of contact or coming together of two or more elements. These joints physically wrap, lap, Void Joint join, fold, and connect different pieces of similar and dissimilar material together. Simple examples of joints are the folds of thin metal sheets used for roofing, or the mortar between bricks. Understanding the types and Concealed Joint performance of each of these types of joints allows the designer to select an appropriate expression of the materials that are joined. Each joint in a building then becomes an architectural opportunity. Gottfried Semper, author of the highly influential 19th century essay “The Depressed Joint Four Elements of Architecture,” understood the joint to be fundamental to the nature of architecture; he even saw it as the birth of architecture.

Semper’s emphasis on the joint implies that a fundamental syntacti- cal transition may be expressed as one passed from the stereotomic Hinge Joint base to the tectonic frame, and that such transitions constitute the very essence of architecture.12

The tectonic frame, traditionally wood, is the arrangement of members of different lengths joined to encompass space, whereas thestereotomic mass, Connector Joint traditional brick, is composed of identical units stacked upon themselves.13 The most fundamental example of this joint is the idea of brick foundation Fig. 10 Simple joint types upon which the wood framing of the wall is placed. This joint between the stereotomic mass and the tectonic articulation is where the building comes into being. In other words, there is value in the connections of materials in a building beyond their fundamental physical task, and to Semper these joints have a profound meaning in architecture. Using Semper as a reference, the joint as detail transcends the mere physical connection to function on multiple levels, playing a primary role in the birth of architecture and its articulation as a constructed object. “There is a spiritual value residing in the particularities of a given joint, in the ‘thingness’ of the constructed object, so much so that the generic joint becomes a point of ontological condensation rather than a mere connection.”14 So the joint, the fundamental detail, is what makes the building into architecture, it expresses the fact that a building is composed of many parts and in one moment they

11 Frascari, “The Tell-The-Tale-Detail”, 24 12 Kenneth Frampton, “Rappel a L’ordre, The Case for the Tectonic” in Theorizing a new agenda for architecture: An anthology of architectural theory, 522 13 Ibid, 521 14 Ibid, 522

14 15 become a thing of a different order; materials and products become architecture. The knot as a joint plays a key role as an example of a detail as a both connection and as the nature of the wall. Semper’s analysis of the Caribbean Hut and the nature of walls as fabrics and weaving produced an etymological connection between the German words die knoten - knot, die Naht - the joint, and die Verbindung – the binding. This investigation, along with his previous work, confirms that the ultimate element of the art of building is the joint. 15 As previously noted, Frascari explicitly states that when considering the detail, it is always a joint. The word joint can be used to adjust the scale of a detail from the small screw head visible in a handrail connection to the architectural space of the porch. This distinction in scale creates two categories of joints: the material and the formal.16 The material joint describes a physi- cal connection at a human scale and the formal joint describes connections

Fig. 11 Abstracted jointless spaces of John Pawson seems between spaces. While this thesis is concerned primarily with the former, the to lack hierarchy. formal joint is helpful in designing a sequence of spaces. Ford stresses that joints are necessary. “My sense is not that joints are necessary for construction, but that they are necessary for coherence, for architectural meaning to occur, even if jointlessness is technically possible.”17 Joints then are a necessary part of architecture, and have as much or more to do with the clarity of ideas as they do with the actual construction process. This clarity is also known as articulation, that is, the understanding of the parts, due in part to the joints that separate them. Articulation is also a process known as detailing.

Detailing

Detailing is the act of resolving the individual joints in the constructional language of architecture for a purpose. It is the job of the architect to bring together many disparate elements and form a cohesive whole. Detailing, a process of design, is often the last part of a project as the construction schedule approaches, however there are architects who engage this process throughout the design process. The detail can accomplish many things within a building, but the process of detailing itself is one of the ways to create empathy, vary scales of understanding, tell a story, and display architectural mastery. Marco Frascari, who worked with the well-known master of the detail Carlo Scarpa, begins by describing the process of detailing as an art. “The art of detailing is really the joining of materials, elements, components, and build- ing parts in a functional and aesthetic manner. The complexity of this art of

Fig. 12 Scarpa emphases the joints of this travertine door. The bottom is also cut short to both allow for tidal 15 Ibid, 524 flooding and tell the story of historical floods. 16 Frascari, 24 17 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 226

16 joining is such that a detail performing satisfactorily in one building may fail in another for very subtle reasons.”18 From this idea there are a number of insights into what detailing entails: it is an art, it is about creating joints, it is about function, it is about aesthetics, it is complex, there is a measure of success and failure, and it is a subtle thing. The two main concepts Frascari describes are the functional and aesthetic aspects of the role of the architect. The functionality of a building piece, its complexity, and its mode of joinery can provide the most basic sense of success or failure in a building. Its failure is most clearly shown in bad detailing, specifically exterior details generally dealing with moisture flows or prevention, whose results are leaks, discolorations, and material failure. Indeed, a thorough process of detailing can prevent many instances that would cause building failure.19 The aesthetic aspects have more to do with using the subtlety of a small functional part of a building to demonstrate and elevate the construction beyond its physicality to achieve even more depth through the same language. The joints themselves can be both functional and beautiful. Detailing is an art in that it deals with aesthetics as much as technical performance. An apt comparison may be with surgery, the complexity and skillfulness required turn a cut into an art. Indeed, the etymological origins of the word “detail” lie in the precise cutting of clothing and meats for retail sale.20 In the same way, in the hands of a master architect, the language of construction – stacking, joining, and assembly of materials – becomes a way to speak to even more complex issues. Frascari defines the detail as the union of the constructing and construing; the process of detailing is primarily the construing of the detail. The detailing is the act of an architect demonstrating his or her mastery of the language of Fig. 13 This stone joint in Carlo Scarpa's Olivetti Showroom demonstrates his position on revealing the architecture, that is, their understanding of construction. thinness of the stone used to line the interior. Detailing is the process of articulation, that is, speaking clearly through architecture. Well-known Italian architect and editor of Casabella, Vittorio Gregotti clearly asserts that details are the primary and preferable system of articulation of architecture. He cites the “protagonists of the detail: Franco Albini, Carlo Scarpa, and Mario Ridolfi,” those architects who had mastered the art of detailing, demonstrated this mastery through “analysis and displays of material, provided by the laws of construction and formation of the archi- tectural object.”21 Looking deeply within the existing system of materials and construction allows the architect to speak clearly, or as Frascari would say: let the details tell the tale.22

18 Frascari, 23 Fig. 14 This font for holy water is an excellent display of 19 Ibid, 23 Scarpa's analysis and mastery of material. 20 ed. Robert Barnhart, The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, 200 21 Vittorio Gregotti, ”The Exercise of Detailing” In Theorizing a new agenda for architecture: An anthology of architectural theory, 496-7 22 Frascari, 23

16 17 Edward Ford has much to say about the process of detailing in architecture. The conceptual meanings behind details gain importance as the complex technical nature of the process becomes clear. The concept of detailing is simple: it is the main armature for reconciling the designed image and the reality of assembly. Detailing has to with enlarging some aspects while shrinking others, keeping some elements visible and hiding others. 23 Even this description of detailing assumes that the ideas and images of the designer fundamentally exist outside of the language of architecture, and must be translated or represented in a different reality. The designed image becomes more easily construed when it does not feel forced into reality. There is a keen awareness that the image is more important than the edifice, when the details have clearly not been resolved.

Often the outcome of this idea in built terms is an unpleasant sense of an enlarged model, a lack of articulation of the parts at different scales: walls that seem to be made of cut-out cardboard, unfinished windows and openings; in sum a general relaxing of tension from the drawing to the building.24

This sensation is the experience of unresolved and unarticulated buildings. The authors cited in this thesis support the idea that the reality of assembly can and should come first to create a deep and meaningful edifice. When detailing focuses on the exaggeration or abstraction of elements to accomplish project goals, the process moves beyond just the necessity of Fig. 15 Bricks are used in place of cut concrete masonry revelation or concealment and expressing hierarchy. There is a value judgment emphasize the whole concrete unit. on different building elements or joints; some become more important than others.25 This becomes problematic when all of the elements are reduced in service of the overall form. This can be seen in the reduction of necessary details like copings in 20th century architecture. Another way that Ford describes the establishment of hierarchy is expressed through the selective presentation of information.26 Detailing is the process of animating architecture through the revealing, the amplification, by the illustration of function, or the opposite. It is the selective revealing or concealing of architectural information.27 Ford establishes detailing as a presentation of information, that is, as a way to tell the story of the project or create a narrative. “Detailing is a part of this process of understanding, but more correctly, it is a small-scale understanding that parallels a large-scale understanding.”28 The small scale constructional moves echo and reinforce the larger goals of

23 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 53 24 Gregotti, 497 25 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 71 26 Ford, Five Houses, Ten Details, 238 27 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 296 28 Ford, Five Houses, Ten Details, 309

18 the building to the person who uses it. This suggests that how the building is put together can somehow affect people. Detailing involves the negotiation between part and whole, construction and ornament, style and reality, but its most powerful expression is creating a relationship between a building and the people who interact with it.29

The Role of Details

Details are the resolution of architectural ideas into a constructional reality, and because they are small in scale, they occur both at the eye level and the perceptual level of the user of a building. This scale of human engagement allows for a certain level of understanding to be expressed in details. Ford believes that the role of the literal and autonomous detail can engage users of buildings in four basic categories: construction, structure, program, and performance. In each of these categories, the detail acts as a way to create or enhance awareness of certain aspects of the building: construction – an awareness of joinery, assembly, the parts, and the process of building; structure – an awareness of the weight and wind; program – an awareness of how the building engages a particular activity and how people physically touch the building; performance – an awareness of the building as protection from the elements.30 The architectural details that create awareness in these categories may serve only to articulate the place where a building accommodates a need, however as seen in the discussion of detailing, they may also play a role in the larger narrative of the project. One of the clearest ways that details engage and create awareness is by simply demonstrating a principle at work: the flow of water in a gutter, the forces of gravity transferred to a column, the joinery of a wall piece, or the accommodation of a handrail to touch.

Detail as Expression of Construction

Buildings are not continuous and seamless objects placed on a site, thus they require the joining of many materials with discreet sizes. The joints, or specifically the assembly process to display these joints, in the assembly of buildings can provide a rich area for meaning in architecture. Gregotti is known for stating “Gothic architects transformed materials into architectural facts; we assemble products.”31 So the manner in which products are assembled and the articulation of joints between those products are the new modes of engagement in the production of architecture and architectural meaning.

Fig. 16 Diagrams exploring Ford's four modes of 29 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 306 engagement: Construction, Program, Performance, 30 Ibid, 236-7 and Structure. 31 Gregotti, Inside Architecture, 52

18 19 Gregotti hints at the “influence of building techniques as an expressive component,” that is, by exploiting or expressively utilizing the building techniques or facts of construction, one uses the language of architecture to express architectural ideas.32 Details are the way to expressively use building techniques; they are the system of articulation in the architectural language. The system of articulation is the way of defining one part as distinct from another and clearly executing an abstract idea. Like speaking articulately, one pronounces the sounds clearly to form words joined together to form compre- hensible sentences. However, rather than a spoken language, the architectural language is construction. Detailing is the way in which to display the proper- ties of materials through the use of the laws of construction. It completes the articulation of an idea, and renders it in the language of architecture. Ford echoes these ideas when he states that details, “in the sense of a demonstration of constructional resolution, are the means of delivering whatever message architecture communicates.”33 In his essay “Rappel A L’ordre,” Kenneth Frampton asserts that building is an act of construction first. Understanding the constructional nature of architecture does not prescribe celebration of the mechanical nature of Fig. 17 Crane lift points for the precast wall panels of construction. The pursuit of the tectonic through the structural unit has the Steven Holl's St. Ignatius Chapel are left visible to tell the story of the building's construction. “potential poetic manifestation of structure in the original Greek sense of poesis—the poetry as an act of making and revealing.”34 Frascari defines the detail as the union of construction with construing — the place where a building comes together joins the way the architect’s intention is expressed. This means that the detail can and should contain in itself both a meaning of the architecture as a whole, and the precise manner in which this meaning can be realized. Frascari strives to understand the oscil- lation between the mental and physical realms of the detail. Both ideas can be understood in terms of construction; the construction of the detail is the arrangement of objects and the construing is the construction of meaning. The good details, Ford argues, are about deeper issues than the practical needs of construction, but they begin with construction. There are many ways in which the detail can be used to express construction. First it must be understood that buildings will have a distinctly different “reality of joinery and a narrative of joinery—the actual number of joints versus the number of joints that are articulated.”35 This is simply because buildings are conceived as

Engaging Construction totalities rather than assemblies. Constructionally expressive joints, such as those in Arts and Crafts furniture, serve as reminders that things are assembled

32 Gregotti, ”The Exercise of Detailing” In Theorizing a new agenda for architecture: An anthology of architectural theory, 497 33 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 12 34 Frampton, 519 35 Ford, Five Houses, Ten Details ,147

20 and not monolithic objects. There is a necessity for the construction of a narrative, of articulating some pieces of constructional information while suppressing others.36 This necessity is not purely functional, but more about the coherence of the architecture, that is, the need for a hierarchy. For example, a building that exposes every single connection, while being “honest,” creates a confusion of understanding. Buildings that expose every joint share one major thing in common with those buildings that conceal every joint: they fail to create a hierarchy and thus express nothing as a result of rigorous exercises in design. Instead details are the most effective and powerful when they are singular and among a context of abstracted or hidden joints.37 There is a clear hierarchy of structural narrative or real structure when, for example, bolts of a steel connection are exposed and the nails that affix the drywall to the substructure is covered over.

The autonomous joint that is about construction can describe a more complex process of construction, one indicative not just of assembly, but of a constructional history. This particular type of autonomous detail is the narrative joint, one that tells us, often in a somewhat fictive, the history of the building’s assembly.38

Using the detail as an expression of construction is one very powerful way to align architecture – the edifice and the meanings contained within – with its intrinsic mode of expression. Using the language of architecture, construction, to create details allows the building to communicate a narrative in its own Fig. 18 Exposure of all ceiling fasteners in Koolhaas's Student Center at IIT reveals the parts that make the language. whole.

An understanding of assembly communicates values on a level far more basic and far more profound than association or symbolism can. Association can occur without these interpretations, but while the nature of association will alter with time, the constructional messages will not, even as our responses to those messages may change. If a building’s messages are not architectural messages that grow out of the fundamentals of building itself, they will remain little more than billboard signs. At the same time, we cannot ignore the understanding of a building as an abstract totality. The monolith may be read as a real or narrative organism, but it may also be read as a repressive agglomeration. Both readings are necessary; we cannot eliminate either.39

Ford argues that there is a basic level of communication that occurs through a connection or an assembly. A simple visual hierarchy can be established: this piece of wood sits on top of that piece of wood, this steel acts as a connector of brick to glass. This simple and timeless hierarchy is delivered through

36 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 172 37 Ibid, 151 38 Ibid, 246 39 Ibid, 226-7

20 21 component position and orientation, and has nothing to do with shifting cultural associations.

The role of an expressed joint is to bridge the gap between our perception of a building as an assemblage and our perception of a building as a unified image, and therefore the role of a detail is to bridge between a constructive and an abstract understanding of the building.40

This quote from Ford corresponds to Frascari’s construing and constructing, but also addresses the necessity of multiple scales of readings that were established in the previous quote. Just as building must be read as both an abstract totality and an assemblage of parts, so too the details require a reading as assemblage and totality. Construing and constructing must be understood Fig. 19 The diamond-shaped steel connector in Fay at all scales. Jones Thorncrown chapel. This piece keeps the main truss coplanar and allows for the repetition of the diamond Constructional details play a huge role when they address the exterior shape when looking down the nave. façade of a building. Modern thermal insulation requires a layered construc- tion, one in which each previous layer is covered by the next. This idea is known as cladding, the covering of surfaces with others for performance or safety reasons. How can a detail display or express the function of a wall, when that function must be concealed? One method is by revealing, that is, peeling away the outside layer to expose the next layer. The details that reveal, also display the façade as a clad surface, the modern layering of walls, and the ways in which those walls are constructed. These details can act in a way that creates a least one part of the narrative of the building’s construction.

If one believes that architecture is the art of building, then it must tell us how it is built, and if this can be done only by partial exposure or by a symbolism of construction, how is it to be designed? If architecture is the art of building, then the partially exposed structure will be preferable to the clad one; the cladding that is descriptive of construction will be preferable to the cladding that is descriptive of history, and the cladding that is descriptive of history of construction will be preferable to the cladding that is descriptive of the history of anything else. 41

Construction, narrative, and constructional history can all be displayed or exagger- ated by details. The important role of details is to express the constructional language of architecture. In doing so they can create a narrative that clearly expresses whatever message the designer intends to express.

Detail as Expression of Structure

While it may seem clear, if an architect wishes to engage the users of a building with the forces of gravity and wind, then he or she simply exposes the Engaging Structure

40 Edward R. Ford, Five Houses, Ten Details, 166 41 Ford, The Architectural Detail, 174

22 mechanisms that resist these forces. However, in reality there are many build- ing and safety codes that specifically prevent or prohibit this exposure. There is never any one true expression of the structure, and because of many practical reasons architects are forced to use representation to express weight. It then becomes the role of the detail to express that which cannot be exposed.42 The expression of weight is often achieved through solidity and mass, which displays permanence. The permanence of mass and solidity often acts to associate a building, or the institution it represents, with the very same perma- nence. There is a kind of connection that is not often seen in this association: the mass is meant to resist the forces of gravity and the permanence associated with it is meant to resist the forces of time. Ford argues that although structural expression is limited, its small scale articulation amid a building context that is unconcerned with structural expression becomes a powerful element. “The structurally autonomous detail may affirm permanence or authority in a building where it is otherwise absent, Fig. 20 This column to ground joint by Aalto examplfies the notion of bearing onto a solid foundation. but it is more likely, as in the above cases, to subvert it by the introduction of an empathetic, smaller scale of expression.”43 He links the smaller scale of the structural articulation to empathy. The expression of structure in contemporary architecture requires the use of the representative detail – the detail that is not related to the construction. Using these types of details is not an issue of honesty; codes prevent that. It is an expression of weight in a symbolic or narrative way. The question ceases to concern the honesty of showing the real structure, but rather the expression of weight—the expression of the forces of gravity and wind.44 And because there is a narrative aspect to the way weight is represented, the structurally narrative detail may be used to tell the story.

[…] in order to understand structure as a manifestation of something larger than itself, dissonance was necessary between the image of the structure and the far more complicated and ambiguous real structure. It was the role of the detail to maintain the structural narrative in the context of a much more complex reality.45

The reality of structural systems in the resolution of complex architectural forms often lacks a sense of clarity or coherence. Introducing the detail and the structural narrative is important to clarify a reality that is less clear. Fig. 21 The beautifully complex wooden trusses in Aalto's Säynätsalo Town Hall express the structural loads in a autonomous manner from their context, ultimately express- ing the significance of the meeting chamber.

42 Edward R. Ford, Five Houses, Ten Details, 19 43 Edward R. Ford, The Architectural Detail, 262 44 Edward R. Ford, Five Houses, Ten Details, 19 45 Ibid,136

22 23 Fig. 22 Wrapping of a steel column with reed indicating Fig. 23 The organically shaped wood handrails in Aalto's the zone of the human through the detail. Viirpuri Library change direction with a brass joint.

Fig. 24 Programmatic detail of the railroad ties embedded in concrete. Fig. 25 Site plan of Miralles and Pinos' Igulada Cemetery indicat- ing the complete gesture of the path.

24 25 Detail as Expression of Use or Program

This mode of creating awareness through the detail engages the building participant with the intentions of the building program—the accommodation of activities within the building. This means that people can understand that a certain room or part of the building is meant for them, or that the building itself is in fact a tool for those people to use. While Ford calls this expression of program, I prefer the simpler idea of expression of use – the building that demonstrates the way that it may used. By the nature of engaging with people, this detail must again occur at the smaller human scale. These are places where people are meant to touch, sit, sleep, work, or eat. For example, it is a way to create empathy in a structure that is much too large to normally do so. The fact that care was taken to provide thoughtful places of touch and engagement offers another reading of the much larger structure. The more obvious places where this type of detail occurs is where hands engage building elements—handrails and door handles. Alvar Aalto is a key figure in this type of “humanistic” detail. One of the many complaints against modernism was that its abstraction of shapes and removal of ornament was stark and inhuman. Aalto carefully created modernist buildings with sensuous handrail shapes of carved wood that invited human touch, thus earning him the leading role in what is called humanistic modernism. These sensuously shaped handrails create a connection between an abstract space and a person, reassuring or engaging their hand into its intended place.

Another example of this type of detail is the column wraps in Aalto’s Villa Engaging Program Mairea. The stripping of ornament in the name of clarity and abstraction, a tenant of modernism, removed many details that seemed to be unnecessary; one of these being the wainscoting and chair rail. The historic placement of wood on the lowest part of the wall was functionally meant to protect the wall from the moving of chairs and scraping. This detail also symbolically indicated where in a building people engaged in activity. The wrapping of the steel column with reed, reintroduces a natural material at the level of the person, indicating where dwelling occurs and protecting the surface of the columns from scrapes and scratches. This type of detail can also occur in the landscape. The paving of a path can indicate the intended procession, as opposed to movement across grass. This type of detail is rather symbolically achieved in Enrique Miralles and Carme Pinos Igualada Cemetery project outside of Barcelona. The plan clearly shows the intention of experiencing the path as a river seemingly strewn with lines. These lines are wood logs laid into the paving of the path, and rather

24 25 than being set in a linear pattern to indicate directional movement or define space, they meander and fall into place. This creates a notion of a slow wander rather than a speedy translation. The laying of these logs also emphasizes the symbolic nature of the project; the logs symbolize souls floating down the river of life. This detail is particularly effective in the cemetery project because of the choice of materials, these planks of wood are the only natural material among all of the concrete and weathered steel. The programmatically explicit detail is most meaningful when it provides the place for human interaction, sensual engagement, and identification amid a context of abstraction. This is accomplished through the dissonance of the object and its context, but more importantly by creating a connection between

Engaging Performance the user and the building.

Detail as Expression of Performance

Ford's fourth and final category of detail engagement is performance details. They make us aware of the natural factors that impose themselves on a building including heat, cold, and water, but also indicate how materials are supported and protected as well.46 Most of these details occur on the exterior of a building which means that they are a part of the façade or image of the project. Their detailing has to match the expressiveness or abstraction desired. The traditional details that express performance are gutters, downspouts, lintels, and sills. These details have been used for thousands of years to shed water and support masonry. The reality of construction is that water must be shed from a building and masonry must be supported, so the detail must accommodate these goals. The modernist detail tends to solve these problems while minimizing the aesthetic impact of a gutter for example. The oversized scupper has long been a detail that expresses the flows of water off of a building and thus its role in providing shelter. Like medieval churches with their gargoyles, Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp by Le Corbusier offers an example of this exaggeration of water flows. The scupper protrudes from the side of the roof in the anthropomorphic shape of a snout,

Fig. 26 The oversized scupper helps to ground the project and while using an sculptural language, it roots the sculptural expression of the as a building rather than sculpture by diplaying the flow building back into shelter. It is one way for someone to understand that this of water off of its roof. object is a building. Exterior details and performance-oriented details require careful atten- tion and balancing of their expression. Buildings must provide shelter and must successfully deal with the weather. The abstraction of building form and façades has presented many ways of accommodating the needs of shelter, however not necessarily solving the problems for the long-term use of the

46 Edward R. Ford, The Architectural Detail, 275

26 27 building. When abstracting the roof edge and shrinking the coping, a designer must keep in mind that water will still flow over the edge. Exterior performance over time can occur in a graceful manner or through unintended stains and streaks. When not handled properly, exterior elements (specifically water) will mark their most common paths over time constructing the finish known as weathering. Architectural theorists and writers, Mostafavi and Leatherbarrow, assert that the association of weathering and negative deterioration begins with the modernist movement and Le Corbusier. New materials and parts were rapidly being adapted to building.47 Additionally, the removal of ornament in the pursuit of pure white forms created both the play of volumes in light and the canvas for stains from water and natural processes.48 Le Corbusier (as well as most contemporary architects) saw the finality of a project solely in the completion of construction, so staining and erosion are the antithesis of the idea of the project.49 Fig. 27 Water staining and mold on the north facade of There are some architects whose work seems to have allowed places for the Aronoff center by Peter Eisenman. weathering to occur, and who thereby reversed the idea of stains as degrada- tions. Carlo Scarpa is an example of an architect who may have used staining and weathering as a way to deepen the visceral connection of the building with the earth and even with human empathy. Especially in the Brion cemetery, Scarpa allowed spaces for dirt and stains that, according to Mostafavi and Leatherbarrow, show the life of the building in time.50 Scarpa’s way of allowing for the staining was through a ziggurat detail (that Frascari calls the “fertile” detail) that steps back into the wall on a 5 cm module and creates a “V” shaped channel. Water is able to flow down the top surface and because of the lack of a drip edge it also flows back to the next tier. The end result is a dark stain on the surface of the concrete, which creates a permanent shadow line – with or without the sun. The use of weathering materials, Cor-ten steel for example, provides an excellent opposing view from that of early Le Corbusier and other “white modernists.” The object changes and adapts within a site, because of the site forces, and is not conceived of as simply placed on the site.51 Mostafavi and Leatherbarrow offer the idea that staining and weathering are natural processes that affect all buildings and are not intrinsically a negative or subtraction from a building. They seek to explain how building surfaces are ever-changing, bringing light to the full life of buildings and questioning the idealization of perfectly clean surfaces as complete. Drawings, models, and renderings of a

Fig. 28 The graceful weathering of Scarpa's ziggurat 47 Moshen Mostafavi and David Leatherbarrow, On Weathering: The Life of detail. Buildings in Time, 16 48 Mostafavi, 30-32 49 Mostafavi, 82-86 50 Mostafavi, 98-103 51 Mostafavi, 104-107

26 27 Clip detail - http://www.flickr.com/photos/krss/3178222472/ wall 3 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevorpatt/6254594934/

Fig. 29 Peter Zumthor's glass facade on the Kunsthaus Bregenz. The field Fig. 30 The clip detail that creates allows for the whole facade system to function. condition detail that creates the whole through repetition.

B A

D C

B A

D C

B A D C Fig. 31 Diagram of the clip system.

28 project are its past; architects must accept and address that all of these will be soiled by the weathering of the project after construction is complete.52

Where Details Occur

Details and joints in fact occur everywhere in a building. Anytime two pieces of material need to meet or be joined a detail exists. “[Architecture] is about construction, but it is about the joints of only a few of its parts, and for every joint that is expressed there are a hundred, perhaps a thousand, that are hidden.”53 The decision of what to express has been explored previously, but the location and larger mode or extent of expression has not. The two main modes of detail locations are known as: field condition and episodic.54 The field condition detail is the detail that creates the whole through repetition. It then exists everywhere. An excellent example of this type of detail is the clip that supports the rain screen on Peter Zumthor’s Kunsthaus Bregenz. The clip extends out from the façade accentuating its own role in the creation and orientation of the panels of translucent glazing. This detail is repeated over the whole exterior of the building, creating a rhythm of shadows on the white glazing panels. A similarly expressed detail occurs in the creation Fig. 32 The mortar acts as the field condition detail in Lewerentz' Church of St. Petri. of the ceiling in the gallery spaces. The small square occurs at each corner of glazing on the ceiling, creating the same pattern of dark points that support the translucent panels. The idea of this project could not have nearly the same impact without the execution and detail of the façade and ceiling; the detail creates the whole. Another example of the field condition detail is Sigurd Lewerentz’ use of masonry in his last two churches, St. Petri and St. Mark’s. Lewerentz pushed the role of the mortar in these buildings to accommodate all of the places where brick would normally be cut or specially shaped. The mortar size grows and shrinks depending on the given context. The use of mortar in this way allowed Lewerentz to eliminate the need for cut bricks and emphasizing their importance as a whole module. The mortar becomes the field condition detail in these projects, the detail that creates and reinforces the whole building. The episodic detail, as its name suggests, occurs in certain moments. These details add more emphasis in specific locations of a project. Allowing the detail to appear more articulated in one place rather than another creates hierarchy in reading. This type of detail can easily be used to create a narrative or story that can be followed through a reading of the details. The detailing of Carlo Scarpa has often been referred to as episodic, in fact myopic. Frascari tells the story of how Scarpa would inspect his project site at

52 Mostafavi, 120 53 Edward R. Ford, Five Houses, Ten Details, 157 54 Discussion with Terry Boiling, Nov. 7, 2011

28 29 night, using a flash light: the goal being to isolate each detail in this episodic condition.55 While much of the elegance of Scarpa’s work is its elusiveness, the details nonetheless lead a person to many different individual moments of intense expressiveness. The Quirini Stampalia renovation took place to find a use for lower level spaces that often fall prey to the flood of Venice. The detailing of Scarpa's design has often been interpreted as marking the levels of water as well as creating new ways for water to flow safely into the space. The detail here does not create the whole, but rather tells a story through a series of somewhat related architectural episodes.

Processional Paths

The episodic detail seems quite well suited to articulating specific moments along a path of procession. Each detail can mark the transition between two activities or enhance focus within a given activity. This section will highlight

Fig. 33 The levels at the Quirini Stampalia that corre- the way in which three projects are articulated to highlight their processional spond to the tidal floods in Venice. aspects: Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier, Notre Dame du Haut by Le Corbusier, and Igualada Cemetery by Enric Miralles and Carme Pinos. Villa Savoye is perhaps Le Corbusier’s ultimate realization of his concept of the promenade architectural, the procession and connections of spaces via ramps. The procession begins with the entry ground floor landing, shared by both the visitors’ door and the door from the garage. There is a curious and rather symbolic sink that is tied to one of the central columns in this space. This invites guests to wash away the “impurities” of the earth prior to ascend- ing the ramp. The ramp rises and switches back to allow many views: outdoors to the roof living area, outdoors through the living room and strip windows, and to the hearth of the indoor living room. A door to the left allows access to the exterior living space and a further ascent of the ramp. Upon the final leg of the ramp the visitor is allowed views of the expansive landscape now framed by the opening in the roof garden wall. While the ascension to the top of the ramp may seem to be the pinnacle of the house, the master bedroom or family room, it becomes instead a reinforcing of Le Corbusier’s five points of modern architecture and a celebration of the roof garden. It may be argued that Le Corbusier’s detailing abstracts the windows as frames and allows for the specific views to take precedence. Each view out from an upper vantage point reinforces the role of building on piloti, and celebrates the modern elevated view above the “vapors of the earth.” The ramp itself can be seen as a detail that is set apart from the rest of the house. The grey painted concrete is clearly differentiated from the tile floors at each landing. While the reinforced concrete floor is supporting the other floor

55 Marco Frascari, “The Tell-The-Tale-Detail”, 29

30 Fig. 35 The ramped procession moves outdoors and ascends to Fig. 34 The starting point of the procession with the the garden terrace. ceremonial sink behind the column.

Fig. 36 The framed garden view that is the culmination of the procession in the Villa Savoye.

30 31 finishes, it is only exposed in the spaces meant for procession and circulation. Le Corbusier’s use of the ramp is much less overt in the chapel at Ronchamp. Here the location, topography and pilgrimage nature of the building create this procession. Though it was visible from the distant landscape, one arrives at the gate and can barely see the shapes of the chapel’s roof. Procession up the exterior path slowly reveals more and more of the building, however the use of berms and landscaping aids in the elongation of this process. Finally upon reaching the top of the hill the ceremonial door is Fig. 37 The sculptural roof emerges at the begining of the procession toward Le Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut. exaggerated through polychromatic animation, and the whole of the sculptural form is revealed. Inside, the numinous space is enhanced through small reveals of light. This occurs in each of the small chapels, at the wall to roof connection, and in the thick southern wall adjacent to the pews. Each aperture allows for a ritual focus as part of the pilgrimage experience: the lone, backlit figure of Mary, in a high glazed niche, presides over the mass both inside and outside the church. Each chapel uses top light and colored paint to bring focus and spirituality to the space. The Igualada Cemetery by Enric Miralles and Carme Pinos inverts the Fig. 38 Further up the ramp, the form is still obscurred. ramps procession from ascent towards some pinnacle to decent into the earth. As there are multiple occasions to visit the cemetery, here too there are multiple paths. The main artery of the cemetery is a ramp that leads down to a swelling of space meant for the burying of the dead. The path down can be seen as the river of life, with the railroad ties strewn in the ground symbolizing souls, and the lowest grade as the city of the dead. There are also two tiers of paths flanking the main artery, whose walls consist of burial niches that act both as retaining walls and receptacles. The additional path from the entry gate is one that follows the body through preparation in morgue facilities, celebration in the chapel, and then procession down steps that cross through the tiered walls of the site. The reversal of normal procession, decent rather than ascent, symbolically

Fig. 39 The sculptural forms and the door emerge. buries the visitor along with the dead. However, the visitor will return to normal life and thus ascends the ramps back into the land of the living. The ascension as an exit path acts as a kind of symbolic rebirth for the visitor. This idea is carried through in the arrangement of the burial niches as well. The stacking of niches four high often means that the dead will be elevated above the living during a visitation.

Traditional Catholic Death

The Catholic funeral remains the way to celebrate the death of a loved one for nearly two billion people. It generally consists of three major parts: the vigil for the deceased (also known as the wake or visitation), the funeral mass, and the rite of committal.

Fig. 40 The use of color marks the ceremonial entrance.

32 33 Fig. 41 Miralles and Pinos' city of the dead at the bottom of the ramp.

Fig. 42 This statue of Mary presides over the chapel of Ronchamp.

visit

mortuary chapel niches niches niches niches niches niches niches niches niches niches niches

mausoleum plaza niches niches niches niches niches niches niches niches

Fig. 43 A diagrammatic plan montage showing multiple paths with an image of the burial niches. 32 33 The wake is the period of time between the death of the person and their funeral mass. This event has historical roots in protecting the body and watching the body throughout the night. The merry-making and revelry that is sometimes associated with wakes stems from one idea that the death must be in some way assured, so the parties were “fit to wake the dead.”56 Now wakes or visitations are the social gathering surrounding a funeral, acknowledging that death affects a whole community not just the family. During the visitation friends and family are invited to pay their last respects to the deceased, remember and share stories involving the deceased, and mourn with the immediate family. With the Catholic Church’s preference for embalming, this is the time in which the prepared body is displayed to visitors and family.57 This is seen to have a profound psychological effect on the family, especially following a long drawn out illness or sudden death. There is also a sense of finality in the closing of the casket, in which friends and family can participate. The Catholic vigil for the deceased follows the structure given in the Order of Christian Funerals:

INTRODUCTORY RITES Greeting Opening Song Invitation to Prayer Opening Prayer

LITURGY OF THE WORD Scripture Readings with Responsorial Psalm Homily

PRAYER OF INTERCESSION Litany The Lord’s Prayer Concluding Prayer (A family member or friend may speak in remembrance of the deceased.)

CONCLUDING RITE Blessing Song and/or a few minutes of silent prayer58

There are many cases where the vigil will take place in a funeral home, but more recently the event actually occurs in the hall of the church. If the vigil takes place in the church, it is often held only an hour before the funeral mass.59 The funeral mass is a time of prayer and blessing of the deceased. This also includes a

56 Encyclopedia of Death and Dying accessed from Sept. 2011 – May 2012 57 Interview with Father Al Hirt, Sept. 29, 2011 58 “Christian Funerals at St. Jude Church” http://www.stjudefw.org/liturgy/funer als.html accessed from Sept. 2011 – May 2012 59 Interview with Father Al Hirt, Sept. 29, 2011

34 celebration of the Eucharist for those attending. Contrary to popular belief, the funeral mass only has a brief time for someone to speak in remembrance of the deceased. It follows the structure laid out in the Order of Christian Funerals:

INTRODUCTORY RITES Greeting & Sprinkling with Holy Water Placing of the Pall (and Christian Symbols) Entrance Procession Song Opening Prayer

LITURGY OF THE WORD Scripture Readings with Responsorial Psalm and Gospel Acclama- tion Homily General Intercessions

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST Preparation of the Altar and the Gifts Eucharistic Prayer Communion Rite

FINAL COMMENDATION Invitation to Prayer Song of Farewell and Incense Prayer of Commendation

Following this mass is the immediate procession to the place of burial. This generally involves a motorcade that follows the funeral coach or hearse or the cemetery. The Rite of Committal is often done beside the open grave and is when the deceased receives their final blessing and is lowered into the ground, and thus commit- ted to the earth. The rite proceeds as follows:

RITES of Committal Invitation Scripture Verse Prayer over the Place of Committal Intercessions

The Lord’s Prayer

Concluding Prayer Prayer over the people

34 35 Catholics affirm that Christ has conquered death, and while there is a physical death, loss and grief, the celebration of this mysterious truth continues.

In the face of death, the Church confidently proclaims that God has created each person for eternal life and that Jesus, the Son of God, by his death and resurrection, has broken the chains of sin and death that bound humanity. Christians celebrate the funeral rites to offer worship, praise, and thanksgiving to God for the gift of a life which has now been returned to God, the author of life and the hope of the just.60

Cremation

Cremation is the process of reducing a human body to ashes and bone fragments through the application of intense heat. The process generally takes

Fig. 44 A glazed ceramic urn. about two hours, but this can vary depending on the type of crematory oven and the size of the body. The remaining bone fragments and ashes are then put into a pulverizing machine that reduces the contents to a fine powder. This powder is the powder that is often referred to as the ashes, and will weigh anywhere from 4-10 pounds.61 The trends towards cremation are ever increasing and it currently accounts for more than 30% of American funeral arrangements.62 The trend towards cremation has much to do with the lower cost associated with the actual cremation and subsequent lower cost purchase of the burial niche. Cremation has the benefit of stopping the sprawl of cemeteries, because the permanent burial places are much smaller. Unlike in most American burials, the niches in a columbarium – the wall containing spaces specifically for urns and cremated remains – allow for a stacked configuration. Cremation has been seen as a more environmentally sensible solution to traditional burial. The traditional burial process buries an embalmed body

Architecture + Urbanism Magazine October 2004 in an ornate casket (often with multiple shells) into a concrete vault which is covered with earth. The reason for concrete outer vault is to support the earth and allow the cemetery to continue to operate the heavy machinery needed to dig graves. The mobility of the modern American also pushes the trend of cremation. As people work, live, and often retire and die in different locations from the rest of their families or places of birth, complications arise if and when death occurs. It becomes very costly to ship a body from another state let alone Fig. 45 De Nieuwe Ooster Columbarium by Karres en Brands in Amsterdam.

60 Order of Christian Funerals, 2 61 “Cremation” Encyclopedia of Death and Dying accessed from Sept. 2011 – May 2012 62 Interview with Will R. Book, Charles A. Miller Sons, inc. 18 Oct 2011

36 another country. For all these reasons, many people have been opting for cremation prior to funerary services in hometowns.

Cremation & The Church

The Catholic Church has historically been against the use of cremation, for several reasons: first, the historically cremation was used by Anti-clerical movements as a way to deny the resurrection of Christ, secondly the Church's long-standing emphasis on respecting the physical body of the deceased, and finally the notion that a complete or undamaged body was necessary for the resurrection to occur. There are several key events that serve to frame the Church’s eventual acceptance and interaction with cremation:

1963 – an Instruction the Holy Office (now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) lifts the ban on cremation in certain situations. But at this point, cremation was only allowed after all services.

1969 – Revised funeral rites of 1969 (Ordo Exsequinarum) was a step to allow for the Committal Rite to take place at the crema- torium. “Funeral rites are to be granted to those who have chosen cremation, unless there is evidence that their choice was dictated by anti-Christian motives....The funeral is to be celebrated...in a way that clearly expresses the Church’s preference for burying the dead... that forestalls any danger of scandalizing or shocking the faithful” (#15).

1983 – Revision of Code of Canon Law – “The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the dead to be observed; it does not, however, forbid cremation unless it has been chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching.” (Canon 1176) Fig. 46 The Rookwood Crematorium is the first and only 1997 – The Holy See grants permission to U.S. bishops to allow Catholic crematorium and Chapel in Australia and was completed in 2007. funeral Masses in the presence of cremated remains.63

2004 – Catholic Crematorium is proposed at the Rookwood Necropolis in Australia.

2007 – The Metuchen Diocese in New Jersey builds the first American Catholic owned crematorium.

While the Catholic Church clearly states its preference for earthen burial, the option is now open to facilitate the needs of its members who choose cremation as fitting final arrangement.

63 Fran Helner, “Cremation: New Options for Catholics” AmericanCatholic.org accessed from Sept. 2011 – May 2012

36 37 Catholic Cremation as a Modern Ritual Procession

The adaptation of the traditional Catholic burial with the added step of cremation changes the sequence of events in the procession. There are two primary choices for the new sequence: cremation prior to the funeral as a part of the preparation process or cremation after the funeral. Each sequence provides for the three main aspects of the Catholic funeral. Rather than waiting for the completion of the cremation after the funeral, the family would need to return to the facility in order to participate in the rite of committal. There are several important aspects that a modern cremation ritual should take into account. First is the importance of receiving the ashes, as this is the first time in which the family and the remains of the loved one will be reunited. This could be accomplished in a small specialized chapel for the immediate family. The three events or rites in a funeral often occur at three different locations, making the procession from event to event is important. While traditionally done on foot, the modern procession is done by car. This motorcade of cars headed towards a cemetery is a ritualization of the driving in funeral proces- sions. In fact, these motorcades often allow the immediate family to ride in the same car, supporting the spouse or most bereaved.

Fig. 47 The fact that an urn can be easily carried by one A modern cremation ritual can account for all of the parts of the burial or two people helps to reintroduce the funeral procession process and thus can be contained within one building. The means for moving by foot. from event to event becomes significantly more local, and is not intruded upon by the non-ritualized street. If the body is cremated before the funeral services, the complete ritual through burial in a columbarium may occur. The important distinction of a Catholic funeral with cremation is that the committal of the remains should occur in a grave or columbarium and marked if possible. This insistence keeps the reverence involved in burial and addresses the common practices of scattering ashes or keeping them in the home, which are seen as irreverent.64 There should also be an option for the participation in the cremation process for those who wish. This has often been accomplished through the use of a ceremonial space with a window into furnace room, where the family can simply view or in some cases start the retort of the oven. This addresses some of the existing issues with the typical English crematorium later described by Bond, however the insistence for a rite of committal in the Catholic church

64 Fran Helner, “Cremation:New Options for Catholics” AmericanCatholic.org accessed from Sept. 2011 – May 2012

38 solves the problem through a continuation of the ritual to the finality of the committal of the ashes.

History of Crematoria

In the late Nineteenth century, cremation was beginning to be accepted among Humanists and Anti-Clerical movements in Europe. Often seeking to break with the established religious traditions, early western advocates of cremation were interested in the finality of the act.65 There were also concerns about the foul smells associated with current church yards, fear of the contami- nation of drinking water, and the rapidly expanding size of cemeteries.66 The first closed receptacle crematory was introduced in Italy by Gorinin and Polli and by Professor Brunetti of Padua, who showed his machine in the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. The first western closed receptacle crematorium was updated and installed in the Campo Santo in Milan, and was given to the city as a gift from the Keller Family. These early crematoria in northern Italy and those that followed, were designed in a stark neoclassical style, and were generally part of the radical Anti-Clerical movements that were occurring Fig. 48 This cremation apparatus allowed for indoor cremations and thus the crematorium building. at the time. It should be noted again that cremation was prohibited by the Catholic Church until 1963, primarily on the grounds that cremation was espoused by such anti-clerical groups and used in an anti-Christian manner.67 In 1881, the New York Cremation Society and the United States Crema- tion Company were formed, beginning the acceptance of cremation in the US. Cincinnati, Ohio (1888) and Troy, New York, were among the first cities to build crematoria. In 1895, The Odd Fellows’ Cemetery in San Francisco was the first American crematorium to be built with a large columbarium for the storage and committal of ashes.68 A crematorium should fundamentally deal with the emotional needs of the family while also dealing with the functional needs of disposal. Steven James Curl, in his book Death and Architecture, stresses that modern crematorium buildings offend feelings or let the mourner down badly by not satisfying a basic human need, namely emotional climax and finality. He continues to describe the poor design of the spaces and nature of cremation in modern society, noting that emotional discomfort often begins when mourners have to wait to use the chapel because it is occupied with another family. He points out that cremation lacks the emotional climax of the traditional earthen burial – actually witnessing the committal. And his potentially radical view is that the placement of the body into the furnace should occur in full view of the

Fig. 49 A Modern crematory room in Belgium.

65 James Steven Curl, Death and Architecture, 300 66 Ibid, 300 67 Ibid, 304-7 68 Ibid, 307-9

38 39 family and as part of the service.69 Peter Bernard Bond has suggested that the problem of the crematorium is the idea of the “committal chamber” where the coffins part from the mourners and await transfer to the furnace. These are part of what disassociate the mourners from the body and the ultimate committal. These committal chambers are only occupied by the municipal workers who deliver the body, and have become the factory aspect of the crematorium. Bond suggests that a service take place in the chapel, and that the whole group proceed to a differ- ent location where the minister or priest can actually do the committal. Like Curls view, this presents a problem that could take a very emotional toll on people, who may strongly disagree on whether or not to see the coffin commit- ted to flames. He suggests a baffle chamber with independent doors, so that the coffin can enter the crematory and still offer choice on whether or not to see the flames. He rightly stresses, as potentially morbid or difficult this event may seem, it is the committal to the flames that is the true and inescapable conclusion of this event.70

Case Studies of Crematoria

As the trend of cremation is growing in the United States, the need for these buildings to sensitively accommodate funeral rituals is of great importance. While the traditional burial ritual still accounts for two thirds of funerals in the United States, cremation has a much longer tradition in Northern European countries like Sweden and the UK. In the search for successful design principles of existing crematoria, this thesis will focus on several Swedish designs. The Lilla Aska Crematorium by Ove Hidemark, located near Linköping,

Fig. 50 Hidemark's Lilla Aska Crematorium and its natural Sweden, stands in a private idealized Swedish landscape. It is set apart from landscaping. the rest of the town to allow visitors a chance to focus on nature and life. The building is located on the top of a gentle hill, granting sweeping views of the expansive grounds and landscape. Hidemark’s project is an excellent example of the balance between the two distinct realities contained in one building: the ritual and the industrial. There are two different zones and thus two completely separate entrances. For the ritual part of the building, Hidemark created four thresholds that mark the transition from sacred to profane: first is the crossing of the Chapel of Stillness and the belfry signaling the entry into the forecourt and the beginning of the process, second is the procession through the forecourt or placing of flowers on the flower wall, third is the entry into the cloistered courtyard which leads

69 Ibid, 311-12 70 Ibid, 312

40 Ritual Service

Fig. 51 Plan diagram comparing the area used for ritual to the area used for the services.

Fig. 52 The floor plan of Hidemark's Lilla Aska Crematorium. Fig. 53 Using the detail of the chapel floor patterns, the eye is directly drawn to where the casket would sit.

Courtyard

Forecourt Belfry

Chapel of Stillness

Parking

Fig. 54 There are two different zones with separate entrance paths. The private/ritual side on the right has a forecourt and courtyard allowing for three distinct thresholds that mark the transition from sacred to profane.

40 41 to the chapels, and finally there is the forecourt rooms which lead into the chapels themselves. The linear top portion of the project is more utilitarian and industrial for the actual processing of the dead. The bodies follow a linear arrangement of rooms that lead to the preparation and decoration of coffins. From this point the coffins can be easily transported to one of two chapels for display during the service. Following the service, the bodies are cremated. The family is then able to receive the inurned ashes in a small chapel of stillness. This space consists of heavy masonry walls with a true masonry vault, helping to create a sense of protection during that delicate time. Woodland Crematorium by Gunnar Asplund is the well known example of Swedish modern design, which sits in the equally impressive grounds of

Fig. 55 Asplund's cemetery uses the beautiful landscape Woodland Cemetery (Skogskyrkogården), designed by Asplund and Sigurd and this large stone cross to create the Way of the Cross. Lewerentz. The crematorium sits at the top of a gentle rising slope and its monumental exterior forecourt marks the edge of the cemetery’s Way of the Cross – with its monumental stone cross. Asplund's design cleverly allows for cars to pass under the northern bay of the forecourt for drop off prior to parking, thus reinforcing the prominence of the forecourt for the entry and beginning of the procession in both good and bad weather.71 The project primarily consists of three chapels, one large and two smaller, each of which has its own waiting room and garden. These spaces allow for a timely and private schedule of the services without interference among different families. Each chapel has an off center catafalque, a raised platform to support the

Fig. 56 The largest chapel in the crematorium is both calm casket, which contains an elevator to bring the coffin down to the basement and austere. for cremation. This was Asplund’s solution to the very specific problem in crematorium operation and procession. In the traditional service, the body leaves the chapel with the family, but the introduction of the cremation process means that the family must in some way leave the deceased at the facil- ity. The mechanical lowering of the body via a lift mimics the traditional burial into the earth, but also allows for a sectional differentiation of program. Other solutions to this unique problem have been to mechanically move a curtain around the coffin, or to use some type of conveyer belt system. In early 2010, there was a competition to design a new facility for crema- Ritual tion at the Woodland Cemetery. The winning entry from by Swedish architect Service Fig. 57 Plan diagram comparing the area used for ritual Johan Celsing is a stand-alone facility that is situated in the forest north west to the area used for the services. from Asplund’s crematorium. The new project defers the to the ritual spaces of Apslund's project, so it is more of a processing facility to update the more than 70 year-old equipment. A huge majority of the facility is dedicated to the furnace room and cold storage for coffins.

71 Peter Blundell Jones, Gunnar Asplund, 208

42 Parking

Way of the Cross

Fig. 58 The section of the main chapel reveals how the casket is Fig. 59 The Way of the Cross culminates at the entry portico for the crematorium. moved from the main floor to the industrial floor below.

Fig. 60 The site plan for the cremetery shows the clever move that allows the cars to drop off passengers under the portico.

42 43 The design has very little space allocated for visitors, only a waiting area, exterior courtyard, viewing room, and ash reception room. While not primar- ily a ritual oriented facility, this project was a very helpful precedent for this thesis for three main reasons. First it provides an excellent general program of what is needed for a modern crematorium. Secondly, it illustrates a flexible furnace room through the use of movable partitions, creating a room specifi- cally designed for viewing. Finally, it reinforces the necessity of providing a special space for the reception of ashes. Heimloen Crematorium is a facility in the Netherlands that exemplifies one extreme in the program of a crematorium. It demonstrates a complete programmatic separation of the ritual of the funeral from the process of cremation, locating the two parts on opposite ends of the site. The cremato- rium is a beautiful concrete box accented with square coffers with small square windows; however it fails to acknowledge its purpose. There is no expression of a chimney, and in fact it goes through lengths to hide it. The funeral portion of the Heimloen facility provides an excellent example of a contemporary facility for the rituals surrounding death: there is an expan- sive exterior portico for mourners to gather, and two different sized gathering spaces; it also includes a food service / banquette area. There is generally always a meal connected with funeral services, so providing a space for many people to gather and eat together is quite practical. These examples present key practical and organizational ideas to the planning of a crematorium facility. These key issues will be addressed within the design project that follows: layout and relationship of cremation facility to ritual facility, level of articulation of the chimney, vehicular and people flows, gathering spaces, ash reception, and symbolic thresholds.

44 View to Furnace

Ritual Service Fig. 61 The small area for mourners is centered around a room Fig. 62 Plan diagram comparing the area used for ritual with a view to a single crematory. to the area used for the services.

Crematorium

Funeral Hall

Fig. 63 This facility separates the crematorium furnace building Fig. 64 The playful facade and abstract form of the cremato- from the funeral hall and gathering spaces. rium mask the role and function of the building.

44 45 Institution & Project Aims

Many Americans are insulated from death as much in thought as experi- ence. The distance from the events of death leave many Americans only with the experience of death at a funeral home or crematorium. This situation is complicated further, when the wishes of Catholic person is for cremation after death. Within the Catholic burial culture, there are few precedents for cremation and many misunderstandings about the ritual. With the rise in acceptance and demand of cremation, this project will focus on the future needs of cremation. At the same time, architects seem to shy away from design that addresses death, traditionally a rich field for design and experimentation. Ken Warpole in his book Last Landscapes, summed up the situation in this way:

Today, architects seem silent of the matter of death; landscape designers only slightly less so. […] The human scale of design – and its attentiveness to the cycles and rituals of human life and vulner- ability – has been squeezed to the edges.72

With death as the final threshold between life and what is to come, why has the crematorium not been engaged to address the emotional needs of the mourner? The design of these spaces has the opportunity to positively affect mourners, connecting them with the fullness of life that comes with engaging with the finite nature of each body. This thesis hypothesizes that the Catholic Church recognizes a need in its community and decides to take action. The fact that more and more people are choosing to be cremated after death poses a problem for the Church; how can the funeral rite be correctly and thoughtfully adapted to cremation? The Archdiocese of Cincinnati sees the commissioning of a chapel and cremato- rium as a way to explore a solution to this problem. The goal is not encourage one mode of committal over another, but to fully explore the ritualistic potential and the correct the under served needs of those who have chosen cremation. Here a priest can still preside over a small mass, or the rite of burial, in a fit setting, much like the grave-side service. This will be a separate space away from the city, not to draw people away from the church, but to allow people to contemplate the significance of death and with it the nature of life. It will help to reestablish the ritual of the funeral and the sanctity of life. This building can still accommodate a more traditional funeral, and reestablish the role of the Church at the end of life. The grounds can provide columbaria, as well as traditional burial space. The serene nature of the site, its sound construction,

72 Ken Warpole, Last Landscapes, 179

46 and the beauty of the spaces can provide for additional functions such as wedding, regular mass, or possibly become a pilgrimage site. This project is not about dominance of the Church, but an attempt to discover how to better serve people at a time of need. The crematorium has generally developed outside of the Catholic Church, to that matter traditionally outside of faith. The provision of a chapel and crematorium by the church, allows for many benefits. It acknowledges and embraces the changing traditions of the community, reduces overall cost of services, brings a ritual experience to those who could not afford a traditional burial, and advances the “culture of life” by allowing for a ritualized tradition. It can also reduce the need for continually sprawling cemeteries, which can fall into disrepair after the space has been assigned. The Catholic community of Cincinnati stands to benefit from this build- ing, as they can fully celebrate the funeral within the Church and not be burdened by the high costs of the modern earthen burial. As well, the Archdi- ocese stands to benefit from a modest increase in income and by caring for its community. The hope is to influence the community and encourage reflection on the reality of death and through it a better sense of life. The facility will be available multiple faiths, and the idea is to encourage open discussion of death and respect for life among all people.

Fig. 65 Stamped concrete in Steven Holl's Chapel of St. Ignatius, a small floor detail reminding that the church is both a physical space and a body of believers.

46 47 Program From Ritual

The key to the success of this project is to create a proper ritual of Catholic procession through a dedicated building bringing a respect to death and life. This procession centers around the ritualized movement of the mourners and the ashes. From arrival in the car to climbing the hill up to the columbarium, these steps have been planned and diagramed in the following pages. Traditional burial ritual follows the diagram to the right. The deceased is transported from the hospital or place of death to the funeral home. Here the body is embalmed, or simply placed in the casket for the funeral. There is a wake at the funeral home, where the embalmed body may be displayed. From the funeral home, the mourners form a motorcade behind the funeral coach containing the casket. They arrive at the cemetery together, and the rite of committal takes place as the body is lowered into the grave. Cremation changes this ritual by processing the body after the funeral and interrupting the same day committal. Although both methods have been explored, this thesis will focus on the procession that occurs when cremation precedes the ritual. This allows the family to gather for the funeral mass and continue on to complete the rite of committal by placing the urn in a burial niche within the columbarium.

Direct Cremation Crematory

Traditional Burial

Funeral Funeral Hospital Embalming Wake Committal Director Mass Deceased Preferred

Funeral Crematory Director

Fig. 66 The traditional funeral process

48 Prior to Celebration Cremation preceding ritual Family Sequence From Hospital Repository Crematory Inurnment Deceased Sequence Family and Deceased Together

Celebration

Arrive Gather Receive Remember Pray Process Commit Depart

Family and Deceased Together Visitation

Arrive Process Remember Depart

Prior to Celebration Cremation after ritual From Hospital Funeral Repository Preparation Family Sequence Home Deceased Sequence Family and Deceased Together

Celebration

Arrive Gather Remember Pray Depart

Family and Deceased Together

Crematory Inurnment Possible Viewing Possible Committal

Arrive Gather Receive Process Commit Depart

Family and Cremains Together Visitation

Arrive Process Remember Depart

Fig. 67 Diagrams of the steps of a cremation processions with cremation before (above) after the ritual (below).

48 49 CELEBRATING

LIFE WITH 4˚C 800˚C HONOR DELIVER STORE CREMATE With in the Catholic tradition, the cremation is seen 1 The process begins with the delivery of the 23The skip then aids the placement of the The body is moved into the crematory in as partColumbarium of the preparation, much like embalming. The body to crematory. The body is removed body into cold storage. The cold storage a cardboard casket and direct flames are body can then be prepared prior to the funeral from the vehicle with an electronic skip that slows the decomposition of the body so applied for 1-2 hours depending on size. service and the family will be able to celebrate all of can raise and lower to ease the movement to allow for a timely cycle of processing The smoke produced is burned again with the funeral rites in the same day. around the facility. within the facility. an additional burner and then filtered several times before safely being released. Practically, cremation has been a simple way to avoid funeral rituals. Distance between family members allows for one to cremate a deceased relative and forget about them. This leaves cremato- ria with whole rooms of unclaimed ashes, or the task of scattering the ashes without the family present.

The Catholic Church is has clearly stated the importance of a permenant marker for the deceased rather than the scattering of ashes. This thesis aims to stress the importance of this last step of commit- tal, while providing a beautiful place for the complete funeral ritual. INURN PULVERIZE EXTRACT 62-4 pounds of ashes are placed into a 54The cremains are placed in a pulverizer What remains after the cremation is a small amount selected urn or other receptacle. The which breaks down the bone fragments of ash and bone fragments, known as cremains. remains are then ready to be presented into a powder. This powder mixed with These are allowed to cool and carefully removed to the family. small amounts of ash are what is known from the crematory for further processing. as the “ashes.”

GATHER REMEMBER UNITE PRAY PROCESS COMMIT 1 Friends and family gather at the 2 A vigil or wake takes place. Here 34TheThe closeclose family areare reunitedreunited with with the the The funeral mass takes place in 56The family beings a procession from The urn is committed into a crematorium facility to begin the the friends and family take time to remainsremains inand an are intimate able to space. process The the fam - the chapel. Here the Catholic the chapel up the hill to the place columbarium—a burial wall niche celebration of the deceased. remember the life of the deceased ilyremains may then and areprocess able toto processthe chapel. mass proceeds with a blessing where the urn will be committed. designed specifically for urns. and share stories. of the remains. There is a short rite with a priest and the niche is covered with a memorial plaque.

Fig. 68 Diagrammatic explanation of the steps of both cremation and the funeral process.50 CELEBRATING

LIFE WITH 4˚C 800˚C HONOR DELIVER STORE CREMATE With in the Catholic tradition, the cremation is seen 1 The process begins with the delivery of the 23The skip then aids the placement of the The body is moved into the crematory in as part of the preparation, much like embalming. The body to crematory. The body is removed body into cold storage. The cold storage a cardboard casket and direct flames are body can then be prepared prior to the funeral from the vehicle with an electronic skip that slows the decomposition of the body so applied for 1-2 hours depending on size. service and the family will be able to celebrate all of can raise and lower to ease the movement to allow for a timely cycle of processing The smoke produced is burned again with the funeral rites in the same day. around the facility. within the facility. an additional burner and then filtered several times before safely being released. Practically, cremation has been a simple way to avoid funeral rituals. Distance between family members allows for one to cremate a deceased relative and forget about them. This leaves cremato- ria with whole rooms of unclaimed ashes, or the task of scattering the ashes without the family present.

The Catholic Church is has clearly stated the importance of a permenant marker for the deceased rather than the scattering of ashes. This thesis aims to stress the importance of this last step of commit- tal, while providing a beautiful place for the complete funeral ritual. INURN PULVERIZE EXTRACT 62-4 pounds of ashes are placed into a 54The cremains are placed in a pulverizer What remains after the cremation is a small amount selected urn or other receptacle. The which breaks down the bone fragments of ash and bone fragments, known as cremains. remains are then ready to be presented into a powder. This powder mixed with These are allowed to cool and carefully removed to the family. small amounts of ash are what is known from the crematory for further processing. as the “ashes.”

GATHER REMEMBER UNITE PRAY PROCESS COMMIT 1 Friends and family gather at the 2 A vigil or wake takes place. Here 34The close family are reunited with the The funeral mass takes place in 56The family beings a procession from The urn is committed into a crematorium facility to begin the the friends and family take time to remains and are able to process the the chapel. Here the Catholic the chapel up the hill to the place columbarium—a burial wall niche celebration of the deceased. remember the life of the deceased remains and are able to process mass proceeds with a blessing where the urn will be committed. designed specifically for urns. and share stories. of the remains. There is a short rite with a priest and the niche is covered with a memorial plaque.

50 51 COFFIN Columbarium ASHES FAMILY/VISITOR

Urn Reception Chapel

Staff

Chapels

Furnace

Storage

Fig. 69 Mapping the flows of the users in a diagrammatic crematorium.

User Flows

The diagram above explores the flows of the visitors and the various states of the deceased. As the building facilitates both the ceremonial and industrial functions of the crematorium, special care is used when planning the spatial layout. There are significant moments when the family arrives, when they recieve the ashes, when they enter the chapel, whenever the procession goes outdoors, and especially when the ashes are committed to the columbarium. The diagram to the right explores these flows again, but expressing the different levels of the hillside where the project will be sited.

52 3. Columbarium

GATHER Hilltop Committal RECEIVE Family + Remains REMEMBER

PRAY

2. Chapel

Family

Deceased

2. Crematorium

STORE

PREPARE 1. Access Bridge CREMATE

INURN

2 3

1 Site Section

Fig. 70 Diagram of the user flows with site hierarchy 52 53 Reception Procession Wake Chapel Columbarium Chapel Route Deceased

From Hospital Bridge Check-in Repository Crematory Inurnment

Preparation Wake Chapel

Crematory Inurnment

Reception Procession Columbarium Chapel Route

Cleaning / Preparation

Reception Chapel Wake Room Chapel Staff Cremation

Changing Furnace Ash Inurnment From Home Bridge Parking Lot Repository Room Room Preparation Room

Staff Office Registration Break Room

Office / Work Necessities

Procession Columbarium Route Depart Family / Friends

Visitation From Home Bridge Parking Lot Canopy Chapel Depart Room

Reception Chapel

Procession Columbarium Depart Route

Fig. 71 Diagrams of spatial flows based on the user

54 User Activities & Spatial Flow

After mapping out the sequence of the cremation ritual for both the deceased and the mourners, the next step was to compile a list of activities that would occur within the building. This involves analyzing the three distinct groups using the building: the deceased, the mourner, and the staff. The diagram to the left indicates the prospective spatial flow of each user group. This diagram can help to initially organize space as well as prepare for unwanted or unexpected overlaps of program.

Staff Deceased Mourners

Parking Arrival Car Arrival Arrival Registration Parking Registration Storage Gathering Cleaning Preparation Remembering Changing Casketing Eating/Drinking Preparation Cremation Socializing Casketing Ash Processing Receiving Urns Cremation Inurnment Selecting & Ash Processing Prayer Purchasing Urns Inurnment Celebration Storing Urns Meeting Mass Prayer Consoling Processing Mourning Conferencing Committal Celebration Grounds Maintenance Mass Building Maintenance Walking Eating Carrying Food Preparation Committal Moving things Reflection Operating Bridge

54 55 Selected Program

The spatial and user flows in addition to the user activities form the basic structure for determining the program of spaces. After in-depth spatial and quantitative studies of the Woodland Crematorium Addition and Lilla Aska, the program was selected and finalized. The diagram to the right is a preliminary program layout, indicating adjacencies and spatial connections. The white spaces define the spaces intended for the visitors, and the darker spaces are the more private and industrial areas of the project.

Program Space Area - ft2

Furnace Total - 2225 Preparation room 300 Furnace Room 1500 Ash Preparation 100 Urn Storage 200 Control Room 125 Office Total - 595 Changing Room + wc 180 Storage 75 Cleaning 75 Customer Office 265 Storage Total - 990 Cold Storage 200 Garage 500 Cleaning 160 Registration 130 Mourners Total - 3205 Lobby 500 Restroom 50 Urn Release 125 Viewing Room 130 Ante-Room 480 Main Chapel 1200 Visitation Hall 600 Vestry 100 Storage 120

Subtotal 7015 Gross 25% 1750 Main Building Total 8765

Columbarium 2700 Parking 35 spaces

56 visitors drop off to parking

main procession Canopy staff

W/C

Visitation Hall Urn Reception Manager Cold Lockers Lobby Chapel Office Storage & WC

Control Garage Canopy Room W/C Ante-room

Viewing Room

Furnace Room Urn Storage Machine Room Chapel Ash Preparation

Highest Point

Columbarium return to parking

Fig. 72 Diagrammatic plan indicating adjecency and spatial groupings

56 57 Project Site

The project site is located on two very large parcels in Delhi township about 9 miles west of the Cincinnati central business district. The site contains a ridge that creates the northern bluff of the Ohio River valley. It is bordered by Bender Road to the north and Hillside Road to the south. Directly to the north of the site, between Bender Road and the site boundary, is a drainage channel that can be bridged over to provide access from the north. Currently the site is undeveloped forested land, and can provide natural, secluded, “other world” setting for a crematorium and the rituals that it implies. The complete covering of existing trees has a variety of benefits from shading in the summer to creating a natural setting. The steep slopes provide, as in key precedents, a sense of ascent and removal to a sacred place. The ridge at the top of the site provides excellent views of the river and the picturesque agricultural areas across the river and up to the corresponding ridge on the Kentucky side. The topography shows the stream that flows between the high points down towards the river. This is the area where Bender road was built and next to it is a man made drainage channel allowing the natural flows to continue apart from the road. The Site itself is quite steep, and access can be an issue. Howev- er, the view from the top are beautiful and help to reinforce the natural beauty of Ohio. The north side of the ridge is more protected from the intrusions of industry and is considerably less steep than the south side.

58 Fig. 73 Map of the Cincinnati region with the site in red.

1800000 SF

Fig. 74 A topographic map of the site that shows the steep bluffs along the river.

58 59 Fig. 75 Looking across the river in the fall. Fig. 76 View of the farm across the river. Fig. 77 The steep and heavily forested slope.

Fig. 78 Looking towards the ridge of the bluff. Fig. 79 View towards the river. Fig. 80 View of the northern slope in early spring.

The trees create a constant screening of the view across the river. The paral- lax effect enhances the view of farmland across the river by making it appear constant, the trees on the other hand, become a shifting screen as you travel along the ridge. Being in the small valley along Bender Road gives a sense of compression and the natural flows of water. The drainage creek displays this flow of water and suggests a connection to the larger systems of the earth. It will also be the first threshold to cross in order to access the top of the site.

60 2 1 6 3

4 5

Fig. 81 image key map

Fig. 85 Ridge from the west

Fig. 82 view from Bender Road and the creek looking west.

Fig. 86 The sounds of jets from CVG will drift overhead. An indication of the world that continues to move around us.

drainage creek Fig. 83 Creek between Bender Road and the site.

Fig. 84 Bus Layover off Bender Road Fig. 87 bedrock conditions along the creek 60 61 Ohio Kentucky

Site Delhi High Level Site Ridge Kenton County Level Bender Road River Road River Road Agriculture Industrial Zone Ohio River

North PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT

Fig. 88 Site section acrossPRODUCED approximately two BY miles. AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT

Ridge 1000 ft Views to River Crest 782' - 0"

230 ft Procession up the hill PRODUCT STUDENT AUTODESK AN BY PRODUCED PM 7:49:26 11/6/2011

Bridge Across View of the farm across the river Road 547' - 0" Road

Drainage Creek Fig. 89 Site section of the northern slope and the project site

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT 62 Section 3 PRODUCT STUDENT AUTODESK AN BY PRODUCED PM 9:53:38 11/6/2011 1 1" = 200'-0" The project site is located on two very large parcels in Delhi township Bender Road about nine miles west of the Cincinnati central business district. The site contains a ridge that creates the northern bluff of the Ohio River valley. It is bordered by Bender Road to the north and Hillside Road to the south. 92 Directly to the north of the site, between Bender Road and the site boundary, 91 93 is a drainage channel that can be bridged over to provide access from the north.

River Road

Fig. 90 Key Plan

Fig. 91 View of the ridge looking west

Fig. 92 View of the slope facing north

Fig. 93 View of the river from the ridge 62 63 Fig. 94 View of the northern slope of the ridge.

Fig. 95 View of the entire northern side of the site

64 94 95 Bender Road

The northern face of the ridge will act as the long procession road to the top. This path for cars will require several switchbacks as the topography of the site is quite steep. The road design (narrow and steep) will create some limita- tions in the construction of the project ­— these will be helpful parameters for engaging with the site through details. River Road

Fig. 96 Key Plan

64 65 Single Family Residences

Industrial and Construction

4 Apartments 8 1

2

Single Family Residences

3

7 5

Fig. 97 Existing built environment

Bus Layover

Major Road Minor Road Rail Road Flight Path River Shipping

Fig. 98 Traffic Flows around the site

66 Fig. 99 Retirement Home Fig. 100 Sisters of Charity Motherhouse Fig. 101 Morton Salt Facility

Existing Conditions

The structures in the area are a bit varied. There are a few multistory residences, but the majority of buildings are industrial and storage facilities along the river. Below the site there is a large salt facility and a Marathon coal/ fuel depot. The other buildings are welding/ machine shops and storage. Most

of these are single story large open spaces. Fig. 102 Tool Works There are two campuses near the site on the ridge. The Sisters of Charity motherhouse is a religious facility for the nuns. This includes a spiritual center, residences, chapel, a graveyard, and many other programmatic elements. This order of nuns was founded in the 1809 and this house was formed in 1884. It is the house of the order in Ohio. This order is responsible for Good Samaritan Hospital, College of Mount St. Joseph, St. Joseph Infant and Maternity home, Seton High School, and Santa Maria social service agency. This is an Ohio Historical building. The second is the college of Mount St. Joseph, an educational facility with Fig. 103 Industrial Storage various buildings and some athletic fields as well. The closest building to the site is a single story, split-face block building. It is a storage facility for a construction company. The proximity of industry and the airport to the site create noise that will intrude on the site, although these can be turned to advantage as reminders that the world continues to move around the site. The micro climate around the site will be most impacted by the trees. Strategic placement with respect to existing trees can create wind breaks, Fig. 104 Industrial and Agricultural Storage provide needed western shading, and create a peaceful and natural setting for a difficult time. The site itself is undeveloped, so this project would be the first intervention.

Fig. 105 Riverview Nursing Facility

66 67 Crematorium Building

Chapel Building Entry Pavilion Columbarium

Parking 1340’

Total Site 1800000 SF

1340’

Fig. 106 Area comparison of program to total site

Zone 1 - North Base

Zone 2 - Ridge Top

Zone 3 - South Face

Fig. 107 Potential project site zones

68 Site Response Strategies

The overall site is enormous, and does not prescribe the building size, orientation, or placement other than through the topography. The site area can easily allow for the facility and a generous outdoor colum- barium area. The building program will be broken into three parts, arranged to create courtyards. The parking area for the facility will need to accommodate about 35 cars. Three areas of the site were considered for the building's placement. First, Zone 1 north base is the least steep area of the three. This would have meant the most ease of access and the least infrastructure for the project. There would have been a need to be access from Bender road across the drainage creek. This can provide the first threshold of the site—a bridge. This side only faces north, and would have received considerably less daylight and potentially harsh winter winds. The building could have been tucked away from the road and traffic noise, yet not climb too high in elevation. The scheme would have also require an extensive retaining wall, which could have doubled as columbarium. The second zone would have been the most difficult site to access by car, with very steep roads and switchbacks. This would complicate or limit construction systems and staging. There would have been plenty of access to sunlight and views to the river. This location would have also utilize a bridge threshold like the first scheme, but would have had a considerably longer access road to disconnect the user from “normal” life. Views to the river could provide a connection to water, symbolically opposing the fire within. The third zone has the steepest slope and would have forced a long narrow building. The access to light would have been beneficial and if high enough, views of the river could have still been achieved. The proximity to river industry could be potentially negative as well as the lack of an initial threshold of the bridge. This scheme also had the potential for a combination retaining wall columbarium.

68 69 PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT

62 0' - 0"

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT STUDENT AUTODESK AN BY PRODUCED " 6 80' - 0"

660 ' - 0" N 640' - Zone 3 0" 620' - 0 Building conjecture " 600' - 0"

Fig. 108 Potential project locations PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT PRODUCT STUDENT AUTODESK AN BY PRODUCED PM 4:13:07 11/8/2011

Fig. 109 north/south site sections through zone 1

Fig. 110 north/south site sections through zone 2

Fig. 111 north/south site sections through zone 3

70 620' - 0"

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Columbarium

Fig. 111 Site plan

Site Plan

The key issues of this site are the vehicular access, utility access, topography, position apart from thoroughfares, views of the river, threshold potential, and sunlight. The switchbacks that occur along the road provide a moment of focus along the drive and will accommodate sculpture. The project will be located on the north side of the ridge, just below the summit. The road accommodates a turnaround and allows for passenger drop-off prior to parking. By locat- ing the columbarium at the summit, this site strategy places a hierarchical emphasis on the permanent committal of the ashes. The columbarium, as the summit of the experience, provides dramatic views of the Ohio River Valley. Descending from the columbarium, there is a path that leads directly back to the parking area and begins the departure process.

70 71 5 6

3 1 3 3

3 7

4 2

Fig. 112 Floor plan 1 - Anteroom 2 - Chapel 3 - Restroom 4 - Water Basin 5 - Lobby 6 - Remembrance Hall 7 - Garden

72 9

8 17 10 13 16 18 3 3 3 19 14

11 15 12 20

8 - Reflecting Pool 16 - Cold Storage 9 - Entry Canopy 17 - Storage 10 - Ash Reception 18 - Locker Room 11 - Viewing 19 - Garage 12 - Mechanical 20 - Ash Preparation 13 - Office 14 - Control Room 15 - Furnace Room

72 73 Fig. 112 Section through chapel

74 Fig. 113 Chapel wall detail section

Fig. 114 Section through furnace room and chapel

74 75 1 Arrive 4 Remember

2 Ascend 5 Unite

3 Gather 6 Rest

76 7 Prepare 10 Process

8 Pray 11 Commit 1

2 3 4 8 6 5 7

9 10

11 9 Depart

Fig. 115 Procession grid and diagram

76 77 Fig. 116 Arrive

Fig. 117 Ascend

78 The Final Procession

Hanging over the edge of a bluff nine miles west of Cincinnati, a cantile- vered stone columbarium captures a picturesque view of the Ohio River. This columbarium provides an honorable resting for a series of urns; it is the place of committal for the Catholic Chapel and Crematorium down below on the north face of the bluff. Catholic funerals are broken into three rituals: vigil, funeral, and commit- tal. Expanding from these three major moments, the project is designed around a series of moments that weave together the site, the building and details with the procession of the ritual. Upon arrival, a stone bridge indicates an initial threshold over water and the beginning of the procession; marking a transition from the profane to the sacred. Curving up the winding road, the trees of the surrounding forest envelop the view leaving slits of sky through their branches. The group of three small buildings appears in a clearing near the top of the hill; nestled up against a large drystacked limestone wall that holds back the earth of the slope. Each building stands solidly, with creamy stone walls that appear to surround zinc roofs that reach towards the sky.

78 79 Fig. 118 Gather

Fig. 119 Process

80 The entry canopy marks the end of the journey with the car, and the start of the procession on foot. Its steel columns rest on piers which give a sense of their strong foundation, even for such a thin structure. There is a ramp which invites us past a pool, and the sound of a single trough of water bounces around the forest. The entry pavilion seems to hang over the pool as the ramp takes us past and around it. Entering a small piazza, the chapel emerges into full view and its twin roofs bend and kink upwards.

80 81 Fig. 120 Remember

Fig. 121 Unite

82 Moving into the entry pavilion, we slip into the remembrance hall: the space for the initial ritual gathering and the vigil for the deceased. A gentle light dances on the ceiling, reflecting off of the pool next to the canopy at the entry. Our view from the light opens up towards trees in a sunken garden and the limestone wall which holds back the slope of the bluff. Guests are free to filter out onto a sunny balcony and down into the sunken garden. At this point the immediate family breaks off towards the crematorium building and the ash reception chapel within. Past the sunken garden and crossing over the channel that feeds the reflecting pool, the family enters the crematorium; its zinc roofs echo the chapels but contain the chimney stacks. The small reception space is a warm and comforting, with a curved wood ceiling and wood floors. The wall glows with light reflected up, again from the reflecting pool, bathing a crucifix in a gentle light. The manager presents the urn on a pedestal, and leaves the family to continue procession reunited with their loved one’s remains.

82 83 Fig. 122 Rest

Fig. 123 Prepare

84 Back on the piazza, the family with the urn enters the ante room to the chapel with the rest of the funeral procession gathered. They all proceed into the chapel, focused for a moment on the water feature framed by the window just before the chapel doors. This water basin collects the water from the two peaks of the roof, which travels from the chapel down along the site wall and trickles out a small spout.

84 85 Fig. 124 Pray

86 The chapel reveals full height of the roofs as light scoops while soft north- ern light drifts down over the pews where the congregation sits. The chapel is surrounded by large stone walls, but the light scoops sit on their own columns within the space. A brighter light from the south drifts down on the other side of the divided chapel and the other light scoop. The funeral will proceed with the priest and the ashes on one side and the congregation on the other.

86 87 Fig. 125 Depart

Fig. 126 Process

88 As the service ends, the procession crosses a dark stone threshold in the floor marking the line of the site wall. The wall and the chapel mark a symbolic divide between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead, and crossing the threshold begins the entry into the world of the dead and the beginning of the committal. The procession emerges from the chapel along the other side of the wall and below grade, continuing up a ramp they enter the forested site. A path brings them among the trunks and up the gentle slope, as glimpses of the river valley peak through the foliage. Following the pall bearers, carrying the urn, the procession approaches the dark polished granite wall of the columbarium.

88 89 Fig. 127 Commit

90 Once between the long walls, the perspective is exaggerated by angle of the walls containing the burial niches. Here the family will commit the urn to its final resting place as the priest leads the last ritual rite. Visitors can enjoy the beauty of the Ohio River as it unfolds from the viewing platform at end of the stone walls. Descending down from the columbarium, the path continues among the trees and brings the whole procession back to the building level near the gravel of the parking area. Visitors can then proceed down the twisting entry road, across the bridge, leaving the sacred and returning to day to day life.

90 91

Print Sources

Barnhart, Robert K, ed. 1995. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etmyology. New York: HarperCollins

Cadwell, Mike. 2007. Strange details. Writing architecture. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Catholic Book Publishing Company. Order of Chistian Funerals. 1990.

Curl, James Steven. 2002. Death and Architecture. Thrupp: Sutton Publishing Limited

Ford, Edward R. 1996. The Details of Modern Architecture vol. 2: 1928 to 1988 Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Ford, Edward R. 2004. Five Houses, Ten Details. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Ford, Edward R. 2011. The Architectural Detail. Princeton Architectural Press.

Frampton, Kenneth. 1990. "Rappel a l’ordre, The Case for the Tectonic".In Theorizing a new agenda for architecture: An anthology of architectural theory., ed. Kate Nesbitt, 498-514. New York: Princeton Architectural Press,.

Frascari, Marco. 1984. "The tell-the-tale detail".In Theorizing a new agenda for architecture: An anthology of architectural theory., ed. Kate Nesbitt, 498-514. New York: Princeton Architectural Press,.

Gregotti, Vittorio. 1983. "The Exercise of Detailing".In Theorizing a new agenda for architecture: An anthology of architectural theory., ed. Kate Nesbitt, 498-514. New York: Princeton Architectural Press,.

Gregotti, Vittorio. 1996. Inside Architecture., trans. Peter Wong and Francesca Zaccheo. Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press.

Heathcote, Edwin. 1999. Monument Builders: Modern Architecture and Death. West Sussex: Academy Editions

Jones, Peter Blundell. 2006 Gunnar Asplund . New York: Phaidon

Mostafavi, Moshen and David Leatherbarrow. 1993. On weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time. Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press.

Schultz, Anne-Catrin. 2010. Carlo Scarpa: Layers. London: Edition Axel Menges

Worpole, Kenneth. 2003. Last Landscapes: The Architecture of the Cemetery in the West. London: Reaktion Books Ltd

Web Sources

Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. http://www.deathreference.com. Acesssed from Sept. 2011—May 2012

Fran Helner, “Cremation:New Options for Catholics.” AmericanCatholic.org. http://www.americancatholic.org/ newsletters/cu/ac1097.asp accessed from Sept. 2011—May 2012

Interviews

Father Al Hirt, Parish of St. Monica St. George Cincinnati, OH. Sept. 29, 2011

Terry Boling, Associate Professor of Architecture, University of Cincinnati. Nov. 7 2011.

Will R. Book, Funeral Director, Charles A. Miller Sons, inc. 18 Oct 2011

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