The Last Embrace
The urban funeral home, the last embrace, aims to reconnect to nature and time through architecture. The architectural elements balance the natural temporality of change& metamorphosis and curriosity&encitment with the human comfort of mastery&order and security&protection. The design guides the mourner through the process of acceptance; The rhythm of monumental arches states permanence and perfection, and they meet with the natural elements of water and materialization that reflect temporality and imperfection. The deceased are united with the natural flow of water, of life, through resomation. The project succeeds in offering a point of synchronization between human or domesticated time and natural or physical time. The funeral guest experience this the strongest. However, the unusual placement of the funeral home addresses the attitude toward death or humanity’s temporality. Over time, as the park maintenance gets more guided by natural processes, the park visitor emerges in the synchronization between nature and time. A romantic and engaging element will be the slow decay of The Ruin, which challenges our perception of architecture’s permanence.
Student: Famke Boschman
Supervisors: Juliette Bekkering, Irene Curulli, Sergio M. Figueiredo, Mark Hemel