POST-COMMUNITY rethinks cemetery as an interactive monument

POST-COMMUNITY rethinks cemetery as an interactive monument
all images courtesy of marta piaseczynska + rangel karaivanov

featuring an ever-changing cemetery of moving urns, the winning proposal for the ‘design for death architecture’ competition ‘POST-COMMUNITY’ functions as an interface between the living and the deceased. designed by marta piaseczynska and rangel karaivanov from austria, the ephemeral structure occupies a visually prominent site in the center of the city, where it seeks to reinstate the cemetery as a place of respite in the media overloaded, dense urban fabric of today. the proposal is based on aldo rossi’s cemetery in modena, an interior void with no roof doors or floors, where the architecture was created through the displayed urns. similarly, ‘post-community’ features a large atrium space with a glass mirrored floor, reflecting the sky and clouds of the moving urns as they re-arrange themselves around the frame. the atmosphere takes away the feeling of stability on the changing ground below and enables a sense of bewilderment as one experiences the surrounding flickering light and wind blowing through its gaps. the design consists of a crematory, a two-storey plinth and a spiral ramp leading to the main space of remembrance, enabling a sense of procession towards the atrium.
 

by calling the name out of the deceased, the urn gradually makes its way towards the visitor, with the others adapting their position to allow it to pass through. entire families and schools and communities of people are able to move through the cemetery in groups, creating undulating waves of movement around the edge of the atrium. the light-weight container is made from transparent composite materials and has an integrated light piece that can be edited and reprogrammed.
each hold a space for the ash and are connected to the frame at three points moving along the rails, with the entity making a complex swooping motion around the volume.

the atrium space

detail of the urns

 
urn drawing

cemetery drawing