ASHES & WATER. a columbarium in a pond by Israel Balan from mexico

The typology of cemeteries until early XXI century have been developed in a horizontal way increasing by the time their footprint and creating “Cities for the Dead", which usually are seen as distant sites for "rest" where people remember their loved ones. Far away from the daily life, grieving process begins with the burial where family and friends back home feeling as dead as the corpse they just bury.
With this in mind, we propose to shorten the distance between “cities of the dead” and the daily life by introducing underwater columbariums in public spaces like pond parks.
We believe that if people have a closer contact with death and its consequences, when the death of a loved one happens, they can have grieving processes more natural and effective. Life and death are two sides of the same coin.

Following common process of making concrete; sand, gravel, cement, water, air and ashes of the deceased are mixed to form a remembrance block that their loved ones insert in a wall with triangle niches after funeral services. This concrete block becomes part of the columbarium. Also gives people a new experience of remembrance and consciousness about death, rituals of cremation and the beginning of grieving process. The remembrance block weight is similar to that of a newborn, so, the circle of life and death is closed. Blocks contain only the name and year of birth of the deceased. If we die when people forget us, death is just a physical state of change.