Being, Death Nearby by jtparchitectur from korea

- To place the space of death near the daily life
- To expose the space of death in the urban life
- and To reinstate the movements of astrol body in the city

Traditionally, the space of death was placed in the midst of nature distancing from busy daily lives. Thus the living could release the grief in the belief that the dead rests in peace in the serenity of nature. However, in the past few decades the pristine nature has been extensively destroyed due to the unparalleled expansion of humanity. If there is any left it should be protected as it is.

Modern cities have grown fast in inhumane scale and speed. In that process the general people have fallen into the excess consumption and mass products. Heidegger pointed it out stating ‘Authentic Self’ which could be attained by ‘Being Towards Death’. Simply speaking, when one think of his own death or take his death on board in the journey of his life he gets out of the falling and becomes authentic self.

Although the meaning of authentic self is rather vague to me,　in that line of thoughts I propose to ｐlace the space of death near the daily life and to expose it in the urban life. Modern cities become increasingly mechanical and mathematical. No doubt should this give the living different perspectives and various layers in their present life.

The proposal contains a 100m diameter gigantic screen consisting of multiple OLED screens. It plays the movements of astrol body and blue sky which are rarely visible in modern cities. Realtime videos can transmitted from a satellite providing clear view to the sky.

The proposed structure is 1 meter thick disk-shaped reinforced concrete. The folded edge and two cores further reinforce the structure. Tension wires anchored on the top of the two cores vertically pull down the building to help the stability from the wind load.

One side of the building, where shelving space of urn is located, is completely open through the clear curtain wall thus visible from the city. The building is open 24 hours a day.