necropolis project by eva theodoridou from greece
designer's own words:
Dystopic future society. The need for preservation of memory after death has reached an extreme point, where bodies are actually preserved and displayed in huge buildings, called “necropolis”. The deceased are being put into categories, depending how successful they were considered during their lives. The criteria used, vary depending on each political, social and economic situation. In other words, death itself is being used for reasons of propaganda.
Main points of the dystopic scenario:
> Future society. No cemeteries, not anymore. Dead are being displayed according to the lives they led.
> Huge buildings, like skyscrapers are erected in the outskirts of every city and can be seen from almost everywhere, There is one in each major town. These building, called “necropolis”, is actually a museum of all those who lived and died in the area.
> The dead are divided into categories, those who actually achieved something noteworthy, those who led simple but by the book lives and the outcasts.
>In order to visit the halls of the necropolis one must either have a free pass of the relative (applied only for the halls that relatives are displayed), have an invitation or pay the ticket.
>It is obligatory for school kids to visit the basements, where the outcasts and “losers” are located, as part of their motivation for the future class.
>The higher someone is displayed, the greater the honor. The top floor is for top-notch people only. Similarly, the lower someone in displayed, the greater the dishonor for both him/her and the family.
During the process, two displays were developed. One is to be placed on the upper floors, meant for only the most “worthy” citizens and the other one, as common as it can get, meant for the rest of the crowd and the outcasts.
The idea behind the design of both objects was levitation. Especially on the plush display I wanted to emphasize to the connection with the sky, maybe to heaven itself. The ones that manage to get displayed there are the elite, so the prize for that should mirror the success and the extravaganza and the vanity of the whole thing. On the other hand, the common display puzzled me enough. It had to be totally different yet a bit the same with the plush. I chose the meeting point to be levitation, but on totally different terms really. Two different objects arose in the end, after some exploration and thought. One of the displays will be located on the upper floors, for those that were important in their lives - or at least for those who can afford it. Money buys everything after all, especially social status and position. The common displays will be located on the ground floors and below. Due to their design, they can be stashed in the basements, or gracefully put in any given room. They are not exceptional, they are just common.
(this project falls under the category "wrappings of mortality", with a slight dose of sarcasm, mainly for the society we live in and the nightmares that await us ahead.)
This ethereal display is only meant to be used by societies’ most worthy citizens. I chose the obvious levitation, not only for the display itself, but for the body displayed inside as well, because of its symbolism, The body inside looks ready to fly to heaven, has no gravity, floats like a soul does and goes above and beyond everyone and everything. It is meant to be an object to impress.
The dead that are displayed here can be placed in various positions, hanging from the steel cords that run through the display on the inside, keeping it in place, hanging, as well. There is light on the inside of the bubble so that the body is highlighted. The cords run all the way up to the ceiling making the result impressive as the rooms these displays are placed in are with high ceilings.
In order for the bodies to be kept in mild condition, the bubble is air-sealed and a mix of chemicals and low temperatures inside ensure the preservation. The chemicals are transported inside from the middle cord ,that is actually a tube, that is connected to an underfloor system that transfers the essential substanced to every single display, plush or common throughout the building.
Surrounded by wood, this display has nothing heavenly about it. It is down to earth, yet manages a slight levitation on the inside, the glass does not touch the wooden surfaces, it levitates just a tiny bit on the inside of the box, with the help of a slim axis on the top and bottom. What I tried to achieve here was a feeling of suffocating inside the narrow box that could resemble the coffins of old times.
Down in the basements the propaganda does its best to freak out the children that are obliged by their schools to visit these rooms as a motivation method. People’s bodies stashed all together in dark small rooms filled with moisture and funny smells. Despite the environment they are placed in, the displays are kept in mild condition, due to the fact that they are primarily devices that are used for keeping the dead intact.
It’s all about symbolism. The bodies are placed in a glass box, that is not in touch with the earth or the floor,instead it levitates slightly inside the limits of another box, wooden, that looks like an open coffin, or a package of some sort.