tablet of ashes by herman lee from china

Tablet of ashes

Concepts
The tablet of ashes dedicates to the memory of our beloved. A new generation of memorial tablets assembled by ash-filled canisters. The conglomerations of ashes into a religious figure share a universal belief, from dust we come to being and return to where our memories reside. Dust constantly transforms our terrain and ashes record our molecular presents. The reduction of every materialized being to ashes that registers on the tablet, the indivisible residues that once gave shape to life catalyze our humanistic thought- organic vs. mineralization, memory vs. voids. At close distance, the clouds of dots become names and numbers on the etching of the canisters, the consignment of a final resting place that illuminates the surrounding reconnects our beloved to nature. The tablet is neither a cemetery nor museum, it is a sacred display of consignment. A place to reflect and meditate for the present where the livings endeavor to honor their beloved. A site for transformation during special occasions (Yue Lan festival, Buddha’s Birthday) where it becomes colorful, spectacular and festive to celebrate life.

Conventional issues
The conventional columbarium designs in Hong Kong are memorial sites that imitate the living space. The overly emphasis on the facade treatments, spacious circulations and surrounding landscape treat the columbarium as habitual experience while placing of the urn at a gloomy pigeon-hole. Such elaborations of accommodations take up excessive land, materials and labor resources. The new generations of memorial tablets are prefabricated modules readily to be installed to minimize site works and pollutions while occupy only 1/10 of the land of a conventional design. Due to their flexible designs, the tablets can easily be adapted to any site (slopes, seaside, and hills) with access to existing public transport, their ready-made nature and compactness utilize our already limited land resources in a much more efficient way.