The Memoriam by Seyavah Zohoori from usa

The Memoriam

Designed around the idea of time and space as healing factors

the structure is a labyrinth of healing in which the idea of DEATHCARE is viewed as a process, or procession that can be physicalized, and thus used as a potential architecture of healing and reflection.

The main exterior ring is constructed out of dark concrete and serves as a symbolic gateway/border between the world of the physical/alive and the spiritual/dead. Its cylindrical shape represents the cyclic nature of life, and its massiveness gives The Memoriam an appropriate sense of gravity.

Along the length of the ring, tunnel pathways with widths ranging from one person to whole family sizes have been cut out in order to give visitors tailored journeys through The Memoriam. By limiting the width of these and controlling the length of the passageways, visitors are given the opportunity to bereave, and reflect about their lost loved ones alone, in pars, or as a family. In this manner, the architecture serves to make each bereavement experience personal and varied. The Tunnels are lined in reflective milky white glass, treated with gradients of color films that transition from a matte, colorful experience to a white and reflective pallet at the core of The Memoriam. Through this purposeful control of light, color and reflection, there is an emotional cleansing that one experiences due to this subtle but effectual material transition.

As one journeys to the end of the The Tunnels, the architecture of The Memoriam opens up in a circular, fractured composition of mirrored surfaces and light concrete. This inner sanctum or, spiritual core, represents not only a symbolic resting place for a deceased loved one, but also the idea of life and death as being a singular state. People who have traveled in the narrow tunnels alone or in small groups are reunited with other mourners, and through the mirror walls of the inner geometry, people are infinitely reflected creating a visual amplification of life at the center of death.

The Memoriam is a symbolic, abstract machine for remembrance of the deceased, but also the life. The architecture is a vehicle for understanding death as a natural part of the cycle of life, rather then a traumatic end to it.