Memento Mori: A Space of Recollection

Abstract

The main intention for this design research is to develop a programme in central New York City that enables the re establishment of a lost site transcending into a meaningful place, an architectural performance that will acknowledge mortality through revitalising a void space into a spiritual sanctuary. The underground sacred repository, located in the hub of an urban population will both embrace the community, nurturing communication between the living and deceased.

Cemeteries are an important part of a cities infrastructure. They provide for an outdoor museum of history where they link the cities to the early landscape, housing rich collections of artefacts for historical stories to be told, connecting the living to the departed. The programmatic response is due to cemetery closures as lack of space for the living let alone space to bury the dead in large urban areas is both increasing and concerning. Research will be navigated through the use of an abandoned underground subway station providing a rich infrastructural environment for inhabitation. A transformation of this space will translate a phenomenological experience transcending into an architectural form and insightfully deliver a multi sensory experience. Interior architecture will be more than an art form challenging and igniting sensory perceptions. Architecture acting as an “artificial body” will communicate reflection on the human body that has ceased to be the natural expression of the spirit. The “body” will enable a sense of nurture where architecture can be seen as the most compelling symbol of mother to a human, enabling one to interact with the deceased, and embrace the realm of human emotions.

Overall the research suggests that relocation and reinterpretation of the traditional burial site to a contemporary designed urban space is feasible. A space strategically located invites and connects people to their past, translating a new approach to a repository, as the lost site accrues a valuable archive transcending an architectural performance into the “underworld”. An opportunity to reconnect the living and the land of oblivion that is incessantly remembered.