Honorable Mention
2018 Skyscraper Competition
QiLong Wu, WuHong Fang, HuiFang Duan, Chenhui Bao
China
In Buddhist culture, there is a saying called “reincarnation” which believes that the death of life is actually a fresh new start. It is not only a renewal of life and the eternity of spirit, but also a new starting point of a legend.
Every mortal dies eventually. Cemetery is often considered as the place where the deceased rest after their life comes to an end, however, the end of life does not mean virtually meaningless sleep underground. It is not only the place where the living remember the deceased, but also a station where the latter can reincarnate and continue to give back to nature and the living with a different form of life.
Based on the foregoing, in this case we put forward the idea of using the cremains of the dead as the nutrients for seed germination to symbolize the reincarnation of life by the process of seed germinating and growing, whilst minor parts of the plant, through sampling, processing and design, can also become a present for the living who would feel that the deceased are still around them.
In terms of architectural design, if the function of cemetery is simply vertical overlaid, the architecture created can only be a cold tombstone. What we hope is that the architecture could become a bridge between the living and the dead, which carries the affection of the living and allows the life value of the dead to continue and make spiritual dialog between the two possible.
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