Idea - 05 Vertical Space

DEATH IS NOT THE END. BEING FORGOTTEN IS.

​This project explores a new way of dealing with the spatial constrain for urban cemeteries while expressing a unique approach to life and death. By having the balloons as a medium for coffin storage, we utilize the vertical space by having balloons that gradually rise up and eventually fly off. The appearing and disappearing of balloons resonate with the temporality of life. Departing from the depressing silence in traditional cemetery design, we propose a new space of tranquility created by a tower of rising balloons. 

INNER LANDSCAPE

​Inner Landscape is a boundary between the frantic rhythm of the city and the timeless interior space. Inner Landscape is a vertical path, hybrid interpretation of multi-storied pagoda and Japanese shrine.  Inner Landscape symbolizes the Buddhist tripartition into three lands: a land of roots, a land of the middle and a plain of high heaven. ​Inner Landscape is death and life: a cryptic place to feel close with loved departed and a spiritual route between "artificial" pieces of Japanese landscape, that leads to the perception of the Shinto's reverence for natural artifacts.

The funeral space in the city with high density population is designed with vertical space, but it is not the special meaning of commemorating death. Therefore, mementos in household can also consider the space-saving design -- modular design, so as to adapt to a variety of religious and personal habits.