As societies evolve, customs and traditions surrounding funerals and memorialisation also change. Mourning and burial spaces today are vastly different from the sprawling cemeteries of recent history that occupied large swathes of space first on the boundaries of a city, and then integrated within it as a network of green recreational areas.
Crematoria are now popular in many countries around the world as the value of land and attitudes towards burial have changed. However, while the architecture of death has changed, the need to create a dignified space of remembrance has not. Today, mourning spaces are often constructed in a minimalist or modernist style, with common materials including brick, concrete stone or marble.
Funeral architecture today rarely features overtly decorative elements, allowing the visitor a restrained space that can be interpreted and used differently by each individual. A closed or partially closed design creates privacy and space for mourners, and there is often an aspect of a ‘path’ through the building or complex, speaking to the journey we all must make from life to death.
To design a building that is highly emotional, at once spiritual and secular and also alludes to both death and life is a challenge, but the projects featured below and in the slideshow above illustrate that funeral architecture can cater to both the pragmatic and the abstract, while still retaining an atmosphere of respectful dignity.