In the next few decades world‘s population will continue to grow exponentially resulting in no more “room for dead“ to be available in several over-crowded cities. Space for business is displacing not only the space for graveyard, but public areas are getting to be a problem as well. Most proposals are based on expansion of already existing land territories. With our project we tried to find an alternative solution on how to recreate balanced proportion of built territories and recreational space inside megacities. At the same time we tried to create public spaces that include a valuable multifunction.
Our design proposal offers to integrate space for memorialization and public space. Since many mega cities are located next to waterfront of an ocean, sea, or a river bank with most of its surface still unexploited, it is certainly attractive to use this potential. We propose a flexible structure located on water surface which consists of an anchored modular terrace forming city‘s public space and several “cocoon” structures, each holding up to 900 caskets with the remains. Modular system of platforms allows creating numerous arrangements of public space. It could vary from a simple terrace along the coastline to a continuous bridge. Number of “cocoons” can vary depending on always changing needs.
Promession is a newly introduced technology where human remains are frozen using liquid nitrogen, shattered by vibration, then subjected to a vacuum so that the ice sublimes and the powder becomes dry, thus loosing 70% of its weight. The dry powder is then purified by magnetic filters and placed in a casket together with soil, where the bacteria turns powder into compost over 10 months period.
Various vegetation are planted into the caskets and hung onto the frame structure, forming green vibrant volumes - metamorphosis cocoons - where the intersection of life and death takes place. They separate the inner repose space containing all the remains and form a vivacious picture of platform, making it a place where the living will go.