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Point of Transition: A Life-Cycle of Grief

Part 1 Project 2020
Rachel Khoo
University of the West of England | UK
Life-Cycle of Grief brings communities closer together in bereavement and restores the normality of having dedicated spaces for grief as part of the city fabric, a type of public place currently threatened by densification and a lack of space for burial. It explores the natural return of the deceased body to the ground from both an environmental and an emotional perspective. The site is dedicated to remembrance, serving as a place for funeral services and featuring a public rooftop memorial passage.

Responding to the need for more sustainable death practises, the scheme uses an emerging form of human body disposition called natural organic reduction, created by the company Recompose©. This process converts the body to soil through inducing decomposition over the course of one month. The ‘recomposition’ vessels are reusable, while the rooftop ‘cemetery’ offers a memorable place for many people.

Familiar death rituals and spiritual undertones are integrated into the scheme, such as procession and conveyance. The elevation of different areas signifies the idea of the deceased’s transcendent journey, conveying a sense of hope. The retracing of the site of landscape in stages mirrors the curiosity of grief, in that we experience places anew as time moves forward.


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2020
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