Kotleskia final thesis book 4132015 printversion by Andrew Kotleski

Architecture and the Inevitable

What happens when we require architecture to deal with the aftermath of life?

COVER IMAGE: Washington Cemetery, New York City Source: Wanderman, R. “Mt. Zion Cemetery, Queens, NY.” To Bury the Dead. https://paranormalobservations. wordpress.com/2012/02/12/to-bury-the-dead/.

Architecture and the Inevitable

What happens when we require architecture to deal with the aftermath of life? Andrew Kotleski Thesis Research Seminar ARCH 641.02 Spring 2014 Professor Julian Bonder

Architecture and the Inevitable

What happens when we require architecture to deal with the aftermath of life?

Andrew Kotleski, Author

Date

Julian Bonder, Thesis Advisor

Date

Stephen White, Dean, School of Art, Architecture and Histortic Preservation

Date

Special thanks to: Daniel Alexander Julian Bonder Luis Carranza Andrew Cohen Jim & Kathy Kotleski Amanda Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Malley Daniel Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neil William Rawn Associates Mount Auburn Cemetery Faculty at RWU SAAHP All other friends who have helped me through school

Contents

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Introduction

Problem Statement

Site Context: Watertown and Cambridge

Climate Analysis

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Program and Requirements

Precedents

Conceptual Designs/Early Sketches

115

Architectural Strategies

121

Select Bibliography

160

INTRODUCTION 13

Introduction

OPPOSITE: Cremation of a dead body, Germany Source: Muhlpfordt, Henry. “Verbrennung eines Toten in einem Krematorium” [Cremation of a Dead body, Germany]. Flickr. Last modified September 5, 2009. https://www. flickr.com/photos/wimox/5179054727.

Death is inevitable. Architecture has the duty of representing the threshold between two phases of human existence: Life and its end. Acting as the device, architecture transmits the natural world’s attributes and values to the human beings. Finding closure and returning to society following a loss is not easy, architecture acts as a backdrop for the funeral rituals and guides mourners on a path of grieving and then back to society. This project investigates the funerary rituals associated with cremation and particularly the different processions of the deceased and the living. By redefining the rituals of death, a new environment can be proposed that will better celebrate life and help overcome the grieving after a great loss. Cremation is a growing method of processing remains, saving land, offering no offence to the land, cost effectiveness and is more hygienic than other methods. Crematoriums have the responsibility of dealing with the emotional needs of the mourners, but also the industrial process of the disposing and storage of the body. The funeral industry is a big industry with an endless supply of cliental. Death is a fact of life that all must face at some point, “someone else’s death may be permissible, but our own death is not possible.” Death of people we know is an unfortunate event. After a loss, people look for comfort from friend and family close to them. At the same time, another

comfort while grieving is rituals. Rituals help guide people after a loss through a sequence of events, helping people deal with the grieving process. In the United States the funeral industry is comprised of many cliché separate elements, including the funeral home and morgue, the sacred spaces and the crematorium or cemetery. Rituals in the United States consisted of many stops of long car rides to each destination, which are dissimilar from everyday life events.

PROBLEM STATEMENT 17

Problem Statement How does life begin? What does it mean? What happens when we die? Death is a topic many try not to think about, because it is a question of the unknown. According to the Oxford Dictionary, life is “the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional acidity, and continual change preceding death.” Death, on the other hand, according to the Oxford Dictionary is “the end of life.” To most people death can is conceived as “an end, a transition, or a liberation.” (C3 Korean

Journal) Death in respect of someone old or sick can be seen as peace, and someone young or old in respect to an untimely death brings tragedy, sadness and anger. Presenting the idea that death is not always a negative, but rather the most important moment of one’s life. What happens when one dies is a mystery. Do they go to heaven? Do they become reincarnated? Do they become spirits? Does anything happen at all? No one has an answer to any of these questions, but in the end we will all discover the truth.

OPPOSITE TOP: Father and Son contemplating the John Lowell monument on Willow Avenue. Engraving by Simillie, 1847. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Mother Bringing Children to the Rev. William Ellery Channing Monument, Engraving by Simillie Walter, 1847. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Above: Igualada Cemetery, Igualada Spain Eric Miralles. Source: Miralles, Enric, Carme Pinos, and Anatxu Zabalbeascoa. Igualada Cemetery. N.p.: Architecture in Detials, n.d.

Death is the completion of the cycle of life, but in some sense death can present an opportunity to return to the earth and begin the process again. After something living dies, the deceased organism begins to decay and decompose which in turn eventually will feed other living organisms. After a death the deceased cannot only be remembered through memories but also through living things, such as a tree. The idea of planting a plant to grow and feed off the deceased as fertilizer presents a great opportunity to remember the dead by the living linking the past, present and future. As Miralles wrote about Igualada Cemetery he described it the burial at the cemetery as “the dead buried here are neither neglected nor monumentalized. They simply occur in their place in the landscape, side by side along the path, allowing for others to continually enter the place.” (Miralles) Many cemeteries are places of monuments and endless rows of dead similar to the suburban development of house after house and green grass lawns. Cemeteries deserve to be places where the dead become the landscape which the living can inhabit bringing them closer to the dead through the living.

“The cemetery would teach nondenominational lessons of moral philosophy and renew ambitions of selfimprovement through work and selfdenial. It would teach historical lessons as well: ‘There can be formed a public space of sepulture, where remains, thus far, have unfortunately been consigned to obscure and isolated tombs instead of being collected within one common depository, where their great deeds might be perpetuated and their memories cherished by succeeding generations . Through dead they would be eternal admonitory to the living— teaching them the way, which leads to national glory and individual renown.” (Linden, 146) Creating a place where the dead and living can come together is important not only in the cycle of life, but also in an educational way teaching future generations.

Curl, James Stevens. Death and Architecture. N.p.: Sutton Publishing, 2002. “Death and Architecture: Building the end, Architecture of Memorial.” C3 Korean Journal, no. 345: 22-25. Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Miralles, Enric, Carme Pinos, and Anatxu Zabalbeascoa. Igualada Cemetery. N.p.: Architecture in Detials, n.d.

The living and dead have always had a connection. The Celtics believed that any deceased without a grave would become a vampire. Greeks felt it customary to bury the dead beneath the floor boards of their houses expressing little distinction between the space for the living and the dead. In Contrast, the Romans felt that city life was contaminated by death, so they moved cemeteries outside the city. The Romans cremated many of the citizens after they had death and scattered the remains along the roads leading out of there cities expressing that life and death were forced to exist in their separate areas. Other civilizations took different approaches on death, the Egyptians and Incas built large monuments to the dead worshiping the dead and hoping in an afterlife. Lewis Mumford wrote that the city of the dead predated the city of the living: “The dead were first to have permanent dwelling…thus, the city of the dead is the forerunner, almost the core, of every living city.” (Mirralis) The cities of the living cannot exist without cities of the dead, because with life there is always death. The link between the living and the dead is identity. Without identity people cannot be who we are, all unique and different, therefore we use each other’s differences to connect.

Identity offers a notion of who we are, one’s psychological identity develops throughout life, influenced by how we are raised, we learn, live and work. As one learns, they learn from what others expect from us and how they identify us, creating the social element of identity. The human identity is made up of experiences and personal encounters forming a network. When someone dies in the network, the entire network is affected. Grief, often associated with a death is a reaction to the loss of part of one’s personal network. The passing of people we know is an unfortunate and an unavoidable event. In the event of the extraordinary, we turn for comfort from those around us when mourning and facing a loss. Rituals and funerary customs help guide people through a defined sequence of events. Rituals are symbolic events that guide us through life’s most important events. The most important part of the funeral ritual is the committal, which is when the family and friends find closure. It is the point when the living last see the deceased, either by a curtain closing, the casket going into the cremation machine, or is lowered into the hole. This stage of any funeral ritual is the most important and is key at letting the deceased go and only be remembered by the memories.

“Death and Architecture: Building the end, Architecture of Memorial.” C3 Korean Journal, no. 345: 22-25. Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Miralles, Enric, Carme Pinos, and Anatxu Zabalbeascoa. Igualada Cemetery. N.p.: Architecture in Detials, n.d.

ABOVE: Boston’s Grainery Cemetery Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. OPPOSITE RIGHT: Cementerio de la Recoleta, City of the Dead, Buenos Aires. Source: “Cementerio de la Recoleta / Argentina.” CambTrip. http://www.cambotrip.info/ 2015/03/cementerio-de-la-recoleta-argentina.html.

In the United States, funeral customs are changing due to weakling of traditional religion. The numbers of funerals held in Christian churches is rapidly declining and people are preferring to have funerals at places affiliated with cemeteries. There is a shift from mentioning the resurrection of the body shifting to the living with religious pray and worship playing a lesser role. “The funeral is one of the many sacred American Traditions that is failing in an age of secularism and radical individualism…there is concern that without a connection to place, community, and religion people are left bereft of the resources to face death effectively. “ (207-208, GarcesFoley) Funerary rituals are becoming fragmented as society changes and develops. The Funeral service consists of many car stops to the funeral parlor, the religious facility and then to the cemetery. Nothing separates the funerary rituals of today from daily rituals of driving to work, to school, to the store. How can we redefine the rituals of death to celebrate the deceased, but also guide the living on a path of grieving and eventually a link back to society?

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Garces-Foley, Kathleen. Death and Religion in a Changing World. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe INC, 2006.

TOP LEFT: “Soon a Funeral Procession of Simpler -Almost Meagre and Threadbare -- Character Arrived” by George Du Maurier for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine (1880). Plate 12. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. OPPOSITE: Washington Cemetery, New York City Source: Wanderman, R. “Mt. Zion Cemetery, Queens, NY.” To Bury the Dead. https://paranormalobservations. wordpress.com/2012/02/12/to-bury-the-dead/.

As the world population grows rapidly, the amount of the deceased rises as well. Primarily in Urban areas there is a lack of burial space and options like natural burial and cremation are becoming more popular. . New York City, London, Boston, Stockholm, and many more cities are nearing there capacity of cemetery space. Some cemeteries are resorting to digging up older graves and reselling plots, others are burying the dead on top of each other in a single plot some ten deep. Many communities and countries are looking for alternative solutions to respond to the lack of burial space and the increasing population. One solution is cremation, which offers a more economical and space saving method of committal where the deceased body is burned and only ground bone fragments remain, The remains offer the deceased relatives to store them in an Urn housed in a columbarium wall with thousands of niches or spread the remains to fertilize or spread on a scared place to the deceased. Most of Europe uses cremation actively, countries in the north, like Sweden use cremation for more than 75% of their deaths. In Japan, 99% of people are cremated. However, in the United States the cremation rate varies state to state, according to the Cremation Association of North America, the 2007 average cremation rate of the United States was

34% and by 2025 it is projected to be more than 55%. Between 2007 and 2025, cremation numbers will almost double, from about 800,000 to more than 1.6 million cremations annually in the United States. In the United States the funeral industry is large business with endless customers. Cemeteries are designed like suburban housing is laid out in repetitive rows of tight grave stones and luscious green grass. Cemeteries have lost the character they once had, when gravestones were simple gently fitting with the landscape allowing nature and the grave stones to become symbolically become one and share the extraordinary.

Curl, James Stevens. Death and Architecture. N.p.: Sutton Publishing, 2002. â&#x20AC;&#x153;U.S. Cremation Statistics.â&#x20AC;? National Funeral Directors Association. Last modified 2014. http://www.nfda.org.

History of the American Cemetery The history of the American burial ground has moved from being a central common space in towns to more rural and gardenlike today. Colonial and Early American burial customs associated the burial grounds adjacent to churches. Often the burial grounds were situated in a town common community ground. Some churches that were inspired by the Spanish settlers buried the deceased under the floor boards of the church eventually expanding outside to the surrounding land, known as the Campo Santo—the sacred field. In English colonies, the

TOP RIGHT: Kings Chapel Burial Ground, Boston. Engraving by F.W.P. Greenwood, 1833 MIDDLE: Copp’s Hill burying Ground, Boston. Engraving from Bridgeman, 1851 BOTTOM RIGHT: Old Family tombs in Old Granary Burying Ground, Boston. Photograph by BMGL, 2006 OPPOSITE LEFT: New Haven, 1837 map of the town showing the location of the New Burying Ground. OPPOSITE RIGHT: New Havens new Burying ground on Grove Street, grid plan. Engraving from 1839 showing sections reserved. All Image Sources: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

dead were buried close to the church that was set aside and the deceased were marked by stone head stones where they were buried. The rapidly broadening middle class and expanding population crowded the small church burial grounds, most noticeable in urban areas. Therefore, burial grounds began exhuming bodies to make room for new ones and as a result the stench of rotting flesh and the increased possibilities of disease led to new ideas of burying the dead.

New Englanders became more aware of the power of natural elements and there effect they can have on larger beliefs, beginning to envision a landscape acting as a facilitator to commemorate the past. Weeping Willow trees gained popularity in the United States in the 1730s because of traditional tales that the weeping willow tree dispelled evil, cleansed and facilitated contact with a spiritual realm. The tree has low hanging branches that touch the ground, a symbolic gesture of sadness, as written in the New England Farmer, 1827 “it weeps little drops of water… like fallen tears upon the leaves.” (Linden, 84) The weeping Willow trees have symbolic connection to the persistence of life in that they are the last trees to lose its leaves in the fall

and the first gain its leaves in the spring. This new linking of nature and death was seen during the Revolutionary War era celebrating natural elements to rebel English Garden styles. After the war, however many burial grounds would be influenced by the English Romantic Garden such as Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. The Rural Cemeteries in America were inspired by the romantic perceptions of nature, art, national identity and the melancholy theme of death. Inspiration was drawn from the Whig Gardens for commendation in London and the first metropolitan rural cemetery of Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, France. As new science was discovered about photosynthesis and the importance of plants in relation to life and improving

urban health people began to prefer the sight of trees and grass lawns. Early on, many people were skeptical moving burial grounds out die the city limits in fear of animals digging up the dead or the “resurrection men” who harvested dead bodies. Many people were reluctant to bury the dead far from their homes and felt that the places to bury the dead were places of horror. Although, New Englanders were accustomed to burial in a town common, James Hillhouse in 1796 convinced his fellow citizens of New Haven Connecticut the move the burial ground north of the city grid leading to legislation. The existing burial ground within the city grid was full and need expansion and the only option was to expand into crucial commercial land in

the city center, but Hillhouse proposed an expansion outside of the city grid where people would have plenty of space for future development and room to plant Weeping Willow trees. Authorities decided to set aside burial grounds outside the city and it was funded by 31 New Haven Citizens. Lewis Mumford said “the city of the dead predated the city of the living, the dead were first to have permanent dwelling…thus the city of the dead is the forerunner, almost the core of every living city.” This new system would set precedent as a private cemetery run by elected board members, later granted by the Connecticut legislature as the first burial ground independent from the city.

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

Public Health problems was one of the largest motivators of the Rural Cemetery. Bostonians wanted to improve the method of burying dead in the middle of the city because it endangered public life with possible water contamination, disease, hygenitics and cleanliness. Especially as Boston’s population was growing, burial grounds were filling up and people’s views were changing to be cleaner and burial reform was one way. Four Main burial grounds serviced Boston, Copps Hill (1660), Kings Chapel (1630), the Old Granary, and the Common (1756)) with the dead buried four deep in many plots led to the expansion of the fifth burial ground,

the Neck burial ground. Boston banned burials in individual graves in 1816 and only burials could be made in common or family vertical brick lined burial shafts which were nearly full by 1823. At the time, in 1931 little land was empty on the Shawemut PeninsulaIn, and following New Havens in burial ground ideas Mount Auburn was funded and was America’s first rural cemetery. The rural cemetery presented a more pleasing burial place for the living to enjoy the picturesque and natural landscapes that commemorate their ancestors contrasting the city centers. Other dense urban areas, New York for example faced a similar burial crisis that Boston was facing at the same time.

RIGHT: Boston’s Granary burial ground. Source: Paula, Jonathan. “Boston’s Granary burial ground.” Wikipedia. Last modified September 7, 2006. http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki Granary_Burying_Ground#/ media/File:Boston%27s_Granary_burial_ground.jpg. FAR RIGHT: Map of Boston with city burial grounds circled, 1824. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. OPPOSITE TOP RIGHT: Dr. Jacob Bigelow portrait photograph, 1855. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. OPPOSITE BOTTOM RIGHT: Putnam family lot with appleton monument in backgroud. Phograph by Richard Cheek. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

Bostonians were told by Jospeh Buckingham to address the growing burial problems of the city after the mayor, Josiah Quincy of Boston was unable to solve the problem. Buckingham promoted the new ideas that were being used in New Haven about a burial ground outside of the city, Buckingham wrote in the New England Galaxy: “Who would wish to be buried in a close city and a crowded graveyard, to be deranged and knocked about, separated and disjointed, long before the last trumpet sounds? Would we not rather lie serenely where the pure breeze rustles the honeysuckles and the field flowers, the long grass and the drooping willow, which cover and hang over graves? Where, secure from unhallowed fottsteps and boisterous mirth, the reeling tread of the drunkard, or the daily vapid gaze of the thoughtless, we lie quiet, undisturbed and happy?” (Linden, 133) The new ideas of rural cemetery with picturesue and natural landscapes spread through propaganda gaining support. Several cemetery proposals developed, subsequently Dr. Jacob Bigelow became a prominate figure launching the project to create America’s first rual cemetery. Dr. Bigelow had moved to Boston from an area just west of the city after he completed schooling at Harvard Medical School. With

the help from sollegues he searched for possible sites that allowed for a picturesque landscape so boston would not end up with a site similar to that of New Havens new burial ground. Althought Bigelow cared about keeping the memories of deceased, he was strongly against preserving the bisodies with chemical and also placing bosies in tombs or other containers, explaining that: “Existing burial places were unnatural because they upset the equilibrium of nature’s system...the use of preserving agaents interrupt the process of decay… preferring a systemin which nature is permitted to take its course, when the dead are committed to the earth under the open sky, to become early and peacefully blended with it’s original dust…Convenience, health and decency require that the dead should be removed from our sight. The laws of nature requires that they shoufl nmoulder into dust, and the sooner… the better.” (Linden, 136) Bigelow advocated for the natural process of decay, which General Henry Dearborn became drawn to the ideas of the naturalness of death. Bigelows new cemetery proposal of a picturesu cemetery and his ideas about natural decay, proved to not only solve the cities problem, but “fill many cultural needs as well: honoring

the deceased, cultivating the civilizing emotion of melancholy, teaching moral lessons, fostering a sense of the past as pertinent to the present and future, and celebrating nature.” (Linden, 139) After the proposal, the Massachusets Horticultural Society was formed run by Bigeow and his friends to study plants of New England and the relationship between cultures of plants and cultures of the country.

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

The Rise of Cremation Early History

America) Shortly after in 1874 the Siemens apparatus was used in Brelau to cremate a woman, which was the first gas fired self-contained furnace. The furnace was brick-lined with a castiron door and counter weight to cover it after the casket was lowered in from the chapel above so that the committal process is very similar to interment. The first fully enclosed cremation receptacle was installed and used in Milan, Italy in 1876. Surprisingly, Roman Catholic Italy was the world leader in cremations at this time because it was considered radical, favored by people in urban areas to rebel the church. Shortly after, France and other European countries began introducing cremation to people in urban areas, like at the Pere Lachaire Cemetery in Paris. The Roman Catholic Church forbid cremation until 1963 when it changed rules of the church allowing cremation.

Cremation began during the early Stone Age around 3000 B.C. most likely in Europe and the Near East. As cremation spread, decorative pottery urns began to be used made to hold the remains. By 1000 B.C. Cremation moved into what is now Northern Europe, Ireland, Britain, Spain and Portugal with cemeteries for cremation being built throughout Hungary and northern Italy. Cremation was an integral part of Grecian burial customs which was followed by the Romans that embraced cremation. The Romans built elaborate urns and columbarium walls of niches to store the urns. Cremation was prevalent among the Romans, and rare amongst most Christians that considered it pagan and the Jewish culture. However, by 400 (A.D.) resulting from Constantineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Christianization of the Empire earth burial replaced cremation for the next United States 1500 years. Cremation was introduced in the United Modern Cremation States in 1873-1876 by Dr. F. Julius Le Moyne in Washington, Pennsylvania. Modern cremation began about a He built a cremation furnace to cremate century ago when Professor Brunetti himself when he died, but he cremated of Itlay displayed a out-of-door other people prior to his death with crematorium furnace at the 1873 the furnace. In 1881, the United States Vienna Exposition. (Referenced Cremation Company was founded and from Cremation Association of North introduced crematoriums first in Troy,

Curl, James Stevens. Death and Architecture. N.p.: Sutton Publishing, 2002.

"History of Cremation and Creamtion Data and Statistics." Cremation Association of North America. Last modified 2013. http://www.cremationassociation.org.

New York and later in Cincinnati, St. Louis, San Francisco, Buffalo New York, and Chicago. By 1900 there were more than 20 crematoriums in operation and when the Cremation Association of America was founded in 1913 there were more than 50 crematoriums. Today, there are more than 2,100 crematoriums and more than 1 million cremations annually. Common reasons people may choose cremation are: -Public Health Issues -Problems of transporting the deceased to distant cemeteries -Lack of burial Space -No worries of contamination from bacteria -Corpse will not rot/decay -Less Expensive -No worries of graves being robbed -Easy to move remains -Possible to place ashes inside a building without being affected by the weather -Use of bone fragments as fertilizer -Ability to scatter remains over a meaningful place for the deceased

“Sweet Auburn” In 1825 a merchant, George Watson Brimmer purchased seventytwo acres west of Boston between Watertown and Cambridge calling it “Sweet Aubrun.” I was purchased initially so that Brimmer could build his residence but he changed after he became ill and he changed his plans to just persevering the trees and prevent it from being developed. The site was carved by glaciers with small ridges and rolling hills and ponds situated just north of the Charles River. He felt that “Sweet Auburn” was a prime location for the new cemetery for Boston so he approached Bigelow. The site proved to be very promising because of the close proximity to Boston, and the new accessibility from a bridge on the Charles

River. At the same time the hills provided a buffer from the surrounding communities and the high point of the site overlooked Boston. The gentle hills provided the possibilities for winding paths and gentle ascends to the summit and the ponds allowed for a picturesque landscape. On June 23, 1831, state legislature gave the Massachusetts Horticultural Society $10,000 to purchase the Brimmer property and to design a picturesque landscape with plants to enclose the space for Boston’s new burial ground.

OPPOSITE: Siemen’s Cremation Apparatus, 1876 Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. ABOVE: Wooded view of Fresh Pond looking north from the summit of Sweet Auburn. Engraving by William S and John B. Pendleton, Boston, 1833. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

Funerary Rituals: Judaism

Jews believe in simplicity wrapping the body in a simple white shroud or kittle, which is the white garment worn by traditional Jews on Yon Kippur) All Jews, rich or poor, young and old are dressed and buried in the same methods so everyone is equal. The body is placed in the casket and wrapped in the white cloth in cocoon like fashion creating a sense of protectiveness as they enter the world to come. The Jewish emphasize the prevention of life in this world and the world to come. Quickly following a death, the rabbi is called to the house as soon as possible. The body is prepared for burial during a process known as tahara. The tahara is the washing and purifying of the body, considered the greatest deed of anyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. Three stages make up the Tahara, the cleansing, purification, and dressing. The body is expected to be watched over until the committal by woman for deceased woman and men for a deceased man. The burial should take place within twenty-four hours of death, unless death occurs after sunset on Friday. 30

The body is buried in a simple plain wooden casket keeping with the theme of simplicity and equality. Jews encourage the natural decomposition of the body, usually rejecting embalming.

Before the casket is closed at the end of the tahara, the people performing the tahara gather to ask for forgiveness of the soul and assure the soul that they have done everything they could to help the deceased rest in peace. The burial usually takes place within two days of the death. The deceased is honored while it is not left alone until the burial. A family member or someone arranged by the funeral home stays with the body and recites psalms while watching over the body. The coffin is carried to the cemetery by mourners (when within walking distance of cemetery) after the Rabbi offers prayers at the house.

Before the Funeral service, the immediate relatives of the deceased close in a circle around the grave. They begin rendering there garments, cutting and tearing the black ribbon worn on the right lapel which is worn for seven days or mourning. Afterwards the casket is carried to the burial site followed by mourners. The burial is began with Rabbi led prayers (psalms 23 and 90) giving a sermon followed by mourners eulogy. The coffin is lowered in the grave and family members shovel earth onto the coffin, symbolizing a way of accepting the finality of the death.

Garces-Foley, Kathleen. Death and Religion in a Changing World. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe INC, 2006.

Funerary Rituals: Islam

After the body has been purified it is completely wrapped in a pure white shroud. Ordinary clothing is permitted as long as it is not Immediately after death the mouth is bound shut, clothing removed and the body is covered with sheet and the death is publicized. The body should be prepared as quickly as possible for burial and a complete ritual bath is required. The corpse is washed by a person of the same sex or close relative. The water used for washing is clean, cool, and perfumed. A partial ablution should be conducted.

The funeral prayers are performed once the body is washed and shrouded. Prays are done in the presence of the corpse and cannot be performed when there is no body. Similar to daily prayers, they are repeated intentional pronouncements of the prays known as takbir (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Allahu Akbarâ&#x20AC;?).

Corpses are buried deep enough preventing being able to be dug up by animals or emitting odors. A coffin is not used in an Islamic burial. Once the body is placed in the grave, mourners at the funeral each throw three hands full of dirt onto the body.

The corpse is carried on a bier by four men on their shoulders who move a quick dignified procession. Men are allowed to accompany the bier in the procession but women are forbidden. The deceased is placed on his right side facing Mecca.

Garces-Foley, Kathleen. Death and Religion in a Changing World. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe INC, 2006.

Funerary Rituals: Christianity

The body is them washed, but is not reccommened and prepared for the funeral services. Immediately after death the deceased is usually brought to the undertakers, commonly refferered to as the morgue.

The funeral home or church prepares a chapel for the vigil or wake, decorated with remerbance of the deceased, flowers, candles and often crosses.

The first part of the Christain ritual begins with the Vigil, or Wake. Often the wake takes place in a funeral home or churche but in ome cases it is held at the house of the deceased. This is time for memebers of the family and family friends to tell stories of the deceased, express grief. The wake is time for people to pay respect towards the deceased family and often the deceased is open for mourners to say last words and prayers for the deceased. It can follow a stucture as follows: introductory rites, liturgy of the word by a priest, intercessions, words of rememberance, and concluding rites

The final ritual in Christian burial is the committal, led by the priest as the body is lowered into the ground at the cemetery or final resting place. This is the final step in the christain ritual and takes place usually at a cemetery. The funeral mass is usually held in a church or chapel. A priest conducts the service and mass for the deceased, and family memebers are encouraged to participate in the Liturgy. Families may choose to place and pall on the casket, to place christain symbols on the casket, commonly a crucifix and bible. The preist or bishop gives the homily and it is common respoonsibility for the priest to guid the family.

Garces-Foley, Kathleen. Death and Religion in a Changing World. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe INC, 2006.

SITE CONTEXT 37

Context: Massachusetts & Boston Massachusetts is located in New England, in the northeast United States. Massachusetts was first colonized in the early 17th century by Europeans and later in the 18th century, Massachusetts became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Before Westerners colonized Massachusetts, the area was occupied by Native American tribes, mainly the Algonquian speaking tribes. Permanent colonization began with the founding of Plymouth County in 1620 by the Pilgrims from England and the Puritans in 1630. The Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in the area of present day Salem and Boston. King James II from England attempted to govern and control of the colonies sparking tension between England and the colonies. England was governed by officials appointed by the King, but the colonies elected officials. The American Revolution began in 1775 in Massachusetts to revolt and separate from England. In 1783, Massachusetts was the first state to abolish slavery. Massachusetts became the center of industry in the 19th century manufacturing weapons and major manufacturing for the American Civil War. Massachusetts became a center of the industrial revolution using the many rivers in the state to power mills and their

machinery. After World War II industry continued and slowly shifted to more of a technology based industry today. The state is the center of education in the United States, both higher education with many elite universities. The state is world leader in medicine and health care and technological advancements. According the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Massachusetts in 2013 was about 6.7 million, with most of the population living on the eastern half, near Boston. Massachusetts is the United States seventh smallest state at 10,554 sq. miles. Boston in the largest city located at the mouth if the Charles River and the city covers much of the Eastern Massachusetts. The state borders New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine to the North, New York to the West, Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the East. Nicknamed “the Bay State,” Massachusetts is home to several large bays along the ocean: Massachusetts Bay, Cape Cod Bay, Buzzards Bay and Mount Hope Bay shared with Rhode Island. Central Massachusetts consists of rolling and rocky hills while western Massachusetts has hills and fertile valleys and mountains around Rivers. The Berkshire Hills along the western border with New York are a part the

"Boston, Massachusetts." Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massachusetts “Massachusetts.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_the_United_States.

Appalachian Mountains. The Eastern part after the Connecticut River in Central Massachusetts is mostly flat with gentle rolling hills. According to U.S. Government data, 46% of Massachusetts is forest and 36% is suburban development.

ABOVE: Location diagrams explaing the location of Watertown, MA in relation to the world map. OPPOSITE: A contextual location diagram of Mount Auburn in relation to the greater Boston area. Source: Google Earth.

4 Mile Radius

Cambridge Watertown

Boston Mount Auburn Cemetery

42.3708째 N, 71.1833째 W

Charles River

Context: Watertown & Cambridge Watertown is a city in Middlesex County Massachusetts with a population of 31,915 according to the 2010 census. Watertown was first known as the Saltonstall Plantation beginning in 1630 by a group of settlers led by Sir Richard Saltonstall, later that year Watertown was incorporated. Watertown was the location of the first rebellion in America rebelling against taxation without representation because the residents were being taxed for a stockade fort in Cambridge, leading to a representative government. Watertown was the leader of horse and cattle market in New England in the 17th century and was the location of the first grist mill and the woolen mill in America. At the same time, the first Stanley Steamer was built by the Stanley Brothers in 1897. In 1816 the Watertown Arsenal was opened in Watertown as a military munitions and research facility until 1995. The Arsenal is famous for its development and construction of the first atomic cannon and other atomic weapons. Today the Arsenal is a center for

the arts, health, dining and shopping operated by Athena Health. The cities proximity to neighboring Cambridge and Boston help it with good schools and safe quite neighborhoods. Cambridge is the fifth most populous city in the state with 105,162 people and is located along the Charles River North of Boston. The City is named after the University of Cambridge in England which was an important to the Puritan founders. Many leading colleges and universities, like Massachusetts Institute of technology, Harvard and Radcliffe College are located in Cambridge.

"Cambridge, Massachusetts." Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Massachusetts. “Massachusetts.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts. “Watertown, Massachusetts.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown_Massachusetts.

OPPOSITE: An image of the Watertown Aresonal, 20th Century. Source: United States Library of Congress RIGHT: Image of Harvard Sq. in Cambridge , MA, Source: Wikipedia.com, Harvard Square

Context: Public Transportation The city is made up of six neighborhoods: Bemis, Brigham, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square and the West End. Mount Auburn cemetery is located half in Coolidge Square and East Watertown, with parts of the eastern side, including the main entrance in Cambridge, Ma. The town is situated along the Charles River, less than ten miles west of Boston. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) serves Watertown with bus service back and forth from Harvard Square to Watertown Yard. MBTA services include both train and bus service. Traveling to and from Boston, travelers mainly ride the Red Line which travels along Mt. Auburn Street that

the main entrance to the cemetery is located. Along the southern border of Watertown is the Massachusetts main Turnpike, I-90 that also providing a major connection to and from Boston. The cemeteries ease of access from all modes of transportation is key for the most people to use the cemetery and future crematorium services.

"Cambridge, Massachusetts." Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Massachusetts. “Massachusetts.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Last modified 2015. http://www.mbta.com/index.asp. “Watertown, Massachusetts.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown_Massachusetts.

T Bus Stops Along Mount Auburn Street T

T T

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Roman Catholic Cemetery

Project Site

OPPOSITE TOP LEFT: An image of the purple T train line. Source: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Muncipial Cemetery

OPPOSITE TOP RIGHT: An Image of a Boston Public Transportation Bus. Source: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Rapid Transit T Map, Source: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. RIGHT: Satelite image of Mount Auburn Cemtery showing the subway train stops adjacent to the site. Source: Image from Gogle Earth.

CLIMATE ANALYSIS 45

Climate: Massachusetts and Boston All of New England is a humid continental climate. The climate often experiences, hot summers and cold winters. The winters can be harsh, with cold temperatures and strong gusty winds, snow can last on the ground for up to five months. Spring and fall usually have comfortable humidity and temperatures. During the fall, deciduous trees transform their green leaves into beautiful arm colors and the leaves eventually fall off the tree closer to the winter. Typically, precipitation is well distributed throughout the year, raining in the summer and snowing in the winter. Although winters can be cold in humid continental climates, Boston’s winters are typically warmer than inland areas because of its proximity to

the coast. Communites a few miles inland like the project site in Watertown and Cambridge will experience similar conditions to Boston. On average there are more days that require heating than cooling in the Boston area.

ABOVE: Climate Zones of the Continental United States Source: Dorm Room Fund. http://dormroomfund.com/ boston.

"Climate of Massachusetts." Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_the_United_States.

OPPOSITE: An Image of the Boston Skyline from the Charles River. Source:”Climate of the United States.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Climate_of_the_United_States.

Climate: Winds 23

11 5

Lawrence G. Hanscom Airport

Boston: Logan International Airport 22L 2 2R

Mount Auburn Cemetery

4L 4 R

Winds commonly blow from the west in both the summer and winter. The average wind speed is 10 mph in the summer, while it is 13 mph in the winter. Winter winds commonly come from a more northerly track, bringing cold air and the winds during the summer blow a more southerly track, thus bringing warmer air. The site has a larger industrial building and a tree lined property line along the western edge that will help block the colder winter winds. Occasional gusts and winds from storms can reach speeds greater than 20 mph. The previouus page shows local airports runways because runways are orientaed so that airplanes take off and land into the wind, therfore the runways are orientated according to the most common winds.

Project Site

Winter Winds

OPPOSITE: An diargam showing large near by airports and their runway orientation, for a quick analysis of local winds. Image source: Google Earth

Summer Winds Autodesk, Ecotect Analysis: Boston, MA

Climate: Temperature New England is a humid conitnential climate, often experiencing hot summers and cold winters. There are large seasonal temperature differences, summer temperatures range from 58-96°F and averaging 76°F. In the winter, temperatures range from 19°F to 54°F averaging around 36°F. Spring and fall experience moderate temperatures.

Typical Seasonal Day/Night Temperature Swing: Summer (June): 81°F - 63°F = 18°F Fall (September): 74°F - 63°F = 11°F Winter (December): 38°F - 32°F = 6°F Spring (March): 49°C - 36°C = 13°F

Climate: Heating & Cooling Days Heating degree days based on 18.3째C: 145 days Cooling degree days based on 18.3째C: 130 days

Autodesk, Ecotect Analysis: Boston, MA

Climate: Psychrometric Chart According to the Koopen Climate classification, Boston is classified as type Dfa or Humid Continental climate (warm to hot - often humid - summers, cold winters, and no dry seasons) There are Clear distinct seasons with variable temperatures and rain or snow precipitation all year round Since the site remains in the humid region of the chart for a large part

of the year, moisture need to be addressed with natural ventilation. Air conditioning is used for a small portion of the year during the summer.

Climate: Precipation and Humidity Precipitation is well-distributed year round. In the summer, it rains often with common afternoon thunderstorms and occasional tropical storms. In the winter, precipitation is often snow or sleet, occasional larger snow storms, Nor’easters. New England experiences a moderate to high level of humidity during summer months. However the spring and fall often are confortable and the winters tend to be dry. Average rainfall ranges from 40-60in each year, while snowfall often exceeds 100in each year.

TOP RIGHT: An Image of a Boston Street in the Winter. Source:”Climate of Boston, Massachusetts” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Climate_of_Boston_Massachusetts.

Autodesk, Ecotect Analysis: Boston, MA

Climate: Sun Light and Cloud Cover

Boston experiences cloudy days for most of the year. It is the cloudiest during April with 80% cloud cover, and clearer during September, with 58% cloud cover. The Optimun orientation is roughly directly south for the site. Most light will be gained, along the yellow zone in the image on the opposite page. Red zones depict the worst directions for solar gain. RIGHT: An Image of the Boston Skyline from the Charles River. Source:â&#x20AC;?Climate of the United States.â&#x20AC;? Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Climate_of_the_United_States.

During summer months, days can reach up to 15hrs of daylight (Jun 24th), in contrast, winter months reach as little as 9hrs of sunlight (Dec 21st) Autodesk, Ecotect Analysis: Boston, MA

Sunny Days: 107 Overcast Days: 258 Ratio: 0.41

Climate: Optimum Solar Orientation

Project Site

SITE: MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY 57

Site Selection: Mount Auburn Cemetery The Site selected was Mount Auburn Cemetery situated between Watertown and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Situated along the Charles River and is America’s first garden cemetery designed and built in 1831 by General Henry Dearborn and other members of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The cemetery is treated as a park, a place for “cheerful association with death.” One of the early design concepts of the cemetery was to provide a tranquil landscape for the dead to rest, but also creating a place for the living to enjoy. The cemetery is 170 acres of rolling hills, ridges with ponds and graves scattered throughout the wooded areas. The highest point has a small tower that looks out to Boston. There is a crematorium at the cemetery which is the oldest crematorium in New England performing about 1500 cremations annually. According to Mount Auburn they offers interment for in ground burials, above ground crypt burials and cremation. Currently the cemetery is looking to expand, they have proposed a new chapel and green house on the site in red. Lack of space is forcing the cemetery to raise its prices on inground burial plot to as much as $150,000 and people are choosing cremation as a more economic alternative. According to the Mount auburn latest annual report, the amount of cremation sales

has far exceeded the casket burial sales, of 1,202 cremations and only 256 casket burials last year.

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Roman Catholic Cemetery

Project Site

Muncipial Cemetery

OPPOSITE: Mother bringing children to the Rev. William Ellery Channing monument. Engraving by Smillie, from Walter, 1847. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Bostonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. RIGHT: Satelite image of Mount Auburn Cemtery in color and the context in grey. The site is highlighted in red. Source: Image from Gogle Earth.

“The Picturesque Landscape” Mount Auburn’s founders knew that creating a picturesque landscape would require more than just acquiring a piece of land. From the beginning, the early planners planned to embellish the landscape with “public” structures, thinking art would improve the nature. Early design strategies followed the ideas from English Gardens, featuring grottos, temples, towers, chapels, monuments, and gateways scattered throughout nature. Early planning for Mount Auburn was inspired mainly by the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France and the painter Thomas Cole for his New England natural landscape paintings, and romantic allegories in picturesque setting. “Many scenes Cole depicted contain the same mnemonic, picturesque elements common to both English landscaped gardens and Mount Auburn—aerial perspectives heighting a sense of distance and stirring thoughts of the past, the future, or the infinite. Pere Lachaise cemetery was intended to display replicas of past cultures: “exact models of the superb temples, triumphal arches, columns and public monuments of Greece and Rome, as receptacles or memorials of departed worthies of the empire.” (207, Linden) For the first decade, a “picturesque spirit” led throughout the cemetery, Bigelow and Dearborn designed the cemetery and felt that the land needed

little work to prepare the picturesque and natural landscape. There were few gravel paths and avenues because it was important to the trustees to keep the natural setting and the space for personal exploration: “Natures power to sooth grief and to serve as balm for the world weary.” (Linden, 175). Shortly after the cemetery was opened, an observer wrote in 1835: “A wise man, indeed, would not complain if his child were buried in the bed of the ocean or entombed in a far distant region; but it would be his choice that some neighboring grove or valley afford it a grave, which he visit and there dwell upon the virtues of the beloved one, a place that mourners could visit without publicity and without interruption.” (175) This new cemetery offered a privatization to grief and funerary rituals and a place for women to attend funerals, because the current funerary and burial customs were in public open space and usually didn’t allow women to attend. Between 1842 and 1844 the cemetery purchased more land, expanding to 116 acres. The trustees had the land surveyed to lay out plots and meandering paths without damaging trees and shrubs. Preservation of trees remained a priority resulting in no trees to be removed without approval of the committee on lots. For the first decade

the cemetery remained almost entirely wilderness eventually adding gravel paths creating a labyrinth through the wooded grounds. Nature would define a space that businessmen could find moral recreation and thought, and the a place where mourners could discover privacy: “With in the shadows of the deep forest and secluded glade… shut off from the visible world, as if a thousand miles from any habitation.” (177)

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

OPPOSITE: Consecrecration Dell. Andrew Kotleski

Photograph by

RIGHT: Halcyon Lake with Mary baker Eddy memorial, before landscape restoration. Source: Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Bostonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Photograph by Richard Cheek

Trees and Shrubs The importance of nature led to the development of Mount Auburn, eventually leading to the cemetery to add to the already dense wilderness setting. New trees and shurbs were planted in the cemetery to show the old and new parts of life. Trees were planted in close proximity to each other to continue with the picturesque theme of the cemetery. The existing forest with the addition of new plantings began to show a cycle of young, old and the dying, “a thickly wooded vales, yet fresh with the growth of centuries.” (178, Linden) Acacia and Willow trees were planted for their symbolism, Acacia trees symbolizing the purity and endurance of the soul, it is most commonly known as the tree of life. On the other hand, the Willow Tree symbolizes “fulfilling wishes of the heart, learning from the past, inner vision and dreams.” (Universe of Symbolism) At the same time, the trustees began to become attracted to ornamental planting and many praised the new blend of various cultural plants: “The native oak now waves its foliage over an exotic shrubbery; the anemone, the violet, and the aster, long and lonely and the unobtrusive spontaneous product of the soil, now gracefully mingle with the daisy, the narcissus, and the lily; the wild rose and sweetbriar unveil their blushing beauties and exhale their incomparable fragrance in the presence of more

gaudy varieties of foreign origin.” (179, Linden) By the second decade, as the cemeteries deceased population expanded, much of the forested, rural cemetery an introduction of open lawn areas and monuments gradually faded the forested rural cemetery areas, but nature and art remained in balance. Today, Mount Auburn contains nearly all trees and shrubs native to New England and many other various parts of the world. As of 1997, the cemetery contained more than 5,300 trees and more than 610 species of trees. (“Big Trees at Mount Auburn Cemetery) The cemetery is designated as a National Historic Landmark by the Department of the Interior, making it one of the country’s most momentous cultural landscapes.

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

OPPOSITE LEFT: Forested Area on Vine and Aster pathswinding up towards the cemetery summit and overlooking Consecrecration Dell, retainign the original display of “picturesque.” Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Photograph by Carol Betsch, 2005 OPPOSITE RIGHT: Monuments from the 1830s on Ivy Path overlooking Consecration Dell. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Photograph by Carol Betsch, 2005 RIGHT: Photo of Auburn Lake. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Photograph by Richard Cheek

“Stones in a Forest” As burials increased, some people and organizations wanted to commemorate the deceased in a greater and a more permanent solution using marble creating: “a marble history, of the good and the great.” (179, Linden) The trustees believed that the consoling and emotionally solitary influence of nature was not enough, believing that monuments could improve the natural setting. Hannah Adams was the ninth person buried at Mount Auburn and was the first person to have a monument built for their internment in 1832. As the popularity of marble monuments increased across New England they evolved from simple monuments in the forest to more

elaborate monuments protected by iron fences. Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris France which was both the first garden cemetery and municipal cemetery greatly influenced the design of the monuments at Mount Auburn. Monuments were allowed and added to the cemetery using the ideas from the English Garden Style. Many The early monuments Early monuments in the 1840s were designed following a simple neoclassical style. Marble gained popularity, replacing the traditional slate as the preferred gravestone material in New England because of the first marble quarry in Vermont opened: “Marble stood out in the landscape, glowing against the greenery or the grey granite walls of

mausoleums.” (179, Linden) Although marble was an ideal material for gray stones because of its bright white color and the symbolism associated with it, it proved to be not very durable outdoors and was dirtied quickly: “it was known not to be very durable outdoors, the whiteness of the stone provided a newly desired optimistic symbolism consistent with new attitudes towards death and the hereafter, more appropriate than the grey slate.” (179, Linden) New Englanders commonly associated marble with the classical arts and it was the stone of choice until after the Civil War when granite gained increasing availability and new technology made it less expensive to carve. At the end of the first decade

of opening, Mount Auburn Cemetery had 190 tombs and 164 monuments, including many obelisks and influences from different cultures, Italian Villas, English Landscapes, Roman Villas and Egyptian Tombs. As the cemetery expanded, Bigelow urged people to build monuments for themselves and their families before a death occurs, just as Bigelow did for his family.

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

OPPOSITE LEFT: Mother bringing children to the Rev. William Ellery Channing monument. Engraving by Smillie, from Walter, 1847. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. OPPOSITE RIGHT: Hannah Adams monument on Walnut Avenue, near Central Sq. Engraving by Smillie, from Walter, 1847. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. RIGHT: Putnam family lot with Appleton monument in background. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Photograph by Richard Cheek

Bigelow Chapel (1846) Mount Auburn is a nondenominational cemetery, but the founder’s original plan wanted a chapel to have funeral services. Original plans, called for a Doric Temple on one of the hills in the eastern side of the cemetery near Consecration Dell, labeled “Temple Hill” on the 1831 map. Consecration Dell is a natural dell and pond that was the location of the consecration ceremony, which today represent the most unchanged area of the cemetery since its opening in 1831. The chapel was delayed until the mid-1840s and by then architectural styles changed from Egyptian and neoclassical styles to Gothic influenced by the writings of British architectural theorist Augustus Welby Pugin. Many people felt that a chapel will turn Mount Auburn into a churchyard and felt there was little need for a chapel because most people funeral services in their own homes and few were staring to hold burial services in churches. As the cemetery gained popularity, funerary services were held more in the open in the beautiful picturesque landscape at the grave to tomb rather than in their homes. This increase in funerary services at the cemetery led to Bigelow calling for a need for a “public” structure providing shelter for services in bad weather. In 1844, the trustees created a competition for a new chapel for six local architects. The chosen design was one that Bigelow

snuck into the competition which was designed in a Protestant Gothic style, with subtle gestures of Egyptian styles. The chapel was completed in 1846. Bigelow Chapel has a simple central nave, sixty feet by forty feet and eighty feet high. Light comes in from a small circular clearstory window, and on the opposite side is a tall painted glass window. Large octagonal columns are placed along the exterior instead of buttresses. Since the chapel was built of granite, there had to be a simple design because of the hard material choice. The final site of the chapel changed from “Temple Hill” to a plateau just west of the Central Avenue near the cemetery entrance. Land was purchased to reroute roads, providing access to the chapel and expanding the width of the road in front of the chapel to seventy-five feet to allow for parking for funerals. At the same time, the entrance to the chapel was lowered to be a ground level so casket did not have to be carried up steps for funeral services. Bigelow’s design of the rose window on the south side facing the sun and light depicting two cherubs from Raphael’s painting of the Madonna di San Sisto representing brief immortality. On the North window there is a representation of death facing the cold and darker side. A crematorium was added to the Bigelow Chapel in 1897, making Mount Auburn the first crematory in

New England operated by a cemetery. Later, in 1900, the first cremation took place and since then, more than 60,000 cremations have been performed at Mount Auburn. Since the initial crematory, the existing one has been updated and currently the cemetery performs more than 1,200 cremations annually.

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

OPPOSITE: Facade of Mount Auburn’s first chapel. Lithograph by John Henry Bufford of Boston, Catalogue of Proprietors, 1846. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. RIGHT: Bigelow Chapel (1845), with Victorian-inspired lawn garden and Sphinx Civil War monument (1872). Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. Photograph by Richard Cheek

The Egyptian Gate (1832) Along the northern side of the cemetery there is the cemeteries main gate, The Egyptian Gateway. This was the first major addition and construction at the cemetery during the first decade. The twenty-five foot Egyptian Gateway on the Northern side of the Cemetery servicing as the main entrance to the cemetery. The original gateway was designed and began construction in 1832 and was constructed of wood and painted grey, later to be built of granite in 1843. Above the entrance there is a winged globe with an inflated body and a head like a serpent or crocodile on either side. Bigelow, added the Egyptian Lotus to the decorative detail, symbolizing eternal life to cover the serpent heads, as to allow the visitor to imagine what they wish behind the Lotus leafs. The weighted globe symbolizes benign protection, and the sun with outreached wings symbolize the universal protector, and the wings symbolize the giver of life and death. Egyptian styles were chosen as a response to the intellectual and cultural trends and prior, few elite western cultures used obelisks and pyramids in funerary monuments. Although, Egyptian elements were used in English Landscape gardens in the 1830s. Early considerations for Mount Auburn favored “gates” and the concepts included a sense of durability, a gate that can stand even after civilization lay in ruins. Egyptian styles were

interpreted as promise and symbols carriages and on foot. Bicycles and of permanency because Egyptian horseback riding has always been architecture had stood any longer than prohibited in the cemetery. other architectural monuments in the world. The new design confounded some Bostonians reminiscenting them of tyrant kings and heathenism. Some were skeptical that the Egyptian style was not appropriate for a Christian burial place. Dearborn, the architect defended the Egyptian style explaining it was the “architecture of the grave, particularly adapted to the adobe of the dead with enduring character emblematic of the immortality.” (213 Linden) Not only was the landscape a symbol of death, but also the entry gate would be as well. Other explanations include a symbolism defined by Bigelow comparing the landscape to Egyptian sculptures and paintings “the symbolism of Mount Auburn’s landscape itself had Egyptian origins. The pyramid was representative of the mountain, the holy hill, the divine sanctuary cut in the mountain, i.e., the tomb…the mountain was sacred among the Egyptians as the abode of the dead, and was identical with the sepulcher… the future state.” (214, Linden) The hill in the landscape became an emblem of death as the pyramid was a funerary symbol, associated with the departed. Cars were permitted in the cemetery in1908 and gates for cars were added. Prior to that however, visitors entered the cemetery in Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

OPPOSITE: Mount Auburn’s twentyifive foot Egyptian gate, designed by Bigelow and built in 1832 with wood and painted like sand to look like stone, later to be rebuilt out of granite in 1843. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. RIGHT: Photo of the Egyptian Gate. Photograph by Andrew Kotleski

Washington Tower (1852) In 1811, prior to Mount Auburn’s founding, Josiah Quincy and Joseph Story proposed building a monument to the nation’s first president. They wanted the monument to be more architectural rather than sculptural and a site that was atop steep high hills that were not difficult to access were desired. At the same time, the Bunker Hill monument was being constructed in Boston and the ideas of a monument both in Boston and to the West of Boston began to…. “Present a prominent and imposing feature in the landscape, of which it becomes the center, serving for commemoration and giving the city historical monuments atop a prominent hill to the west as well as on Bunker Hill in the east.” (228, Linden) Mount Auburn was chosen as the site for the tower, “the hill rising 125 feet above the Charles River was so ‘crowned,’ it would become ‘a most interesting place of resort, as commanding an extensive panoramic view of that richly variegated region of magnificent scenery, embraced within the far distant heights which encircle the metropolis [Boston].” (228, Linden) Before the opening of the cemetery there were many design competitions for structures in the cemetery. Bigelow submitted many entries of towers, a Gothic Tower, Grecian Tower and a Doric temple, eventually leading to the George Washington Tower.

Construction of the NormanGothic style tower at Mount Auburn began in 1852. Although the tower was never officially named the George Washington Tower, it was commonly seen as monument to America’s first president, George Washington. It serves as a visual landmark, “embellishing the picturesque” (229, Linden) that can be seen from afar and raw visitors near as well as a place to see as far as possible, the tower Serve the double purpose of a landmark to identify the spot from a distance and of an observatory commanding an uninterrupted view of the country around it.” (229, Linden) A dark narrow circular stair case rises up the center of the granite tower The tower is made of granite and has a narrow dark circular staircase inside that visitors can ascend to the top to get a full view of the Boston area all the way to the ocean on clear days, “one visitor judged the view ‘equal perhaps to what is obtained from the monument of Bunker Hill or the cupola of the Capital’ atop Beacon Hill.” Washington Tower is atop the highest point in the cemetery.

Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

OPPOSITE: View from Consecration Dell. Lithograph by [Louis] Prang and [Julius] Mayer, Boston 1861. Source: Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Bostonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007. RIGHT: Washington Tower, 2014. Andrew Kotleski

Photograph by

Crematorium Site & Context The proposed project site is situated on the Western side of the cemetery along Grove Street, on a section of the cemetery bordering Newly Weds Food Inc. and a Roman Catholic Cemetery. Early investigations examined smaller open areas adjacent to the current funeral chapels and crematorium near the Main Gate, in the North along Mount Auburn Street as potential project sites. Current processions at Mount Auburn Cemetery lead visitors through cemetery paths and roads to Bigelow or Story Chapel. The project sites close proximity could allow the proposed project to gain simple access to Grove Street, but the importance of entering and exiting from the Cemetery had more significance and meaning. Similarly to the existing procession to Bigelow and Story Chapel, visitors would experience the cemetery though paths and internal roads. The longer procession

through the cemetery offers a transition from the busy outside world to new funerary chapel, crematorium and burial area. Symbolically, the importance of processing from the cemetery, enhancing the mourners or visitors experience with a immersion of monuments celebrating life and death. Procession to the new site takes visitors from the Main Entrance on a three minute drive from Mount Auburn Street, or a thirty second drive from the Grove Street Entrance.

ABOVE TOP LEFT: Path sign in Mount Auburn OPPOSITE: Site Context Diagram Cemetery. 2014. Photograph by Andrew Kotleski Procession from Main Gate (3 min Driving) Procession from Grove Street Gate (30 seconds Driving ABOVE RIGHT: Graves along procession from Main Gate to proposed site. 2014. Photograph by Andrew Existing Procession to Existing Chapels Kotleski ABOVE BOTTOM LEFT: Graves along procession from Main Gate to proposed site. 2014. Photograph by Andrew Kotleski

Exisitng Chapels

Site Boundary

Bench

Mount Auburn Street Main Entrance

Story Chapel

Bench

Bench Bench

Bench

Bench Bench Bench

Bigelow Chapel

Bench

Sign

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Bench

Municipal Cemetery

Washington Tower

Bench

Roman Catholic Cemetery Bench

Grove Street Entrance

Bench

Project Site

Bench

les har

C Bench

Gate

r Rive

Bench Bench

Bench

Existing Site Plan Roman Catholic Cemetery

Lower Site Entry Point Lowest Site Elevatiion 107’-0”

Edge of existing burial zones

Newly Wed’s Food INC.

Highest Site Elevation 128’-0” Higher Site Entry Point

Concrete Retaining Wall Parking Area

Mount Auburn Cemetery Greenhouse Service Access Road

G r o v e

S t r e e t

Property Line

e o v G r

e t r e S t

The existing site is one of the few places at Mount Auburn Cemetery that is still open and undeveloped. Currently, mounds of dirt, mulch, brush piles and small facilities buildings occupy the site. In total, the site is 174,954 sqft (4.01 acres, including the greenhouse and parking area), while the buildable area is 144,293 sqft (3.31 acres). There is an existing service access road connecting Grove Street to the entire site on the North Western side of the side along Newly Wedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Food Inc. Lining the site boundary along the service road and Newly Weds Food Inc. is a concrete retaining wall lined with tall pine trees. Existing burial zones border the

site on the south eastern side limiting two access point to the site. One entry point accesses the parking area and the other is at the bottom. Due to the complexity, and disrespect of relocating remains, the access points will not be changed. Currently, a dense line of trees and shrubs surrounds most of the boundaries and delineates the proposed site from the burial zones currently used in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

OPPOSITE: Annotated Exisiting Site Plan TOP: Photo looking from burial areas into the site along the higher access path leading into the proposed site. Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski TOP MIDDLE: Photo looking from burial areas into the site along the lower entry path leading into the proposed site. Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski BOTTOM MIDDLE: Photo lookig up from the bottom of the site along the service road. Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski BOTTOM: Photo looking towards the dense tree and shrub line delinating the boundary between the proposed site and the existing burial zones. Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski

Existing Site Section The site slopes 21’-0” over 480’ from the high elevation at the parking lot to the lowest elevation on the Northern side. The Section below shows the stepping concrete retaining wall along the Newly Wed’s Food Inc. site boundary. Turning the corner, the wall becomes lower and changes material from concrete to a corrugated metal wall about 7’-0” high dividing the Roman Catholic Cemetery to the North from Mount Auburn Cemetery. A new 9200 sqft green-house fronts Grove Street on the southern side of the site. The green house is an all glass and steel structure standing 24’-0” tall. The highest elevation is at the parking lot situated behind the green-house

PRO

and the lowest elevation is at the Northern side of the side opposite the green-house. The green-house is the first phase of an ongoing project that include a new chapel, columbarium, parking area and a landscaped burial area to the cemetery.

Mount Auburn Cemetery Greenhouse

Parking Area

ODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

OPPOSITE TOP: Photo looking from Grove Street towards the Green-House and service entry. Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski LEFT: Photo looking North down the existing site at a small flower garden, untilite shed and piles of mulch, soil and brush. Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski TOP RIGHT: Photo of the corregated wall dividing the Roman Catholic Cemetery and Mount Aubrun Cemetery. Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski BOTTOM RIGHT: Photo looking along the concrete retaining wall seperating the boundary between Mount Auburn Cemetery and Newly Weds Food Inc. Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski BELOW: Annotated Longitudional section through the existing site.

21’-0” Grade change from the top of site to the bottom of the site

Concrete Retaining Wall

Roman Catholic Cemetery (Private)

128’-0” Elevation 107’-0” Elevation Concrete & Corrigated Metal Wall

Codes and Regulations Roman Catholic Cemetery

30ft Rear Set Back

Edge of existing burial zones Total Lot Size: 174,945 sqft (4.01 acres) Total Buildable Area: 144,293 sqft (3.31 acres)

Newly Wedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Food INC.

25ft Side Set Back

Parking Area

Mount Auburn Cemetery Greenhouse Property Line

25 ft Front Set Back

G r o v e

S t r e e t

e o v G r

e t r e S t

OPPOSITE: Site drawing, showing the property line and the proper set back measurments on the site. BELOW: Zoning Map of Watertown, Massachusetts. Most of Mount Auburn Cemetery is zoned Historic green, however the propsoed site for the new crematorium is zoned light grey (Industrial-2). Source: Watertown Zoning Board of Appeals, 2008 I MA MP LE PK TON WY

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MASSACHUSETTS AS AMENDED: July 8, 2008

Because the site abuts a residential zone, the setbacks are slightly altered according to Section 5.05, Notes to Table of Dimensional Regulations. “For all uses allowed by special permit in the I-1, I-2 and I-3 districts no part of any structure when abutting a residential zoning district shall be closer than twenty-five (25) feet to the property line of said residential district and structures between twenty-five (25) and thirty-five (35) feet of said property line shall not exceed a height of twenty-five (25) feet and two (2) stories, structures between thirty-five (35) and fifty (50) feet of said property line shall not exceed thirty-

WATERTOWN

BROWN ST

DWIGHT ST

CLUB

MAP OF

WATERTOWN SQUAREOREN

ST EE GR

AR M

ZONING !

Min. Lot Size (s.f.) n/a Min. Frontage 50 ft. Front Set Back 25 ft. Side Set Back 25 ft. Rear Set Back 30 ft. Max. Building Coverage 50% Max. Impervious Coverage 90% Max. Height 50ft./5 Stories Max. FAR 2.0 Min. Open Space 10%

six (36) feet and three (3) stories, and structures beyond fifty (50) feet of said property line shall be allowed fifty (50) feet and five (5) stories. Further, in the required twenty-five (25) foot setback for all structures at least fifteen (15) feet of said area shall be landscaped to serve as a year-round visual buffer where the proposed project abut a residential zoning district.”

According to the Watertown zoning map, the site at Mount Auburn Cemetery is zoned I-2, Industrial – 2. The local zoning ordinances, 2014 require a special permit for new construction of religious, funeral parlors and undertaker uses. Dimensional regulations are shown below for districts categorized under I-2:

OVERLAY DISTRICTS

CENTRAL BUSINESS

RESIDENTIAL .75

HISTORIC OVERLAY DISTRICT

LIMITED BUSINESS

RESIDENTIAL 1.2

ASSISTED LIVING OVERLAY

NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESS

SINGLE FAMILY (S-10)

ARSENAL OVERLAY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT

INDUSTRIAL - 1

SINGLE FAMILY (S-6)

DESIGN OVERLAY DISTRICT

INDUSTRIAL - 2

SINGLE FAMILY CONVERSION

RELIGIOUS/SCHOOL BUILDING OVERLAY

INDUSTRIAL - 3

TWO FAMILY

LIMITED REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT

PLEASANT STREET CORRIDOR

OPEN SPACE/CONSERVANCY

REVITALIZATION OVERLAY DISTRICT

230

0.05

460

920

1,380

1,840 Feet

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4 Miles

Map last updated June 7, 2011

µ 79

Codes and Regulations SECTION 6.01 REQUIRED OFF-STREET of the applicant to show on the site PARKING SPACES plan for the proposed development the provision of adequate automobile The minium number of off-street maneuvering space acceptable to parking spaces required for a Funeral the Planning Board. In addition to the parlor or Under taker are as followed: above requirements, the applicant may reduce the width of not more than ten 1 per 5 seats or percent (10%) of the required parking 1 per 50 sq. ft. in parlor, whichever is spaces, and not more than ten percent greater (10%) of any parking spaces in excess of the required amount which he may SECTION 6.02 LOCATION AND DESIGN choose to provide, to eight (8) feet. OF OFF STREET PARKING SPACES Except as required in Sections 6.02 (d), Areas of required Off-street parking (e), (f) or (n) below, each required offmay be open or enclosed in a structure street parking space shall have direct provided that if open, such areas shall access to an aisle or drive-way having be graded, drained and surfaced in a minimum width of twenty-four (24) conformance with currently applicable feet in the case of two-way traffic or the engineering standards as determined following widths in the case of one-way and promulgated by the Superintendent traffic only: of the Department of Public Works. In no instance shall surface drainage be permitted to drain into land of adjacent Angle of Parking Minimum Aisle Width property owners or the Town right of way except in the case of single and Parallel 12 feet two-family homes. 30 11 feet 45 13 feet Except as provided in Section 6.02(n) 60 18 feet below, each required off-street parking 90 20 feet space shall be marked and shall not be less than eight and one-half (8 1/2) feet No driveway or sidewalk opening in width and eighteen (18) feet in length providing access to an area of required for angle parking or twenty-two (22) feet off-street parking spaces, measured at in length for parallel parking, exclusive the street lot line may be more than of drives, walks and maneuvering twenty-four (24) feet, except as allowed space. It shall be the responsibility in Section 6.02(i) below. In addition, no

such driveways or sidewalk openings shall have shrubs, walls, signs or fences in excess of thirty (30) inches in height from the entrance of the driveway to a point fifteen (15) feet into such driveway or in excess of thirty six (36) inches along the front lot line. No area of the required Building Front Yard shall be used for parking or driveway area. Except as set forth in Section 6.02(j) and 6.02(n), the surfaced area of offstreet parking areas shall be set back a minimum of eight (8) feet from all buildings and lot lines except as allowed in Section 6.02(e). Such setback areas, except for entrance and exit drives, shall be properly landscaped with grass, trees, shrubs, flowers, or other landscaping materials. In addition, at least five (5) percent of the interior of any parking area with twenty (20) or more parking spaces shall be landscaped and continuously maintained. Planting along the perimeter of a parking area whether for required screening or general landscaping, shall not be considered as part of this five (5) percent landscaping.

SECTION 6.07 BICYCLE PARKING

Any property owner required to have bicycle parking may elect to establish Under Section 6.07, Bicycle parking is a shared bicycle parking facility with required: any other property owner within the same block to meet the combined Off street bicycle parking shall be requirements. provided as follows: The following uses are exempt from One bicycle parking space for every these requirements: Funeral parlor, 15 automobile parking spaces, with a undertaker, automobile repair or body minimum of 4 and a maximum of 50 shop, gas station, and car wash. spaces, must be provided. No bicycle parking is required where fewer than 15 These requirements may be varied by automobile parking spaces are required. the Board of Appeals by Special Permit, based upon a determination that the Each bicycle parking space shall be proposed bicycle parking facilities will sufficient to accommodate a bicycle adequately address the purposes of this 7 feet in length and 2 feet in width. section. Inverted U frame racks that support the bicycle at two or more points above and on either side of the bicycle's center of gravity are required. An alternative style of rack that, in the opinion of the Zoning Board of Appeals, provides a comparable level of security and convenience may be provided. Racks must be secured to the ground. It is recommended that half be provided as long term parking, safe and secure from vandalism and theft, and protected from the elements. The other half shall be provided as short term (customer or visitor) parking, and it is recommended that these spaces be visible and convenient to building entrance.

International Code Council. [International Codes]. 2012 ed. Washington, DC: International Code Council, 2011.

PROGRAM & REQUIREMENTS 83

Project Statement To meet the demands of the growing population and lack of burial space, primarily in urban areas, cremation is becoming more popular. Cremation offers a more economical and space saving method of interment. Themes/Architectural Intentions. This thesis will investigate the rituals associated with funerals, particularly cremation and the particular process involved. Funerary architecture has â&#x20AC;&#x153;a duty of representing the threshold between two phases of human ex-

Below: Burial methods diagram, showing the relation between the deceased and the living.

istence: life and its end.â&#x20AC;? (C3 Journal) Grieving after a tremendous loss such as death is difficult and often times, people resort to the extraordinary. Four main themes that are used in religious atmospheres and are intended to become themes for this thesis project are: Proportions, Light, Colors and Materials. Most importantly, nature is often included with funerary rituals as a side image of something greater to help mourners overcome the sense of death. Metaphysically nature represent the cycle of life showing both the living and the dead.

with the living friend and family. Understanding the way that the deceased can be presented to the living is important, some methods have the deceased buried with usually a stone grave stone or tree/planting to be a device for representing the deceased. The use of cremation can allow for multiple methods, of scattering the remains over a scared place, containing the remains in an urn housed in a niche wall, used as fertilizer to grow plants continuing the cycle of life. The height at which the remains are displayed is important for ease of access and ability to pray.

As the cremation industry grows, this thesis introduces a new model for crematorium and funerary architecture. The funeral industry in America is very clichĂŠ and scattered with many separate parts, and this thesis will apply ideas learned from precedents, primarily in Europe where cremation and death are treated differently. Influenced by funerary architecture of primarily Europe this model will display a facility that combines all aspects of the funerary industry in one building. Much of Spanish funerary architecture, known as Tanatorios, which

translates to the study of death which are usually located adjacent to a cemetery containing the morgue, funeral home, a chapel, and methods of disposal, generally crematoriums. These facilities house all the elements that are part of the funerary ritual. At the same time, rituals are a very important part of any funeral service, the sequence of particular events can guide people through the grieving process. This thesis investigates the procession and steps of the mourners through the funerary process and then reentering them back into soci-

ety. Should the rituals of death bring us closer together in a time of grief? And by redefining the rituals associated with death, can the funeral can become a celebration of life and about grieving after an extraordinary loss? In summary the reason for choosing a crematorium for the subject of my thesis is to design a model showing modifications to the rituals of death. The thesis will become an exploration of different cultures and there rituals of death and how architecture and landscapes relationship with death.

Client/Where The project will be sited at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The cemetery is facing similar problems that most cemeteries are facing, a lack of burial space. Privately owned and operated, the cemetery is managed by the Mount Auburn Board of Trustees. The cemetery is available to anyone who wishes use the services there or internment.

"Death and Architecture: Building the end, Architecture of Memorial." C3 Korean Journal, no. 345: 22-25.

What is Cremation? “Cremation is one of the elementary forms of human behavior, uniting, as it does, fire and death, two of the most fundamental features of existence.” (Davies, Introduction) In cremation, fire combines with death in most societies in an industrial methods, but al cremation techniques offer an invaluable grounded means of coping with death and reflecting on the meaning of life. “Cremation is the process by which human remains are reduced to bone fragments –not ashes–by heat and evaporation. The container holding the body is placed in a specially designed combustion chamber called a retort where the cremation occurs. At the end of the cremation, the bone fragments are taken out of the retort and reduced to a uniform size by mechanical means, any recognizable metal from any prostheses or the container having been removed. Depending upon the size of the body, there are approximately six to nine pounds of bone fragments left after the cremation. Each cremation is done individually and carefully to ensure correct identification. Throughout the process, the remains are handled with dignity and respect. Cremation is a simple, clean, affordable and dignified process that is increasingly gaining in popularity.

The same options available to those choosing casket burial are open to those choosing cremation. A wake and funeral with the body present in a casket may be held prior to cremation, or a memorial service without the body may be held either before or after cremation. Either service may be as simple or for- mal as desired. A practical benefit of cremation is that it gives you the opportunity to plan a memorial service and burial for the most convenient time, which can be some time after a death. Cremation also gives you the option of dividing the remains for scattering and/or burial in more than one location. Cremation is not the end of the process. The cremated remains are placed in a cardboard box acceptable for burial and are returned to the person signing the cremation authorization or to the funeral director. An urn can be purchased to store the remains and the urn can be stored in a niche at a cemetery. It is strongly encourage families to arrange for the placement of cremated remains in a permanent site, such as a cemetery. Often people choose to scatter cremated remains but discover later that they would have preferred a burial site to which they could return and which future generations could visit.”

Text quoted from “Understanding Cremation”, Mount Auburn Cemetery.

6’-0”

3’-0”

0’-0”

Life Scale

V.S.

Death Scale

Davies, Douglas James, and Lewis H. Mates. Encyclopedia of Cremation.Online-Ausg. ed. Aldershot, England [u.a.]: Ashgate, 2005 “Understanding Cremation”, Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Proposed Program Program Component

Net Area

Units

Total Net Area

General Remarks

Incinerator Room Committal Room Manager’s Office Staff Room Sales Manager’s Office Sales Show Room Administration Courtyard Staff ADA Bathroom Storage Public ADA Bathroom Public Changing Room Janitor Closet Reception Area Entry Lobby Small Chapel Transition Garden Processing Center Equipment Storage Walk-in Refrigerator Urn Storage Entry Processing Room Garage Mechanical

1000 800 240 280 220 340 420 50 440 50 140 50 550 1200 600 420 220 30 400 120 500 1000 2200

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1000 800 240 280 220 340 420 100 440 100 140 50 550 1200 600 420 220 30 400 130 500 1000 2200

2 Retorts 2 Committal Mechanisms

Entry Portico Large Chapel Reflection/Pray Chapel Chorus/ Music Area Preparation Room Public ADA Bathroom Extra Seat Storage Mechanical

800 2000 400 120 120 50 120 400

1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1

800 2000 400 120 120 100 120 400

Entry/Exit Portico

6500

Crematorium

Adjacent to Sales Manager’s Office A Changing room adjacent to one of the bathrooms Adjacent ADA Bathroom Includes Small Kitchette for Coffee, Etc. Adjacent to Entry Courtyard Adjacent to Light Courtyard, 15 Seats Side Image from Chapel to Committal Adjacent to Urn Storage and Incinerator Room Lift Table Storage Area 12-18 Body Storage Capacity, Adjacent to Entry Processing and Incinerator Room Adjacent to Processing Center, 300 Urn Capacity Adjacent to Garage and Walk-in Refrigerator 2 Hearse Storage/ Indoor Loading/Unloading Area

Chapel 64 Seats 24 Seats Adjacent to Large Chapel, with Hidden Access

Covered Portico with areas for gathering

Burials 60 Trees 1890 Burials Reflecting Pool 1200 1 1200 Reflection Garden 1600 1 1600

Total Program

Cellar Burials offering both Traditional and Urn Storage

24,740 sq.ft 87

Program Specifications: Retort Specifications Height: Height with Door Cap:

8’-0” 9’-6”

Width:

8’-5”

Length:

10’-8”

Weight:

35,000lbs.

Stack Sections Height:

5’-0” (each section)

Width:

30” O.D.

Weight

650lbs (each section)

Site Specifications The concrete pad should be at least 4” thick (6” if possible). The roof hole size should be approximately 42” diamerter with no combustibles closer than 18” from the stack, or 6” from the stack with a stack thimble Floor must be noncombustible "Phoenix II-3 Installation Manual." B&L Cremation Systems INC. http://www.blcremationsystems.com. B&L Cremation Systems, Inc. 7205 114th Avenue North, Largo, Florida 33773, 2013

Program Specifications: Retort

Clearences

Minimum Clearence To any Combustible

Reccommended Working Clearance

Top of Machine to Ceiling:

Minimum 6”

Minimum 2’-0”

Side of Machine to Wall:

Minimum 6”

Back of Machine to Wall With Clean Out:

Minimum 18”

Minimum 4’-0”

Front of Machine to Wall:

Minimum 48”

Minimum 8’-0”

Stack to Roof:

Minimum 6” with Thimble

Thermocouple Location:

Minimum 6”

Minimum 2’-0”

"Phoenix II-3 Installation Manual." B&L Cremation Systems INC. http://www.blcremationsystems.com. B&L Cremation Systems, Inc. 7205 114th Avenue North, Largo, Florida 33773, 2013

Program Specifications: Retort Ventilation Stack Detail

"Phoenix II-3 Installation Manual." B&L Cremation Systems INC. http://www.blcremationsystems.com. B&L Cremation Systems, Inc. 7205 114th Avenue North, Largo, Florida 33773, 2013

Program Specifications: Retort Fresh Air Louvers

"Phoenix II-3 Installation Manual." B&L Cremation Systems INC. http://www.blcremationsystems.com. B&L Cremation Systems, Inc. 7205 114th Avenue North, Largo, Florida 33773, 2013

Program Specifications: Retort Natural Gas

"Phoenix II-3 Installation Manual." B&L Cremation Systems INC. http://www.blcremationsystems.com. B&L Cremation Systems, Inc. 7205 114th Avenue North, Largo, Florida 33773, 2013

Program Specifications: Support Equiptment Auto Loader

Hydraulic Lift Table

The Autoloader is at table that is set to the height of the door to the Retort. The deceased and the container they are in are placed on the table which is plugged into the Retort for full automation. The auto loader can be controlled manually or be fully automated from a separate viewing room.

The Hydraulic Lift Table can be used for loading the retort, but it more commonly used to transport and more the deceased around in the crematory/morgue. The table has adjustable height to allow for moving deceased to shelves in refrigerator units and other platforms. At the same time the Hydraulic Lift Table is a scale to accurately weigh the deceased to accurately determine the cremation time and settings which are all based on body weight.

Specifications

Length Width Control Panel)

84” 42” (52” With

Table Size Height Weight

32” x 84” Machine Door 500lbs

Length 79” Width 22 ¼” x 72” Lowered Height 21 ½” Raised Height 74 ½” Capacity 650lbs Weight 400lbs Power 12 Volts DC (110 Volts Battery Charger)

“Cremation Supplies and Accessory Equiptment Catelog ." B&L Cremation Systems INC. http://www.blcremationsystems.com. B&L Cremation Systems, Inc. 7205 114th Avenue North, Largo, Florida 33773, 2013

Program Specifications: Support Equiptment Processing Center

Cardboard Casket

After the remaining bone fragments and ash is removed from the retort, they must be ground up into a smaller dust like substance. Once the fragments from the retort are stripped of any metal, they are placed in the processor to be gorund up. The processor acts smilar to a food blender for processor. The processed remains are placed directly in an awaiting urn.

The deceased is kept in a casket, commonly crematoriums use tick carboard caskets but sometimes wooden caskets are used. The casket makes the process easier to perform and easier to view. The cardboard caskets are double walled to prevent leakage.

Specifications

Length Width Height Weight Power

24” 42 ½” 48” 520lbs 110V/ 60 Hz/ 30 AMPS

Top 74” x 21 ¼” x 10” Bottom 74” x 21 ¼” x 10”

“Cremation Supplies and Accessory Equiptment Catelog ." B&L Cremation Systems INC. http://www.blcremationsystems.com. B&L Cremation Systems, Inc. 7205 114th Avenue North, Largo, Florida 33773, 2013

Walk-In-Cooler

Urn

A walk-in-cooler is needed to store deceased both before the deceased are embalmed and since most bodies are not embalmed for cremation they are kept in a cooler to prevent decay.

An Urn is a container that holds cremated remains. There are many options, some simple, other elaborate. Common materials are bronze, marble, wood, granite, ceramic, or plactic. The options of urn designs are endless, they come in all shpes, sizes, and materials, etc.

If a public viewing period is desired during the funeral processions, it is often common to embalm the deceased for the asthetic reasons. Massachusetts law requires a 48-hour waiting period before a cremation can be perfromed, except when a medical examiner determins infectious diesease.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cremation Supplies and Accessory Equiptment Catelog ." B&L Cremation Systems INC. http://www.blcremationsystems.com. B&L Cremation Systems, Inc. 7205 114th Avenue North, Largo, Florida 33773, 2013

Columbarium Wall The Columbarium is a structure that contains niches housing deceased urns containing the body fragments. The columbarium is commonly constructed as a wall containing hundreds or even thousands of niches offering a new method saving space as cemeteries fill up. Niches are small cubbies that vary in sizes, allowing for one or

more urns in a niche. The niches are enclosed with either a solid cover or a glass cover allowing for the viewers to view the remains. According to Forrest Hills Cemetery, the niches that are most desired are the one at eye level or lower, because they are the easiest to see and ease for mourners to stand, kneel, or sit in front of the remains.

The Remains are kept in urns, which are containers that hold the bone fragments. Urns come in many shapes and sizes, from cylinders boxes and vase shaped containers.

LEFT: Columbarium Wall with niches at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington D.C. Photograph taken by Peter J. Romains OPPOSITE: Columbarium diagram

The most common purchased niches are at or around eye level, which are the easiest to see. At the same time, the niches from the eye level down are will be desired to allow for easy praying at the same level of the remains.

Family Niche

Companion Niche

Single Niche

Jones, Rob. "Memorial Cemetery: Collumbarium Wall." Municipality of Anchorage. http://www.muni.org/Departments/health/cemetery/Pages/columbarium.aspx.

ARCHITECTURAL PRECIDENTS 99

Crematorium Precedent: Woodland Cemetery Crematorium Woodland Cemetery Crematorium Gunnar Asplund Woodland Cemetery, Stockholm Sweden 1933-1940 40,000 sq. ft.

In Stockholm, Sweden, Gunnar Asplund working with Sigurd Lewerentz designed a new crematorium for the city. Early designs portrayed a sequence of mourners proceeding up a gentle sloped path towards a large cross signifying the funeral chapels, known as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Way of the Cross.â&#x20AC;? The large portico at the third chapel, offers a place of center and arrival providing a place for contemplation. The Way of the Cross path leads through the portico and on the south side a drive way leads up to it allowing for drop offs in inclement weather. Its large size allows for many groups to mourn and grieve without disrupting each other. The path Designed as a temple like portico, and unlike neo classical architecture

approached frontally, it is approached from the corner. Behind the portico is the third and largest chapel, which does not touch the portico to remain independent.

Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006.

100

OPPOSITE: The Way of the Cross Path. Source: Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006. RIGHT: Looking out from the portico in front of the Holy Cross chapel. Source: Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006. BELOW: The portico in front of the Holy-Cross Chapel. Source: Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006.

101

Crematoriums face great difficulty with the pressure of the numbers and serving a busy city creates a busy timetable. Funerals are continuous providing an endless number of bodies to process, yet each life merits a personal and uninterrupted service. At Woodland Cemetery, the threes chapels help alleviate the process, but the services cannot be hurried and rushed. Asplund solved this problem by providing external courts and waiting rooms between chapels for the entering funeral parties to gather before the service and while the other funeral service is ending. The procession of the mourners is an import part of the grieving process, Asplund designed the methods of procession throughout, guiding mourners on a path of grieving. Funeral members slip through a tight space between two walls into external courts allowing incoming parties to go into before the service, Next the funeral party enters the waiting space acting as a transition space between the entry court and the chapel. Proceeding from the transition space, the mourners enter the chapel for funeral ceremony. From there they enter the chapel space and see the deceased in the front on a podium. After the funeral, the mourners leave through a different courtyard, one that is more open and light reflecting on the landscape. The

cremation and other services are below and the deceased is raised on lift to the funeral chapels. At the same time, the next funeral is discreetly entering th chapel, the exiting funeral party is gathering outside the exit doors in an external courtyard where they meet and talk with friends and family before reentering society after the great loss.

Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006.

102

ABOVE: Procession diagram OPPOSITE TOP: Plan of the Woodland Crematorium OPPOSITE BELOW: The processional sequence, 1. The Entry court, 2. The waiting room, 3. The chapel, 4. The commitial room, 5. The exit courtyard. Image Sources: Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006.

103

Woodland crematorium contains three chapels, Faith, Hope and Holy Cross, which is the biggest of the three with the portico in front of it. The three chapels are similar, all bringing light from the south through windows directing light on the casket. Each chapel is surrounded by many exterior and interior spaces linking the funerary procession. A curved rear focusing attention on the casket and provides acoustics. At the same time many subtle design techniques focus one attention on the casket, such as the light, the tile pattern, and seating layouts. Asplund designed the chapel procession with the idea that one will not walk along the same path as they came, leaving the grief behind.

Asplund’s design offers subtle moves directing views to the deceased using slightly tapered floors to the deceased, floor patterns all point towards the deceased and light coming from one side shining on the deceased. There is distinct separation between the service and cremation area and the funeral area. As shown in the plan there is a distinct separation from the cremation services to the rear of the chapels with a long corridor connecting the three chapels. “Behind this line a kind of Functionalist efficiency reigns, and the architectural vocabulary is not dissimilar to that of the Bacteriological Laboratories.” (Jones) This allows the personal of the Woodland crematorium to place and

collect wreaths and flowers between funerals. Service vehicles that handle the bodies enter around the back at a lower level to bring the bodies in. From there the bodies are handled and prepared for the funeral. When the funerals occur, the deceased is raised from the service area below, so the funeral party never sees the personal handling the casket.

Chapel

ABOVE: Chapel to Service Diagram BELOW: Section through chapel and service area showing the lift and creamtion rooms in relation to the chapels above. Source: Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006. OPPOSITE: Chapel of Faith. Source: Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006.

Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006.

104

105

The corpse disposal occurs in the floor below the chapels. Asplund explained that the process should never seem too mechanical. A distinct separation between the chapels and the cremation services is shown in the plan, expressing a clear “front stage” and backstage.” After corpse is delivered by the hearse, bodies are stored in a refrigerated morgue buried behind the first columbarium. When it is time for a funeral the corpse are rolled along the central “spine” corridor to the respected chapel and raised by a hydraulic lift up into the chapel. This process does not allow the casket to be carried into the funeral, but it keep the paths of the deceased and the living separate. “This sectional arrangement

avoids the spectacle of coffins being carried about and gives them a journey of their own, without threatening to pollute by association entrances used by mourners.” (Jones) Following the service, the casket is lowered down on the hydraulic lift in a similar motion of burial. Asplund noted “that this not be done until everyone had left, so that the mechanization of the process would not corrupt the ritual. If the party chooses to they can opt to watch the casket be committed into the crematory. The casket is presented to the family and is taken to the crematorium through coffin shaped doors. To keep with the efficiency of modern crematoriums, the body is not cremated directly

after it is committed, but is rather committed in the cremator room where the professionals will cremate when they are ready for it.

BOTTOM LEFT: The Furnace Room. BOTTOM CENTER:The committal chamber. BOTTOM RIGHT: The rear of the complex with the deliery drive and chimneys. OPPOSITE: The exit door and the exit courtyard. Image Sources: Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006.

Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006.

106

The most important part of the process is the end of the procession when the mourners leave and reenter the world after the funeral service. At Woodland Crematorium, visitors exit through a set of double doors into a smaller half walled court yard. Proceeding the service, the mourners leave the chapel and within the small exit court they can exchange words before they depart back into society. The smaller exit courtyard is separate from the entrance courtyard as to allow the incoming funeral party to slip into the entry court without being noticed by the exiting party. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Following a service, the main portico and the open forecourts of the lesser chapels provide for the delicate moment of sharing when friends and relatives

exchange a few strained words of condolence before departingâ&#x20AC;ŚThe line of columbaria on the way down the hill provides departing guests with a further set of contemplative spaces where they can find privacy or gather in groups before returning to the city.â&#x20AC;?(Jones) Leaving the ceremony is the most important part of the funeral procession because it is the moment when the mourners leave the deceased for the last time and at that point the deceased is merely a memory.

Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006.

107

Crematorium Precedent: Crematorium of Kedainiai, Lithuania Crematorium of Kedainiai, Lithuania Architectural Bureau G. Natkevicius & Partners 2011 This precedent is quite smaller than Asplunds crematorium, but the procession is very similar. The funerary sequence is inwardly focused with porous walls that gradually become solid neglecting the outside world. The surrounding context is an industrial complex that is not ideal for mourning. On the inside there are little visual connections to the outside, and any connection between the inner spaces is nonexistent. The material choice is simple and minimalist as to allow families to concentrate on a solemnly sad hour with no interference of colors and details. The processional path is very similar to that of Asplund at Woodland Cemetery. Mourners approach the heavy walled concrete crematorium and first enter into an enclosed courtyard. A lone tree inside the courtyard helps the grieving â&#x20AC;&#x153;employing natural elements to overcome death, playing nature against nature, with humanity in between.â&#x20AC;?( C3 Journal) The tree provides a side image helping users to overcome the immense idea of death. At the same time the tree symbolizes life, a funeral in many aspects should be seen as a celebration of life, not a celebration of death. The users can gather in the courtyard to talk with

friends and family offering condolences and remembering the deceased. Variable sized squares in the wall begin to taper off and end as they get further into the courtyard, slowly losing a connection with the outside world. The solid concrete walls help create an inner world within the walls, one of mourning, grief, loss, and a celebration of life. Once inside, connection with the outside world appears almost neglected, except for certain instances. The large glass walls of the interior rooms face the courtyard rather than relating to the surroundings, enforcing the idea of the inner world.

"Death and Architecture: Building the end, Architecture of Memorial." C3 Korean Journal, no. 345: 22-25.

108

OPPOSITE LEFT: Approach to the Crematorium. Source: Arch Daily CENTER:The committal chamber LEFT: The Entry Courtyard. Image Sources: Architectural Bureau G.Natkevicius & Partners. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Crematorium / Architectural Bureau G.Natkevicius & Partners.â&#x20AC;? Arch Daily. Last modified March 14, 2012. http://www.archdaily.com/216622/ crematorium-architectural-bureau-g-natkeviciuspartners/.

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Just as Asplund designed the Woodland Crematorium, Mourners are guided on a path of grieving so that they do not travel along the same path. After passing through the entry courtyard, mourners enter into a waiting space, the lobby where they gather and proceed into one of two of the chapels beyond. Then they pass through a glass wall into the entry and lobby area and gather before entering the small chapels. Once inside the Lobby, the only views the mourners have is looking back into the courtyard. The lobby serves as a marketing space to sell urns for the storage of deceased remains.

OPPOSITE TOP LEFT: Plan of the crematorium OPPOSITE TOP RIGHT: Processional sequence diagram. OPPOSITE BOTTOM: The processional sequence, 1. The Entry court, 2. The waiting room, 3. The chapel, 4. The commitial room, 5. The exit courtyard. Image Sources: Architectural Bureau G.Natkevicius & Partners. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Crematorium / Architectural Bureau G.Natkevicius & Partners.â&#x20AC;? Arch Daily. Last modified March 14, 2012. http://www.archdaily.com/216622/ crematorium-architectural-bureau-g-natkeviciuspartners/.

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Next, the mourners enter the chapel with solid walls helping them focus on the deceased which is lit from a skylight above. The skylight reinforces the focus on the deceased because the light is directly on the body. After the ceremony and viewing takes place, the mourners can either exit through out into another courtyard on the side or watch the committal, later leaving through the same smaller courtyard. Similarly, there is skylights above the casket as it is put through the committal. To keep the efficiency of the crematorium, the committal brings the casket into the cremation room, and not directly into the retort. After the body is committed, the casket containing the body will be cremated

when the time is desirable and the bone fragments would be returned to the family. There is an importance on the exit, creating a space for the family and friends to gather and talk to one another before they return to the society.

OPPOSITE LEFT: The Committial Room OPPOSITE BOTTOM RIGHT: The small chapel. ABOVE: The exit courtyard. Image Sources: Architectural Bureau G.Natkevicius & Partners. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Crematorium / Architectural Bureau G.Natkevicius & Partners.â&#x20AC;? Arch Daily. Last modified March 14, 2012. http://www.archdaily.com/216622/ crematorium-architectural-bureau-g-natkeviciuspartners/.

"Death and Architecture: Building the end, Architecture of Memorial." C3 Korean Journal, no. 345: 22-25.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 115

Conceptual Montages Early in the design process quick photo montages were created to show some of the initial concepts. The top montage on the right shows an entry courtyard with refined pallet of materials, keeping the mourners less distracted with materials. The courtyard concentrates the focus upon the tree in the center and the sky above. As with other precedents examined, a side image of nature can help with the mourning process. This montage implies mysterious concept because of the unknown which is behind the view. Offering no clues as to what is beyond the image, the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s question and become curious what happens behind the viewer, offering a sense of mystery. On the other hand, the second montage, on the bottom right shows the most important aspect of the sequence, the exit and return back into society. Columns with capitols of light offer a feeling of not being alone to mourners as they exit. The montage shows the exit leading mourners out into the cemetery. Initial concepts led to entering and leaving the procession through the cemetery rather than a

116

direct connection to the busy outside world. This would introduce a slower transition between busy urban fabric, the funeral and burial sequences. Programmatically, the funerary chapel and crematorium follow a specific procession for the mourning process. Responding to the slopping site conditions, a stepping design was an early idea, with each part of the procession terracing on a different level. The different levels separated the program, connecting them through the journey of the mourning sequence.

Early Sketches

Below ground schemes seemed like a reasonable approach for this program. Traditional burial methods emphasize a strong connection with the earth was important because of the symbolic meaning of the cycle of life and returning the ground.

Cremation has had a rough history, especially after World War II and its use by the Nazis. Expressing the chimneys was an option, but because the site was located in New England, where most burials are performed in traditional in-ground style and cremation is not popular, but a great growing method of burial. Therefore the question of expressing the chimneys was not going to be an option and the crematorium was to become a secondary focus.

The idea of processing down the slope among trees into tall funeral chapels and then proceeding to the crematorium or cemetery seemed logical and a better fit to the program at hand. Parking at the top of the site was the best solution seeing that there were only two points of entry and parking at the top will also service the cemetery green-house.

117

Early Sketches

A common theme throughout the cemetery is “Stones in the Forest” as the tombs, headstones and other burial entombments are mostly made of stones and are scattered throughout the wooded areas. Some early schemes displayed ideas of many “stone” elements scattered throughout the site to continue the stones in the forest.

118

The stones in the forest schemes had varying shapes and sizes, some containing only a few larger elements, while others had larger elements that gradually decreased in size leading towards smaller stones for burial elements, creating a field of stones. The elements were tried in various patterns, ranging from more ridged patterns and others with twisted and angled schemes playing with a natural theme. These schemes proved to contain very convoluted paths of procession and seemed to be confusing.

Death often has a strong connection with the ground. Some schemes explored the idea of splitting the program into various levels, with the chapels on top and the crematorium/burials below, similar to Asplundh crematorium at woodland cemetery. Mourners would enter through the high level of the parking into the chapel and proceed downward to the crematorium and eventually leading mourners outwards towards the lower part of the site for burial/ committal.

A lower sunken entry courtyard was explored that was covered for gathering before entering the chapels. This would take mourners on a procession through ramps downward into a shortened area which led through a portal into the chapel which would expand and open up into a larger space for the significance of the celebration of life.

Early Sketches

Most of the initial schemes situated the chapel towards the greenhouse end of the site. As show above, some schemes were explored where the chapel was at the far end of the site. This worked well because it took the mourners on a long journey through the cemetery on their procession in and out.

By examining the idea of the importance of the procession sequence, terracing schemes that separate multiple programmatic elements along the processional path at varying levels. It was important to include the ideas of descending and ascending the procession. The scheme above has three chapels facing the old cemetery terracing down the sloping terrain with the crematorium along the back of the site on the industrial side.

Linear schemes situated the entire program in a narrow long bar taking the mourners on a journey. This proved difficult, because of many varying methods people wish to mourn, some only want cremation, some want a traditional funeral, some want only a service and some do not want any service. The liner scheme did prove successful in â&#x20AC;&#x153;cappingâ&#x20AC;? the cemetery and allowing a large open area to be used for new burials.

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FINAL ARCHITECTURAL STRATGIES 121

Site Plan

Romam Catholic Cemetery

Chapel

Crematorium Cellar Burials

Existing Cemetery

Newly Wedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Food Inc.

Grove Street Entrance

Mount Auburn Cemetery Greenhouse

e G r o v

122

e t S t r e

e o v G r

e t r e S t

The importance of the procession during a funeral is expressed clearly throughout the project. Mourners, once parked at the top of the site adjacent to the cemetery greenhouse they proceed down into the site. Processing down into the site offers an experience of descending downward into the site. This decent takes the mourners deeper into the site below grade, giving a feeling of being below ground. Since cremation is not a common burial method in New England, the crematorium was to be a “side image” to the funeral chapel. The chapel was situated at the far end of the site on the North-

East side of the site. Used as an architectural buffer, the crematorium is a long linear element used to “cap” and end the cemetery. Beyond the new crematorium is a horizon of industrial factory buildings and industrial machinery. Therefore, the crematorium blocks the industrial scene from the mourning process and keep a greater separation from the outside world. The crematorium is organized with the entrance from the portico, and then into a small ceremony room (chapel), later proceeding to the committal and exiting to the North-East under the portico near the Chapel.

BELOW: 1/8” White Model Photo OPPOSITE: Project Site Plan

123

After mourners process through the entry portico, they walk along the new burial sites. If mourners choose, they enter the crematorium or proceed through to the burial area or chapel. Similar to the precedents, the project was designed with a processional sequence in mind. For the chapel, mourners descend through the portico, then walking past the burial area (through the cemetery), then through a portal and into the chapel. Mourners that are using the cremation services, again descend through the portico, entering the crematorium through a courtyard, entering a waiting area, next proceeding to the chapel, then the committal room, and finally exiting through an exit portico. This

entire process is descending, and upon reverse, the mourners ascend upwards, returning to the outside world, with the cemetery Greenhouse overlooking the mourners as a symbol of life.

RIGHT: 1/16” Chipboard model. BELOW: Long diagramatic section showing the proposed project and the cemetery context. The height of the proposed project is compared to the height of Washington tower. OPPOSITE TOP: Photo montage dsiplaying the proposed project from the parking area, showing the entirity of the project in relation to the context, both the cemetery and the surrounding buildings.

Top of Proposed Chapel, 108’-0” Above Charles River Total Height: 70’-0”, 35’-0” Below Washington Tower

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Top of Washington Tower, 125’ Above the Charles River Washington Tower Height Above Ground 56’-0”

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Entry/ Exit Portico

The first part of the procession is an entry/exit portico that covers a public area for separate parties to gather before or after a funeral. From the portico one can proceed on into the crematorium or to the chapel. Directly adjacent to the portico is a new cemetery addition with in-ground cellar burials for both traditional burial and cremation. A datum is established at the height of the portico that is at

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the same height of the ground plane at the top of the site. The relation between the grade and below grade displays a symbol associated with burial and funeral processions. This datum defines a line of which the proposed architecture are designed vertical and straight below the line and metaphorically reaches upward and outward towards the sky and world beyond.

ABOVE: 1/8â&#x20AC;? White Model Photos Showing the Portal and the New Burial Area RIGHT: Photo Montage of Concrete Portal Entry/Exit OPPOSITE TOP: Longitudional section through the Burial Area and Chapel OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Datum Line Diagram

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A datum is defined throughout the project, beginning at the entry portico continuing along the crematorium, transitioning into an exit portico. As mourners leave the crematorium, the columns gradually grow in depth as they get farther from the exit. In theory, the increase in depth will gradually turn the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s towards the burial area. Mourners can choose when they are ready to leave the crematorium, and if the mourners are not ready and would like more time to mourn, they can walk to the end of the exit portico where there is a small reflection courtyard and pond. As the portico turns the corner, the column walls turn 90 degrees allowing the mourners to process directly straight though them to the chapel entry area. Mourners processing to the chapel are able to pass through the large columns after walking past the

gradualization in depth of the columns along the datum and the burial area. Once the mourners pass through the columns, the mourners turn and proceed to the chapel. The large columns are important in the mourning process, as they provide mourners with a presence of not being alone. This presence is used upon entry and exit of both crematorium and chapel. Light passes though the portico that could be construed as the presence of something greater standing there with the columns and the mourners. Throughout the entire procession, the datum links the procession with the ground above, the ground of the outside world that they come from and will return to after the procession.

OPPOSITE LEFT: Photo Montage of the portal and datum upon entry of the Chapel RIGHT: 1/8â&#x20AC;? White Model Photo

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Crematorium

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Crematoriums are not as popular in the United States as in other countries, however in the recent decades they have gained a larger use and acceptance in the United States. Since the project site is situated at the end the cemetery and is bordering industrial complexes. The crematorium is a side image in the project, so the focus is on the chapel and burials. Acting as a architectural “wall,” the crematorium blocks the view towards the industrial complexes and ends the cemetery with a piece of program. As a linear element, the crematorium grows out of the hill, stretching the entire site. As the terrain slopes downward, the building’s roof slopes upwards subtly in multiple

directions, cresting at the point of committal and then gradually sloping downward again. The entrance to the crematorium is slightly higher than its exit and the procession follows the precedents design of a sequence of processional elements. Offices, Sales and mechanical are situated in the hill, while the reception, chapel, and cremation program are adjacent to the burial area.

OPPOSITE: Plan of the Crematorium BELOW: Diagram of the Crematorium capping the cemetery BOTTOM: 1/8” Model Photo

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Crematorium

ABOVE: Longitudional Section through the crematorium OPPOSITE RIGHT: Photo Montage of the Committial space.

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OPPOSITE LEFT: Photo Montage of the exit procession from the Crematorium with the portico on the right side. BELOW: Crematorium Section Elevation, rendered with materials. BOTTOM RIGHT: 1/8” White Model Photo BOTTOM LEFT: 1/8” White Model Photo

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Chapel

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Chapel The chapel was designed with a main large chapel for funerals and a smaller reflection chapel for praying/ reflection. Since the number of three is symbolic in many religions, I used it to design the roof. The roof is designed with three pyramidal skylights that look towards the sky and visitors are guided to look upwards and focus on the sky above. The first, shortest skylight is above a covered entry, the second is above the small pray chapel and the third, the highest one is above the main chapel and is angled upwards towards the East, symbolic in many religions. The chapel changes it playfulness at the datum. Above the datum, are the three skylights reaching upwards, while below the datum the

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walls are simply and vertical with openings relating to the colonnade supporting the datum. On the inside, the chapels light comes from the skylights above and through carved openings along the southern side. From the exterior the openings are all the same size and shape but on the inside they transform into a spiritual well lit space. Light appears to come from the side illuminating the deceased. All the openings through the walls are angled as to not allow a connection to the exterior by mourners to focus their attention on the deceased.

PREVIOUS PAGE LEFT: Chapel Plan and surrounding context. PREVIOUS PAGE RIGHT: 1/8â&#x20AC;? White Model, Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski BELOW: Section Elevation of Chapel, Rendered with materials OPPOSITE PAGE: 1/8â&#x20AC;? White Model, Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski

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Chapel

ABOVE: Section through the Chapel and existing cemetery adjacent to the Main Chapel. OPPOSITE PAGE: 1/8â&#x20AC;? White Model, Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski

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Chapel

ABOVE: Photo montage looking upwards towards sky through the skylight above the main chapel. LEFT: Photo montage of the Interior of the Chapel looking towards the altar. Southern light enters the space through a series of differening spritual openings. OPPOSITE PAGE: 1/8â&#x20AC;? White Model, Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski

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Material: Concrete A simple palette was desired to not complicate mourners and to keep the focus on the deceased and not be distracted by an over use of materials. Concrete was the material of choice because of its simple and uniform qualities, as well as its strong connection with the earth because of the materials used to make it. Benton brute style was chosen for its rough finished brutal texture to express qualities relating to the earth and trees. Death is a complex subject and the material choice focused around a simple uniform material: concrete. On

the exterior, the project uses a simple palette of mostly concrete. However, on the interior the design applied a simple white interior to reflect light. Since the surrounding context is an industrial complex that is not ideal for mourning. On the inside there are little visual connections to the outside, and any connection between the inner spaces is nonexistent. The material choice is simple and minimalist as to allow families to concentrate on a solemnly sad hour with no interference of colors and details.

ABOVE: An Image of Benton Brute Concrete, Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski OPPOSITE PAGE: Detailed section through the main chapel space showing a preliminary construction analysis. NOTE: Section is an earlier version of the Chapel, therfore does not match the final Chapel space directly.

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Burials

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Burials Defined by common casket and PREVIOUS LEFT: Burial Area Plan and surrounding context. urn sizes, the traditional cellar burials are 17’-6” deep, 7’-7 ½” and 3’-0” wide. PREVIOUS RIGHT: 1/8” White Model Photo, Showing Each cellar is split into 6 burial spaces the burial area and crematorium in background. that are filled from the bottom up with RIGHT: Burial details concrete shelves placed over each burial to commit them and allow for the next OPPOSITE: 1/8” Model Photo casket to be placed. The shallower urn cellars measure, 1’-8” deep, 7’-7 ½” and 3’-0” wide. Each cellar is capped with a topping slab with individual burial markers. The traditional markers measure 1’-6” wide and 2’-6” long. The urn markers are slightly smaller, measuring 1’-6” wide and 1’-2” long. All of the markers are of varying heights, offering a simple form of individuality, but on the other hand, the modularity, size and material link all the deceased in a sense of community. In total, there is capacity for 1,890 new burial spaces, both traditional and urn burials. The flexibility of the burial area can change the capacity of the burial space depending on the number of urn burials compared to traditional burials.

“Cremation Supplies and Accessory Equiptment Catelog ." B&L Cremation Systems INC. http://www.blcremationsystems.com. B&L Cremation Systems, Inc. 7205 114th Avenue North, Largo, Florida 33773, 2013

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Each row contains a grid of stones of varying heights for individuality. Each stone is engraved with the individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal information, if requested. Between each row of burials are rows of lined trees, providing a side image, symbolic of life. Mourners are able to visit and reflect on the deceased, but are always in the presence of life. The paving gradually transitioning into the grass as it extends farther from the crematorium and chapel. Along the paths of procession adjacent to the buildings are completely hard surfaces to provide an easier guidance to mourners. The gradual transition from hard to soft, slowly transition the project into a connection

Top Right: Montage of the burial area. Bottom Right: Diagram showing trees as a side image, symbol of life amongst the dead. OPPOSITE: 1/8â&#x20AC;? White Model, Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski

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to the existing cemetery. After leaving the entry portico, the procession still gradually slopes downward towards the chapel and exit of the crematorium. Mourners are led on a path downward subtly on their journey in and process upwards as they return to society.

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Burials

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TOP: Longitudional Section through burial area and refelction pond and open area. BOTTOM: Cross section through new burial area and existing burial areas. Opposite Page: Photo of 1/8”=1’ model. Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski

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Burials A gentle connection to the existing cemetery was desired. An ever decreasing slope of grass transitioned the endless cemetery into the site. As one processes into the project, the slope is greater near the entry portico and as one processes through the burial area towards the chapel the slope deceases and one has a greater connection with the cemetery. Initially, visitors are forced to look upwards towards trees on the old cemetery and are gently introduced to the old and new cemetery.

TOP LEFT: Cemetery diagram TOP RIGHT: 1/8” White Model Photo, Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski BELOW: Section through the entry portico and the cemetery trnaistion from old to new. Opposite Page: Photo of 1/8”=1’ model, Photo taken by Andrew Kotleski

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Final Presentation Posters, 6’x16’ W h a t h a p p e n s w h e n w e r e q u i r e a r c h i te c t u r e to d e a l w i t h t h e a f te r m a t h o f l i fe ? A n d re w Ko t l e s k i

Chapel

Crematorium

Architecture and the Inevitable

Program

December 2014

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Encompasing Cemetery

Side Image

Architectural Buffer

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Model Photos

EXIT

STORAGE

ADA RESTROOM

MECHANICAL

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MEDITATION CHAPEL

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Beneath Entry Portico RETORT

Chapel Entry

RETORT

can the funeral can become a celebration of life and about grieving after an extraordinary loss? In summary the reason for choosing a crematorium for the subject of my thesis is to design a model showing modifications to the rituals of death. The thesis will become an exploration of different cultures and there rituals of death and how architecture and landscapes respond with death.

COMMITTAL ROOM

BELOW: SITE CONTEXT DIAGRAM

SMALL CHAPEL

Procession from Main Gate (3 min Driving) Procession from Grove Street Gate (30 seconds Driving Existing Procession to Existing Chapels Exisitng Chapels Site Boundary

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This thesis will investigate the rituals associated with funerals, particularly cremation and the particular process involved. Funerary architecture has “a duty of representing the threshold between two phases of human existence: life and its end.” (C3 Journal) Grieving after a tremendous loss such as death is difficult and often times, people resort to the extraordinary. Four main themes that are used in religious atmospheres and are intended to become themes for this thesis project are: Proportions, Light, Colors and Materials. Most importantly, nature is often included with funerary rituals as a side image of something greater to help mourners overcome the sense of death. Metaphysically nature represent the cycle of life showing both the living and the dead.

troduces a new model for crematorium and funerary architecture. The funeral industry in America is very cliché and scattered with many separate parts, and this thesis will apply ideas learned from precedents, primarily in Europe where cremation and death are treated differently. Influenced by funerary architecture of primarily Europe this model will display a facility that combines all aspects of the funerary industry in one building. Much of Spanish funerary architecture, known as Tanatorios, which translates to the study of death which are usually located adjacent to a cemetery containing the morgue, funeral home, a chapel, and methods of disposal, generally crematoriums. These facilities house all the elements that are part of the funerary ritual. At the same time, rituals are a very important part of any funeral service, the sequence of particular events can guide people through the grieving process. This thesis investigates the procession and steps of the mourners through the funerary process and then reentering them back into society. Should the rituals of death bring us closer together in a time of grief? And by redefining the rituals associated with death,

GARDEN

Themes/Architectural Intentions

Designing a crematorium presents many challenges, one of which is separating the service (cremation and handling of the deceased) and the funeral service. Sometimes, people like to witness the act of committal and watch the body be placed in the cremation machine. At the same time there are two forms of procession, one is the deceased and the other is for the living. The most important aspect of any funerary project the exit, or the return to society after the service was performed. After any form of service, the memories of the deceased are continually present with the living friend and family. Understanding the way that the deceased can be presented to the living is important, some methods have the deceased buried with usually a stone grave stone or tree/planting to be a device for representing the deceased. The use of cremation can allow for multiple methods, of scattering the remains over a scared place, containing the remains in an urn housed in a niche wall, used as fertilizer to grow plants continuing the cycle of life. The height at which the remains are displayed is important for ease of access and ability to pray. As the cremation industry grows, this thesis in-

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To meet the demands of the growing population and lack of burial space, primarily in urban areas, cremation is becoming more popular. Cremation offers a more economical and space saving method of interment.

ENTRY/LOBBY

ADA RESTROOM

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ADA RESTROOM

J.T. CLOSET

RECEPTION

STORAGE

Program

SALES SHOW ROOM SALES MANAGER

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Crematorium

ATRIUM

2400 500 210 210 210 400 500

STAFF ROOM

MANAGER'S OFFICE

ADA RESTROOM

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Small Kitchenette for

900 1000 1200 2000 300 1000 400 1200 1200

MECHANICAL Bench

Mechanical Storage Manager Office Staff Room Sales Manager Sales Show Room Reception Coffee Etc. Lobby Small Chapel/Ceremony Room Committal Room Retort Room Processing Room Walk-in-Freezer Urn Storage Entry Processing Room Garage

2 Retorts

Main Gate

2 Hearse’s

Chain Link Fence

8' Corrugated Metal Fence

Chain Link Fence

the suburban development of house after house and green grass lawns. Cemeteries deserve to be places where the dead become the landscape which the living can inhabit bringing them closer to the dead through the living.

Creating a place where the dead and living can come together is important not only in the cycle of life, but also in an educational way teaching future generations.

“The cemetery would teach nondenominational lessons of moral philosophy and renew ambitions of self-improvement through work and self-denial. It would teach historical lessons as well: ‘There can be formed a public space of sepulture, where remains, thus far, have unfortunately been consigned to obscure and isolated tombs instead of being collected within one common depository, where their great deeds might be perpetuated and their memories cherished by succeeding generations . Through dead they would be eternal admonitory to the living— teaching them the way, which leads to national glory and individual renown.” (Linden, 146)

8' Corrugated Metal Fence

Bench

Chain Link Fence

4' Wire Fence

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13,600

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4' Wire Fence

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Chapel

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Gate

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Total

Concrete Retaining Walll w/ Chain Link Fence

900 3000 1000

Concrete Retaining Walll w/ Chain Link Fence

Bench

Entry Chapel Reflection Chapel

Gate

4900

Gate

Burial Spaces

18500 sq. ft.

Sign

Project Total 1890

Crematorium Section 1/

PARKING Bench

Cellar Burials

Mount Auburn Cemetery Bench

Bench Bench

The Site selected was Mount Auburn Cemetery situated between Watertown and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Situated along the Charles River and is America’s first garden cemetery designed and built in 1831 by General Henry Dearborn and other members of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The cemetery is treated as a park, a place for “cheerful association with death.” One of the early design concepts of the cemetery was to provide a tranquil landscape for the dead to rest, but also creating a place for the living to enjoy. The cemetery is 170 acres of rolling hills, ridges with ponds and graves scattered throughout the wooded areas. The highest point has a small tower that looks out to Boston. There is a crematorium at the cemetery which is the oldest crematorium in New England performing about 1500 cremations annually. According to Mount Auburn they offers interment for in ground burials, above ground crypt burials and cremation. Currently the cemetery is looking to expand, they have proposed a new chapel and green house on the site in red. Lack of space is forcing the cemetery to raise its prices on inground burial plot to as much as $150,000 and people are choosing cremation as a more economic alternative. According to the Mount auburn latest annual report, the amount of cremation sales has far exceeded the casket burial sales, of

Bench

Gate

Bench

NEWELY WEDS FOOD INC.

EXISTING CEMETERY GREENHOUSE

Bench Bench

Bench

1,202 cremations and only 256 casket burials last year.

Current Site Conditions

Cemetery and Chapel Se

Up to

Site Access

Service Access

Parking

Chapel Procession

Crematorium Procession

Burial Zone

Portal

1,890 new burials.

Trees

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Crematorium Elevation 1/

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Chapel, View Up and To East

Large Funeral Chapel

Commitial Room

Crematorium Exit Portico

Cemetery Cellar Burials

Entry Portico Section 1/16”=1’

ection 1/16”=1’

Chapel Section 1/16”=1’

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Chapel Elevation 1/16”=1’

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Final Presentation Images, December 5, 2014

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Bibliography Ando, Tadao, and Richard Pare. The Colors of Light. London: Phaidon Press, 1996. Architectural Bureau G.Natkevicius & Partners. “Crematorium / Architectural Bureau G.Natkevicius & Partners.” Arch Daily. Last modified March 14, 2012. http://www.archdaily.com/216622/crematorium-architectural-bureau-g-natkevicius-partners/ “Boston, Massachusetts.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massachusetts Bregman, Lucy, ed. Religion, Death, and Dying. Vol. 2. N.p.: Praeger Perspectives Praeger, 2010. Caldenby, Claes. Asplund. “Cambridge, Massachusetts.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Massachusetts. Curl, James Stevens. Death and Architecture. N.p.: Sutton Publishing, 2002. Davies, Douglas James, and Lewis H. Mates. Encyclopedia of Cremation. Online-Ausg. ed. Aldershot, England [u.a.]: Ashgate, 2005. "Death and Architecture: Building the end, Architecture of Memorial." C3 Korean Journal, no. 345: 22-25. Flora, Nicola, Paola Giardiello, Gennaro Postiglione, and Colin St. John Wilson, eds. Sigurd Lewerentz. London: Phaidon Press, 2002. Frampton, Kenneth. Studies in Tectonic Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995. Garces-Foley, Kathleen. Death and Religion in a Changing World. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe INC, 2006. Heathcote, Edwin. Monument Builders. N.p.: Academy Group, 1999. "History of Cremation and Creamtion Data and Statistics." Cremation Association of North America. Last modified 2013. http://www.cremationassociation.org. Jones, Peter Blundell. Gunner Asplund. New York: Phaidon Press, 2006. Jones, Rob. “Memorial Cemetery: Collumbarium Wall.” Municipality of Anchorage. http://www.muni.org/Departments/health/cemetery/Pages/columbarium.aspx. Linden, Blanche M. G. Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery. N.p.: Library of American Landscape History, 2007.

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Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Last modified 2015. http://www.mbta.com/index.asp. “Massachusetts.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts. Matsunami, Kodo. A Comprehensive guide to practices and traditions. N.p.: Shinano Book Printing Company, 2010. Meyer, Richard E., ed. Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American Culture. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1989. Miralles, Enric, Carme Pinos, and Anatxu Zabalbeascoa. Igualada Cemetery. N.p.: Architecture in Detials, n.d. "RCR Architectes." El Croquis #138. "RCR Architectes Poetic Abstraction." El Croquis #162, 2007-2012. Rogers, Elizabeth Barlow. Landscape Design: A Cultural and Architectural History. N.p.: Abrams, 2001. "U.S. Cremation Statistics." National Funeral Directors Association. Last modified 2014. http://www.nfda.org. “Watertown, Massachusetts.” Wikipedia. Last modified 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watertown_Massachusetts. Wicks, William S. Gunnar Asplund Architect. N.p.: The National Association of Swedish Architects, 1950. Worpole, Ken. Last Landscpaes: The Architecture of the Cemetery in the West. London: Reaktion Books, 2003. Zumthor, Peter. Atmospheres. Boston: Birkhauser Publishers for Architecture, 2006.

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