Michael van Bergen - Master of Architecture - New Life for the Dead

Michael van Bergen New Life for the Dead A building in the city where life and death are united once again.

Michael van Bergen VAN BERGEN ARCHITECTURA michael@vanbergenarchitectura.nl www.vanbergenarchitectura.nl +31 6 58968896

Amsterdam Academy of Architecture Graduation Projects 2015-2016

Architecture

Michael van Bergen New Life for the Dead A building in the city where life and death are united once again.

My project answers the question how we as a society can deal with death in a modern way. In my research paper, I demonstrate how we prefer to banish death from our thoughts, from our daily life and from our city nowadays. The project ‘New Life for the Dead’ is about a a building where life and death are united once again, in the centre of the city Amsterdam. It is a building where the funeral and the burial are connected once again.

As an architect, I went in search of how ‘space’ could be of added value in these types of vulnerable situations. We all recognise the exaltation that we feel in w church, or that we only start talking in a lift when the doors open. It was precisely those tangible, physical emotions that I sought, using them to compose a building. The building was designed on the basis of three spatial principles. The first is that spaces melt into one another in a natural way. The second is that you consciously enter a space through physical transitions. The third makes a link between two routes, as a result of which you can design your own ritual.

With such a sensitive theme, it is necessary that you immerse yourself in the direct environment and the users of the building. In my assignment, I made a building in Amsterdam for Amsterdam. In order to connect life and death once again, I went in search of the ‘tangible life’ in the city as we now know it. For example, like the passage through the Rijksmuseum, the shelter of the Begijnhof and the Blauwe Theehuis, where a wedding on the upper terrace coexists with the park visitors below. They find their recognisable translation in my building.

I worked two years on my graduation project. I interview many people who have lost their loved ones, visited many cemeteries in the Netherlands and abroad, and sought contact with the funeral and burial industry. The sudden loss of my brother-in-law and ex-girlfriend brought with them an unsolicited deepening of insight.

In my vertical building, the history of the funeral finds its home. And the new developments provide modern ways to deal with death. A funeral procession over the canals. An arrival at a sheltered, sunken square surrounded by trees. A unique rope lift that can form part of a ritual through manual operation. A free funeral that builds subtle relationships with the city. A ceremonial funeral in the tree tops. An intimate cremation space in which you see the clouds outside in line with the oven. A cemetery as a stacked park. Memorial chapels where coloured glass urns let the light inside, where you can read a book and look out over the city. An upper layer where you can celebrate life with panoramic views over water and park. And a place with views over the city centre, where you are free to do nothing for a while.

The building consists of four main materials: wood, brick, cement and metal. I tried to express my love of these materials in my scale models, in the same way that I expect them to be used in the building. In line with the design ideas, the materials also had to come from Amsterdam soil: Amsterdam elm wood, from which the Ritual Route was devised and translated into the building model, and brick made from clay sources from the Noord-Zuidlijn metro extension, which is between 70,000 and 120,000 years old. That is what I made my urban model from. The building model can be completely disassembled, as a result of which you experience the thoughts behind the building, layer by layer.

For the complete project book, please send an email to: michael@vanbergenarchitectura.nl Graduation date 17 12 2015

Commission members Laurens Jan ten Kate (mentor) Ira Koers Jeroen Atteveld

Additional members for the examination Lada Hršak Rik van Dolderen

Michael van Bergen

Architecture

BIJZONDERE PLEK IN AMSTERDAM

[1]. location Marnixplantsoen [2]. former Palmkerkhof 1655-1875 [3]. funeral procession over the canals [4]. coming together on a square in the shelter [5]. free funeral [6]. cycling through the building [7]. celebrating life [8]. projection at the location

[9]. urban model 1:500

[10]. building made from ceramics 1:500

Michael van Bergen

[1]. creating space with volumes (Peter Zumthor)

[4]. pile of excavations as source of inspiration ‘creating space’.

[2]. distinction between main and ancillary space with three steps (Adolf Loos)

[3]. breaking down the ritual (Herman Zeinstra)

Architecture

[1]. around the dead

[2]. directed towards the dead

[3]. taking a walk from place to place

[1]. free funeral

[2]. ceremonial funeral

[3]. cemetery as a park

[4]. celebrating life

[3]. the dead in the memorial chapel

[4]. view over water and park

[4]. view over the city centre

Image caption

Michael van Bergen

Amsterdam Academy of Architecture Architect, Master of Science Urbanist, Master of Science Landscape Architect, Master of Science

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Architecture

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