1. The Cemetery A Critical Review
1.1 A Brief History The typical North American cemetery has been the standard of design in western culture (with some exceptions) since Henry Alexander Scammel Dearborn designed Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA in 1831. It is recognized as America’s first garden cemetery, complete with rolling landscape, monuments, and an arboretum1. All things we now relate to our notion of what a cemetery should be. Up until this time, burials occured either within the grounds of the church (the graveyard) or within the church itself mostly. There were some exceptions with rural family graveyards and occasional agnostic urban burials, but these were few. Overcrowding in church graveyards combined with environmental pressures felt due to the industrial revolution and increasing awareness of sanitation issues created a condition in which a new design for burial sites could be successful on numerous levels2. The design and construction of Mount Auburn cemetery represents a pivotal point in the history of the cemetery as the idea of burial began to be influenced by science and art, coinciding with the end of the enlightenment and the heyday of the industrial revolution. The new designed spaces were meant to be beautiful and spacious and located away from dense urban populations. They were considered more healthy in terms of keeping the smells and desease related to decaying bodies removed from the city. With sinous curves and a focus on trees and shade, they drew strongly on the experience of nature and thus also served as some of the first public open spaces in North America and therefore were well used for recreational purposes. It was also around this time that the word ‘cemetery’ came to be commonly used with this type of landscape. The word is derived from the Greek koimêtêrion, a place where one sleeps3. It arose from an inclination to provide a new feeling associated with death. D.B. Douglas, the first president of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, stated in response to the potential use of the name Necropolis, “A Necropolis should be an architectural establishment, not a shady forest...[A] Necropolis is a mere depository for dead bodies - ours is a Cemetery...a place of repose.”4
1 Worpole, Ken. Last landscapes: the architecture of the cemetery in the West. (London: Reaktion, 2003).Print. . 2 Jackson, Kenneth, T. and Camilo José Vergara. Silent Cities: The evolution of the American cemetery. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1989) Print. 3 Ragon, Michel. The space of death: a study of funerary architecture, decoration, and urbanism. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983) Print. 4 Jackson, 1989
Mount Auburn Cemetery. Chris Devers. 2009. http:// www.flickr.com/photos/cdevers/4052447791/
1.2 The Physical It is no longer 1831 and local and world issues have shifted along with our values and our cultural community. The traditional design has served its purpose in most major cities on the continent. It has served as a recreational space, a tranquil space to escape with one’s thoughts, a place of memory, a clean open and spacious burial site. It is all pervasive and it is time to consider its effects and consequences on the city. Our modern communities are faced with new challenges unforeseen 200 years ago such as increased multiculturalism, densification of urban cores rather than expansion of suburbs, environmental challenges, and a shift towards a more economically polarized society. This standard model for the western cemetery is not sustainable and has become less applicable to modern values and needs. The average American cemetery buries 9343 litres of embalming fluid (containing toxic formaldehyde), 219 tonnes of steel and 42,333 metres of high-quality wood in a single hectare. Alternatively, cremation is often done using gas-fired furnaces, thereby releasing greenhouse gases into the air1. There is also the little observed issue of potential groundwater pollution due to burial. Increased levels of nitrate, nitrite, and phosphate have been observed in Canadian burial grounds2. Space is also an issue, with cemeteries like Mount Pleasant already burying people two or three deep. Prices for plots are ever increasing and funeral costs are higher than ever reducing access to less wealthy families. A burial lot at Mount Pleasant cemetery costs between $12,000 and $17,000. That doesn’t include thousands of dollars worth of fees, and other funeral items3. The extensive multicultural community of our major cities, especially Toronto, is also underrepresented when it comes to funerary options4. There is currently 1 Muslim cemetery, and no specific funerary locations for Hindus. Additionally, those not tied to a religion, are generally left with options based on religious values. All cultures and religions in Toronto have essentially one option for burial or cremation in terms of design – that same gardenesque model (see figure 2), with the possible exception of the Bathurst Lawn Memorial Park. However this is mainly just a modern take on the same basic design of the garden cemetery. Additionally, it is also only open to the Jewish population. While it has not been statistically demonstrated, it could be assumed that of the more than 2.5 million people in Toronto, and the potential 9 million people in the next 40 years, a significant number will desire an alternative to the Mount Pleasant style of cemetery when they die. 1 McCausland, Janet. “Burial Out of the Box”. Alternatives 34.1 (2008): 6. Proquest. Web. 4 Oct. 2012. 2 Žychowski, Józef. “Impact of cemeteries on groundwater chemistry: A review.” CATENA 93 (2012): 29-37. Science Direct. Web. 4 Oct. 2012. 3 Mount Pleasant Group. “Prices.” Mount Pleasant Group: Funeral Centres and Cemeteries. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2012. <http://www.mountpleasantgroup.com/pre-planning/cemetery/prices>. 4 CBC News. “Ethnic students fill ‘untapped niche’ in funeral homes - Toronto - CBC News.” CBC.ca Canadian News Sports Entertainment Kids Docs Radio TV. N.p., 29 Mar. 2007. Web. 5 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cbc. ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2007/03/29/funeral-students.html>.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;...I once again felt that I was an intruder. Although I had used the cemetery for years, I was struck by this feeling that it was a private place...â&#x20AC;? - Dereck Flack, BlogTO Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Jason Paris 2009. http:// www.flickr.com/photos/jasonparis/3673125987/
Toronto Necropolis
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Non-denominational
non-denominational
conservative Judaism
1850
1876
1949
area
# burials
7.5 ha
+50,000
Existing Cemetery Typologies lot $5,500in Toronto. www.bing.com/maps
Beth Tzedec Memorial Pa
82 ha
18 ha
+168,000
+4,400
$12,009 - 17,280
cremation
$1,500
$2,735
columbarium
$3,345
$3,190 - 6,925
scattering
$1,340
$1,335
ark
St. James Cemetery
Bathurst Lawn Memorial Park
Mt. Hope Cemetery
Anglican
Judaism
Catholic
1844
1929
1898
12 ha
+89,000
$800 - 950 $435 - 500 $2,380 - 2,758 -
9.7 ha
20 ha
+76,000
1.3 The Metaphysical Beyond these physical aspects of death, there is a lingering question about identity, memorial, and mourning. The act of mourning can be incredibly personal, while the act of burial is standardized to a point where it is incredibly general. While there are many examples of highly specified and monumental grave markers, these are reserved for those who can afford to buy them. It has been said that Cemeteries reflect the society to which they belong. While this is often meant to allude to their diversity in terms of culture and expression, it is also true that one can observe the divide of wealth and race. And in a city like modern day Toronto, many races and religions are excluded from our urban cemeteries. There has been an increasing trend to make memorials more personal since the 1980’s with the introduction of photographs embeded in tombstones and a popularity of including words or etches of objects or themes that the deceased was fond of5. But this still restricts memorial to the standard of a burial with a grave marker. Philippe Aries discusses the banality of the sea of grave markers, all so formulaic. Each is placed exactly where the body has been laid. The marker will includethe name of the deceased, the position within the family, age, date of death, and on ocassion, a portrait6. A simple list by which nearly all memorials abide. Is this really how people want to be remembered or do we settle for the only option provided us? There are increasingly more efforts made to personalize memorial. Natural burials, where the deceased is buried in a simple wood box or cloth without chemicals in a site that is to eventually become a natural ecosystem, are overcoming outdated by-laws and becoming more commonplace, playing to society’s increased environmental awareness. Interactive headstone that incorporate QR codes and link observers to a website via their mobile phone are starting to hit markets. Online memorials can be set up using the deceased’s Facebook account. And GPS coordinates are being included in unmarked burials to allow mourners to locate the site of the deceased7. These are interesting developments to say the least. At the same time modernist cemetery designs have shunned the idea of individual memory through gravestones and monumentality. They instead focus on a cyclical idea of memory followed by forgetting. Take the Iqualada Cemetery, by Enric Mirallas and Carme Pinòs; it is designed to erode and be engulfed by the landscape over time8. Why is the act of mourning and memorial attached to the place of burial? Is it because we cannot easily access the location of death, most often a hospital bed? Is it because of tradition that we go to the grave site of our loved ones to mourn? Or is there a true connection of being in the space of the deceased, and if there is, does it apply to cremation? 5 Jackson, 1989 6 Aries, Philippe. The hour of our death. (New York: Oxford University Press. 1981) Print. 7 io9. “The future of graveyards” www.io9.com - We come from the future. 5 June, 2012. Web. 16 December, 2012. < http://io9.com/5915693/ the-future-of-graveyards> 8 Anderson, Elizabeth, Avril Maddrell, Catherine Mary McLoughlin, and Alana Vincent. Memory, mourning, landscape. (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2010) Print.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We elms of Malvern Hill Remember every thing...â&#x20AC;? - Malvern Hill, Herman Melville, 1862
2. Future Departures with the Dead Position of Cemeteries in Contemporary Society
2.1 A Manifesto for the New Cemetery If a cemetery reflects it’s surrounding society, a new design paradigm is required for the future burial grounds of Toronto. Our values, demographics, desires, and perceptions have changed since the first garden cemetery was designed and this new diaspora must be reflected in a new design. A new cemetery must be sensitive ecologically, it must be inclusive of all cultures and religions, it must reflect the desires of the deceased as well as the needs of those who mourn. It will be urban. It will be accessible. It will be an important addition to our existing cemeteries and will simultaneously provide new options for those opposed to old models. The new cemetery will reflect the genius of Toronto’s people.
“Clearly, there is today neither agreement nor any single approach to the design of landscapes for the dead.” - Luigi Latini in Spatial Recall
Mount Auburn Cemetery. Massacheussetts Historical Society. 2006. http://www.sec. state.ma.us/mhc/mhcpra/praslideshow06/ praslideshow06_watertown.html
2.2 Religion in the City Burial and funeral rituals are still greatly affected by religion. Based on study of the most recent available census data regarding Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s religious scope as well as its visible minority population coupled with the division of religions across the largest immigrant home countries, I have established that the major religions in the city for the foreseeable future are Islam, Roman Catholic, Evangelical or Born again Christians, Hindu, and people with no religion. These are all growing and occupy a large portion of Torontoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s religious community. Any future designs will need to accommodate these religions.
10 Largest religions in Toronto (2001) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Roman Catholic No Religion Anglican United Church Muslim Hindu Jewish Evangelical Baptist Buddhist Aboriginal Pagan/Wicca Sikh Serbian Orthodox Greek Orthodox
10 Largest still Growing religions in Toronto (2001)
10 Fastest Growing religions in Toronto (2001)
Roman Catholic No Religion Anglican United Church Muslim Hindu Jewish Evangelical Baptist Buddhist
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 -
Aboriginal Spiritualism Pagan/Wicca Muslim Evangelical Sikh Serbian Orthodox Hindu Buddhist No Religion Baptist
2 7 4 7 1 3 10 9 6 5 -
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
20 20 8 7 21 16 10 15 7 7 10 9 8 5 1
Roman Catholic No Religion Muslim Hindu Jewish Evangelical Baptist Buddhist Sikh Greek Orthodox
Muslim Roman Catholic No Religion Hindu Evangelical Jewish Aboriginal Pagan/Wicca Anglican Sikh United Church Baptist Buddhist Serbian Orthodox Greek Orthodox
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES Muslim
dolmens and stone monuments burial under piles of stones in a cave in a house (Mausoleum) immersion in water, in a tree on a platform in an urn / cremation in a contracted position in a niche concealed burial with no markings
Roman Catholic No Religion Hindu Evangelical Jewish
Bathing body (deceased) Bathing Body (Living after Funeral) shroud casket tomb prayer posiioned towards Mecca Funeral Dues Holy WAter Incense Lit Candles Song Religious Figure at Home of Deceased Service within the church/Mosque/Tabernacle Positioned Towards West Service at Grave Lighting the Pyre Rights Specific Mourning Period Viewing of the Body procession Natural Decomposition
Aboriginal Pagan/Wicca Anglican Sikh
5 Largest Visible Minorities in Toronto (2001) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
South Asian Chinese Black Filipino Latin American
Soul in the Body Soul Released
298,370 283,075 208,555 102,555 64,855
Religious populations of home countries Hindu
Islam
Christian
Tao
Buddhist
None
Catholic
190,957
203,373
120,895
84,922
56,921
119,918
133,928
190,957 (64%) 0 0 0
Analysis of Toronto Religious data from Statistics Canada 2001 & 2006. Islam, Roman Catholicism, Atheism or Agnosticism, Hinduism, and Born Again Christians have large populations in the city and they are all growing
Islam Hindu Catholic Christian No Religion
98,462 (33%) 5,662 (2%) 93,850 (45%) 4,102 (4%) 1,297 (2%)
2,984 (1%) 11,323 (4%) 83,422 (40%) 15,383(15%) 7,783 (12%)
0 84,922 (30%) 0 0
5,967 (2%) 50,954 (18%) 0 0
0 118,892 (42%) 0 1026 (1%)
0 0 0 82,044(80%) 51,884 (81%)
ISLAM HINDU CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN/EVANGELICAL NO RELIGION
Religions for further study...
ethods of Departure in space ?
burial in earth ?
with stone monument unmarked grave mausoleum
In a house ossuary./charnel house preservation crypt in water ?
catacomb
cave ?
memory transfer decomposition
?
in a tree ? in an urn cremation
? cannibalism
scattering ashes
2.3 Disposing of the Dead
in a box
in a shroud
without cover
at home columbarium on the ground in water
In studying the ways by which the dead are disposed of we can distill the many methods into four core ideas that can be combined in different ways. One can preserve a body or allow it to decompose. One can be interred or cremated. Different religions have different specific requirements. For example, Catholics are required to preserve the body, yet they will allow cremation as long as the ashes are kept rather than dispersed. Islam requires bodies to be buried in earth and must be allowed to decompose. By extracting these four core ideas, we can combine them to create cemeteries inclusive to all religions in the city.
DISTILLING Common practices can be distilled into 4 components & and combined to create 4 different options
Burial
Cremation
Preservation
Decomposition
2.4 Memorial, Remembrance, & Mourning The notion of a spirit is still prominent in modern society. If a person’s spirit exits the body, why is it that we go to where the body is buried to mourn the deceased? I argue that memorial in the form of a gravestone in a cemetery is far removed from the spirit of whoever may be buried there. The gravestone is impersonal, standardized, and often rather vain. It has been tradition to express ones wealth even after death through expensive coffins, funerals, and grave markers. This, however, has no reason to be encouraged. Would the dead not rather be remembered through places, objects, or ideas that they held dear? And would those mourning not rather be in a situation that allows them to reflect more personally on those whom they’ve lost? I propose a different standard of memorial that allows the physical act of departing with the dead to be altered.
“Remembering is not only a mental event; it is also an act of embodiment and projections. Memories are not only hidden in the secret electrochemical processes of the brain; they are also stored in our skeletons, muscles, and skin. All our senses and organs think and remember.” - Juhani Pallasmaa, Spatial Recall, pg.27
3. Case Studies Modernist Approaches
3.1 Igualada Cemetery / Enric Mirallas & Carme Pinòs / 1985 Anatxu Zabalbeascoa says of Igualada cemetery, that the “architecture converges with the site to a point where it almost is the site (pg.4).” It is sunken into the ground and includes a main gate, chapel, and a mortuary in addition to the rows of stacked burial niches which lead to the mausoleums buried in the stone retaining walls at the end of the site. Igualada Cemetery is neither ‘organic’ in form, nor imposing in terms of program. It instead is equally representative of both natural and man-made forms. The language of the design engages with the history of the site as a quarry with heavy stone materials and layers of program. The materiality is intended to evoke a living place with rust and vegetation encroaching over time. The social perception of the site is as a street, walled by the burial vaults that defines a route through the cemetery. The procession travels downward and is ‘buried’ in the site by the time they reach the vaults and mausoleums. The design takes hints from the traditional Spanish cemetery. Rather than surrounding the site with a white wall, it is surrounded by vegetation. The actual burial vaults are “neither neglected nor munumentalised. They simply occupy their place in the landscape, side by side along the path; allowing for others continually to enter the place (pg.17-18).” The dead become part of the site. An important and relatable aspect of this design is that through dynamic forms and materials, Miralles achieves an architecture that allows different experiences. One can choose to mourn in static solidarity, or one can choose to traverse the site as a simple landscape. Users can relate personally and physically to the site.1 3.2
1
Zabalbeascoa, Anatxu. Igualada Cemetery: Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós. (London: Phaidon, 1996) Print.
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3.2 San Cataldo Cemetery / Aldo Rossi / 1976
Rossiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s San Cataldo is an addition to two existing cemeteries. It attempts to mimic traditional elements of both the existing cemeteries on the site. It is fully enclosed by columbaria rather than by a wall, adding functionality to the traditional feature. There is a strong attempt to disconnect the interior of the cemetery, where the dead are kept, from the exterior living context. These enclosing columbaria shield a central axis or ossuaries that fan out from a large conical monument and common grave meant for the abandoned and the homeless. At the other end of the ossuarries lies the 8 storey tall vertical ossuary. Both a monument and a place to store the dead, a cubic shrine that greets visitors at the main entrance. The vaults are located within the thickness of itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s walls and access is granted through an interior staircase and balconies. Below this structure is another columbaria. The appearance of this structure is one of abandonment, an anaolgy of death. These three elements are attached via iron bridges as well through the ground plane. The monumentality of the architecture raises questions about the meaning of death and remembrance. All those interred are treated equally with minimal opportunity for expression. More practically, much of the architecture is constructed of prefabricated concrete pieces, reducing construction costs2.
2
Rossi, Aldo, and Gianni Braghieri. Cimitiere de San Cataldo, Modene. Aldo Rossi. 2. Aufl. ed. ZĂźrich: Artemis, 1983. 72-83. Print.
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3.3 Woodland Cemetery / Gunnar Asplund & Sigurd Lewerentz / 1915
The Woodland Cemetery is located on the outskirts of Stockholm. It was born through a design competition for a new cemetery because the others in the city were near capacity, and in Sweden, the state must provide burial for all itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s citizens. The architects rejected traditional European or Islamic prototypes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; city of the dead or paradise garden as well as the English Landscape garden. They instead looked to primitive Nordic spiritualism based in the natural world. They relied mostly on landscape attributes rather than Christian iconography to evoke associations of death and rebirth. Through their process, they developed a timeless and innovative design that attempted to counteract the modern practice of the avoidance of death. The entrance is dramatic but has no burial markers. As users begin their journey through the site, the landscape forces them to enter into a calm spiritual mindset before interacting with the graves of the dead, which lie within an old growth pine forest, unseen from the entrance. The edge of this forest is intentionally lined with a birch grove, an important feature that divides the space of the dead from the space of the spiritual living. One must be mentally prepared to enter the forest. The actual grave fields within the pine forest are modest. All of the headstones, regardless of their shape or who they belong to, are roughly the same size in height and width. This alludes to the commonality of death which we all share regardless of our living status. The landscape is dotted with monuments and there are spaces created for public and private mourning. Overall, the design succeeds in evoking meaning through landscape rather than through the authority of the church, while at the same time being entirely inclusive of religious needs and requirements1.
1
Constant, Caroline. The Woodland Cemetery: Towards a spiritual landscape. (Stockholm: Byggforlaget, 1994) Print.
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3.4 Islamic Cemetery in Altach / Bernardo Bader / 2012
The Islamic cemetery is located in Altach, in Austria. It is roughly 8400 square metres in size. As the title states, it is a cemetery for Muslim burials, yet the design lends itself in appearance to an inclusiveness of numerous religions. It draws on historic cemetery design precedents in both Islam and Christianity in viewing the cemetery as the first garden. In keeping with the historic garden theme, the site is bound by a wall, thereby delineating it from the surrounding wilderness. Interior wall panels frame the grave fields which are implemented in stages. Each field has its own small building with interior seating1.
1
ArchDaily. Islamic Cemetery in Altach / Bernardo Bader. 07 Sep 2012. Accessed 19 Dec 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/269407>
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3.5 Santo Stefano Cemetery / Amoretti + Calvi + Ranalli / 2003
This small cemetery addition is located in Santo Stefano al Mare on the north-west coast of Italy. It faces the Mediterranean sea. The site is along a thin strip of land between the old cemetery wall and the sea. The design mimics traditional Italian cemetery planning in that interments are laid out in sequence. They also make heavy use of marble, a traditional material used often in Italian cemeteries. The cemetery certainly does not appear traditional, despite these traditional roots. The burial vaults are stacked three or four high as extruded rectangles. The interior structures are precast concrete, which reduces the cost of burial1.
1 ArchDaily. Santo Stefano Cemetery in Italy / Amoretti + Calvi + Ranalli. 25 Mar 2009. Accessed 19 Dec 2012. <http://www.archdaily. com/17410>
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3.6 The Last House / Chanjoong Kim / 2006
A towering vertical cemetery proposal from the 2006 Venice Bienale. Chanjoong Kim, founder of System Lab displayed this idea and the South Korean Pavillion. The Vertical Cemetery attempts to address societal changes that have taken place over the past 30 years. It’s ‘zoomorphic’ curves depict a vascular structure. The idea explores the notion of a death market, where funeral meets consumerism and entertainment1.
1 Gallanti, Fabrizio. Vertical cemeteries Architecture - Domus. Domus. N.p., 21 Feb. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. <http://www.domusweb.it/en/ architecture/vertical-cemeteries/>.
3.7 Cemetery [520] / Kevin Lang & Daniel Carlson / 2012
This project was the winner for best student entry is the RETHINK REUSE design competition which looked to reuse the Highway 520 floating bridge in Seattle. An 11 acre cemetery is created, floating in Lake Washington. The design fuses a traditional cemetery with civic space The cemetery is accessible only by boat. It includes designate gardens and pools for spreading of ashes, a location for floating degradable urns, a field of aboveground burial vaults, and crypts within the pontoons1.
1 Transforming 520 Floating Bridge 2012 Design Ideas Competition. (n.d.). RETHINK REUSE COMPETITION Home. Retrieved October 20, 2012, from http://www.rethinkreuse.org/competition.html
4. Moving On Goals & Objectives
4.1 Goals I am not a sociologist, nor an anthropologist, nor a theologian. I am a designer and will approach this topic from a design base. The goals of this thesis begin with, as stated before, taking a new approach to cemetery design within the urban context. The thesis will be placed between the sound design practices of the past and an open unknown future with the understanding that the world is not a static place. The resulting design will be the outcome of study of an array of issues including but not limited to ecological sustainability, cultural values, religious values, spiritual sense, social access, program and functionality, materiality, and historical context and precedent. These issues are too rarely addressed in design concept and formulation. In studying the core methods described above and applying them to new cemetery typologies, one can design a place that accommodates different religions without being exclusive to any one. Through this research and design process I will seek to acheive four main goals:
1. Make Cemeteries more spatially and programmatically efficient 2. Increase ecological value or reduce ecological footprint 3. Increase Inclusivity 4. Achieve a more personal level of memorial
It is expected that the result of this exploration will become not just an appendage to the existing paradigm of cemetery design, but an entirely new approach based on current cultural values and needs. The final goal is not to replace established cemetery design, but provide an entirely different set of options that perform in a multifunctional way while still encapsulating the core values of religious funerary rights. The success of this thesis will be judged on its ability to effectively raise questions about current practice. It will need to be radical enough to cause people to question current practice yet be familiar enough to not be immediately dismissed. In the end, perhaps we will even require a new word to describe this new practice of departure with the dead just as the word cemetery was adopted in the early 1800s to evoke a sleeping place.
“But the hum, the hum of the world, I think it continues after one’s body has stopped beating.” - Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden
Congressional Cemetery, Washington. City Parks Blog. 2010. http://cityparksblog. org/2010/12/01/turning-cemeteries-for-thedead-into-parks-for-the-living/
4.1.1 Make Cemeteries more spatially and programmatically efficient
Population in Toronto is growing. Demand for urban open spaces will increase. Mount Pleasant Cemetery sits on 82 hectares of land. That’s half the size of High Park, yet it only functions a few levels programmatically namely jogging and cycling in addition to funerary program. If our Cemeteries are to require so much space, they will have to increase their potential for program either through specific uses, or spaces that users feel comfortable adopting for their own purposes. If they can not do this, future cemeteries must stand on a smaller footprint and allow open space in the city to act more progressively.
4.1.2 Increase ecological value or reduce ecological footprint
Demands for ecological habitat are increasing in tune with our demand for natural resources. With suburban development relentlessly expanding still, urban areas must create spaces for increased biodiversity. The cemetery is an obvious target location for this, yet none of Toronto’s city cemeteries seem to take heed. Aside from the abundance of mature trees, which help to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (a noble goal in itself mind you), there is little to nothing in the way of habitat provision or even transitioning to adjacent natural features like streams. In fact, Mt. Pleasant Cemetery sits on top of what was once Mud Creek. Future cemeteries will either need to reduce their ecological footprint or increase the ecological value of their abundant land share.
4.1.3 Increased Inclusivity
Cultural diversity is increasingly becoming ubiquitous in Toronto. As discussed previously, the city does not promote this cultural diversity through its options for burial. Funerary options are mostly limited to burial or cremation in a garden-style cemetery. The future cemetery must be able to accomodate the needs and desires of a greater number of Torontonians.
4.1.4 Acheive a more personal level of memorial
“…history, understood as rationalization and institutionalization of the past, had destroyed the purported organic ways in which pre-modern cultures remember, extracting them from daily practices for safe-keeping in archives, museums, books, plaques, and the like – in other words, exchanging people for institutions1.” Memorial is not simply about engraving a name in stone, it is about remembering, and remembrance too often falls to empty ritual. The goal of the future cemetery is to allow for more personal mourning and memorial that is able to persist until generations have forgotten the deceased - at which point their place in or on the earth will be transfered to meet another purpose. Their life details will be digitally available for future generations.
1 Shanken, Andrew. “The Memory Industry and its Discontents: The Death and Life of a Key Word” in Spatial Recall: Memory in architecture and landscape. Ed. Marc Trieb. (New York: Routledge, 2009). Print.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life folded Death; death trellised life; the grim god wived with youthful life, and begat him curlyheaded glories.â&#x20AC;? - Moby Dick, Herman Melville
Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh. Tigersweet. Flickr. 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ tigerweet/3437558917/
4.2 Objectives 1. I will produce a matrix that explores the different methods of departure with the dead and looks at their connections to religion. The result of this will be a distilled core of burial practices that can accommodate numerous religions. 2. I will produce designs for 4 different typologies based on the core values of burial, cremation, preservation, and decomposition. 3. A different, semi-arbitrary site will be chosen for each typology resulting in 4 new cemeteries within the city of Toronto. Each site will reflect the requirements of the program. 4. An analysis of modern case studies through drawing will provide a look at the ways in which cemetery design has spatially dealt with the connection between the living and the dead. Do the living stand atop of the graves; are they adjacent; are the grave markers explicit or anonymous; what feeling do these design moves create for the user? The emphasis on only modern case studies prevents suffocation through over-analysis of an issue that has existed and evolved over tens of thousands of years. 5. From the analysis of case studies, matrix of burial practices and the selected sites, I will explore design options and the degree to which they could be translated to other sites. Ecological sustainability, cultural values, religious values, spiritual sense, social access, program and functionality, materiality, and historical context and precedent will be addressed through each design. 6. Through a storyboard, I will then explain the use and function through different times and seasons and perspectives, demonstrating how it is inhabited during a funeral ceremony and otherwise; how it performs ecologically, how people access the space, how it becomes part of the community and situates itself with other adjacent land uses, how it differs based on the season, etc.
Cairn marking mass grave from the Battle of Isandlwana, South Africa. Wikimedia Commons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:Isandlwanamassgrave.JPG
5. Sites for New Urban Cemeteries
5.1 The City of Toronto The City of Toronto is a good testing ground for considering a new form of cemetery. The city has evolved quickly since the establishment of Mt. Pleasant Cemetery and the Necropolis. The population is growing. Between 2006 and 2011, it grew by 4.5%; nearly five taimes as quickly as in the previous census study from 2001 to 20061. Most of this growth is being met by immigration. The city now touts itself as one of the most multicultural places in the world with over 140 languages spoken and over 30% of families using a language other than English at home2. This diversity brings with it many cultures and numerous religions, all of which affect how one is treated after death. The density of the city is also increasing quickly. It is currently about 4,150 people per square kilometre3. This is up from 3,972 in 20064. This is partly due to the Ontario Places to Grow Act, which defines and manages areas of growth in the Province. This act has bound Toronto with a Greenbelt with the objective of increasing density within the city and preventing more suburban sprawl5. These two factors suggest that any future cemetery should be located within the city to serve the population there, must fit within this increasing density, and must cater to a wider and wider array of cultures. The site selection was based on finding spaces at different scales that could jointly accommodate the four basic funerary core values identified previously. Three sites have been chosen. The first, potential artificial islands are large and could accommodate two of these values. The second site is highly public and small. The third is part of the wasted industrial landscape and sits between the others in terms of size.
1 City of Toronto. 2011 Census Backgrounder: Population and Dwelling Counts. Retrieved December 20, 2012, from http://www.toronto.ca/demographics/pdf/2011-census-backgrounder.pdf 2 City of Toronto. Toronto Facts, Toronto’s racial diversity. toronto.ca Retrieved December 20, 2012, from http:// www.toronto.ca/toronto_facts/diversity.htm 3 Statistics Canada. “Toronto (City)” 2006 Community Profiles. 2006. Retrieved December 20, 2012, from http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-591/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD& Code1=3520005&Geo2=PR&Code2=35&Data=Count&SearchText=toronto&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01 &B1=All&Custom= 4 Statistics Canada. “Toronto (City).” 2011 Community Profiles. 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2012, from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CD&Code1 =3520&Geo2=PR&Code2=35&Data=Count&SearchText=Toronto&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All& Custom=&TABID=1 5 Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure. “Places to Grow Act, 2005” Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure. Retrieved December 20, 2012, from https://www.placestogrow.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4&Itemid= 9
Map of South East Part of York. Ralph Smith & C. Undated. http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/ showthread.php/2587-Old-Toronto-ArchitecturePlans-and-Maps
5.2 Site 1: Humber Islands The Humber Islands have been proposed as a solution to two issues in the city. Firstly, the soil waste resulting from the digging of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will need to go somewhere. Secondly, the islands are intended to divert polluted water from the Humber River away from Sunnyside beach in hopes of opening it up to recreational use again6. No specific plan has yet been made for this so any islands will be entirely hypothetical. The design proposal will need to focus on the way in which cemetery programming could function on an artificial island rather than on the engineering aspects of said island. The design proposal for this site has leeway in terms of it’s scale. The site is much larger than the other two options, but the proposed program will be twofold in terms of cemetery function. The design for this site will accomodate decompositional burial and cremation as well as civic space and ecological function. While this site is not necessarily applicable to other cities around the world, it is significant for the City of Toronto. It’s uniqueness makes it a place worth investigating as a site for the future cemeteries of5.4
6 Moloney, Paul. “Humber islands plan could solve soil dumping woes.” thestar.com. The Toronto Star, 19 June 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www. thestar.com/news/gta/cityhallpolitics/article/1213407--humber-islands-plan-couldsolve-soil-dumping-woes>.
5.3 Site 2: Empty lot on Queen @ Euclid For a truly urban site, this small parcel of open land on Queen Stree West near Euclid Avenue will be my second site. It is located in a very busy and growing part of the city, slowly gentrifying. With prominent street frontage, any design proposal will need to engage passersby while still creating a sense of escape and enclosure for those who come to mourn. The design program for this site is intended to be above grade space for cremated ashes. The idea of squeezing a cemetery onto a small vacant lot is one that can be transferable to many other cities around the world.
Site 3: Gardiner Offramp @ York The third site proposal is the space occupied by the offramp of the Gardiner Expressway onto York Street. The proposal will not call for the demolition of any existing site components, but rather an insertion of burial vaults into the site. As a loud and largely forgotten site within the city, the design proposal will need to create a monument to announce the site as weel as an innovative strategy for creating a sense of peace within such a busy and noisy area. This site is part of what Alan Berger has coined the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Drosscapeâ&#x20AC;?, those sites that are leftover or wasted from from any type of development. They are often unsightly or contaminated or both7. The funerary program for this site will be places for preserved burial. As there are many cities in North America with sites similar to this, the concept may be applicable beyond Toronto.
7 Berger, Alan. Drosscape: wasting land in urban America. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006. Print.
6. Discourses Literature Review and Annotaed Bibliography
6.1 Literature Review My thesis proposal sits in a space between historical cemetery design and reason, contemporary ideas on memory and memorial, and future possibilities for cemeteries. It seeks to define new boundaries in cemetery design while still retaining a ground in historical context and evolution. It intends to evoke an emotional response beyond that of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which really is, well, pleasant. My core texts form a base, a set of guidelines, a group of theories within which my proposal will conform to, contrast with, but ultimately sit within. To discuss the history of cemeteries in the West and around the world, there are three major historical texts that form the base upon which my thesis proposal stands. These are, “The Space of Death: a Study of Funerary Architecture, Decoration, and Urbanism” by Michel Ragon; “Dernières demeures: Conception, composition, réalisation du cimetière contemporain” by Robert Auzelle; and “Silent Cities: The Evolution of the American Cemetery” by Kenneth T. Jackson and Camilo José Vergara. Michel Ragon attributes all funerary practice to the basic horror of witnessing the decay of the body. Virtually all practices that have dealt with the deceased have eliminated the need to witness the decay of the body. Ancient civilizations often left their dead as food for animals. It was many years before design was introduced. Early design ideas for departing with the dead began with the idea of creating a house or tomb. It was believed, in many cultures, that the body would require objects from life in the afterlife. This idea has been slowly eroding, though has not entirely disappeared, over thousands of years. Burial vaults and mausoleums still hold onto this design principle, even if values have changed. My thesis is informed by the erosion of this value of a house for the dead, yet it must take into account the fact that some religions, especially Catholicism, while not necessarily requiring possessions, still require the preservation of the body after death. Though these restrictions have been loosened over the last half-century as cremation becomes more acceptable within Catholicism1. The forms that result from this will also be drawn from the historical evolution of burial design. Burial space evolved based on conditions that created needs. For example, the Garden Cemetery was designed to relieve the congestion of church graveyards2. My thesis posits that there is once again a need to alter our practices. It has been shown in the increasing density of cemeteries in terms of stacked vaults and walls that hold cremation urns and well as in the proposals for increasingly 1 Ragon, Michel. The space of death: a study of funerary architecture, decoration, and urbanism. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983. Print. 2 Jackson, Kenneth, T. and Camilo José Vergara. Silent Cities: The evolution of the American cemetery. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1989. Print.
tall vertical cemeteries345. Sitting complementary to these three texts are works that discuss the approach of modern architecture to the design of the cemetery. These works are generally project specific and include, “Aldo Rossi: Buildings and Projects” by Peter Arnell, Ted Bickford, Vincent Joseph Scully, and José Rafael Moneo; “The Woodland Cemetery: Towards a Spiritual Landscape” by Caroline Constant; and Igualada Cemetery: Enric Miralles and Carme Pinòs” by Anatxu Zabalbeascoa. These projects are influential in that they design cemeteries partially removed from religion and instead focus on a more inclusive and spiritual design that drives at the idea of death. The Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm is the most pointed example of this. Though its sprawling appearance is counter to my proposal, its design details very successfully create a space that is wholly moving. While crosses are present around the site, they are an addition, and afterthought to the design - specific markers for specific religion6. My proposal will follow a similar guideline, to design for an emotional response while allowing religion to take root rather than designing based on religious values alone. The Igualada cemetery in Spain seeks to couple emotion and memorial with the landscape, specifically with the land from which the deceased lived and to which they were attached7. My proposal draws from these examples in that it will seek to attach itself to the place, to the site, to the city of Toronto. One of the main objectives is for the design to be removed from, yet inclusive to, religion. In order to create an inclusive space for all religions, the concept of memorial must be revisited. The major works influencing the concept of memory in my thesis are drawn mostly from the book titled “Spatial Recall: Memory in Architecture and Landscape” edited by Marc Trieb. I posit that to engrave a name on a stone does not signify memorial. It is a ritualized action - something that is simply done without thought. While there are certainly many cases 3 Auzelle, Robert. Dernières demeures: Conception, composition, réalisation du cimetière contemporain. Paris: Imprimerie Mazarine, 1965. Print. 4 Arnell, Peter, Ted Bickford, Vincent Joseph Scully, and José Rafael Moneo. Aldo Rossi: buildings and projects. New York: Rizzoli, 1985. Print. 5 Gallanti, Fabrizio. Vertical cemeteries - Architecture - Domus. Domus. N.p., 21 Feb. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. <http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/vertical-cemeteries/>. 6 Constant, Caroline. The Woodland Cemetery: Towards a spiritual landscape. Stockholm: Byggforlaget, 1994. Print. 7 Zabalbeascoa, Anatxu. Igualada Cemetery: Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós. London: Phaidon, 1996. Print.
of people memorializing their loved ones at the graveside in a cemetery, I argue that it is not the grave marker that inspires or encourages this action. It is the person. The stone marker has little to do with it. Andrew Shanken would likely agree and says that too often, memory and memorial are separated. With the evolution of the study of history institutionalizing the past, traditional ways of remembrance through ritual and story have eroded to the straightforward and banal compilation in books or on plaques. He states that, “people have been exchanged for institutions.”8 Juhani Pallasmaa believes that memory is not only stored in our minds, but in our entire bodies, our bones, our muscles, our nerves. With this view, a person’s environment can act to reflect and amplify their memory back to them9. These are themes I intend to weave into my design. While I admit that a simple engraving may still hold a place in the final design proposal, the idea of physical memory will be incorporated in order to induce certain emotions. And in no way will a simple engraving and epitaph be the extent of memorial. My proposal will seek to design these concepts, and place them within the context of Toronto and it’s people. I also intend to address the question of time and memory. Eventually, people are forgotten. The name of the grave marker means very little to those who don’t know the person. What type of system would be required to allow the conversion of a burial space once people no longer visit the site? There are very few works that truly explore the future possibilities of the cemetery. A few that I have found and that will influence my thesis are, “The Hanging Cemetery of Baghdad” by Nannette Jackowski and Ricardo de Ostos and an architecture thesis titled “Shifts in paradigms and their impact on architectural design: A cemetery for Las Colinas, Texas” by Debra B. Severance. While neither of these works specifically inform my proposal, they do lend themselves to the prospective reach and outlook to the future for which my proposal might aspire. Jackowski and de Ostos’s theoretical proposal for the Hanging Cemetery of Baghdad exists at the extreme end of the spectrum. It is an outrageous concept that predicts the direst situation. In Baghdad, the cemeteries are full. At some point in the past, a structure was erected as the new cemetery. Piles of people are laid in a giant continuously woven shroud before being buried on an uppermost burial level10. While my proposal does not seek the same morbid future, it is informed by the potential of this project. How extreme should a proposal be in order to make people think about an issue? 8 Shanken, Andrew. “The Memory Industry and its Discontents: The Death and Life of a Key Word” in Spatial Recall: Memory in architecture and landscape. Ed. Marc Trieb. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print. 9 Pallasmaa, Juhani. “Space, Place, Memory, and Imagination: the Temporal Dimension of Existential Space” in Spatial Recall: Memory in architecture and landscape. Ed. Marc Trieb. (New York: Routledge, 2009). Print. 10 Jackowski, Nannette, and Ricardo de. Ostos. The hanging cemetery of Baghdad. Wien: Springer, 2007. Print.
More importantly, its presentation style, as three short stories told be those affected by the cemetery every day, is informative and evokes an emotional response beyond that gained looking at only plans, sections, and perspectives. It is a form along these lines that I wish for my thesis to take. The thesis by Debra Severance takes a very concrete stand as to what today’s society is based on post-modern values. She states that “Post-modern man continues to see himself only as a machine… there are no absolutes by which to distinguish right from wrong, truth from untruth, objectivity from subjectivity, reality from fantasy.”11 Despite this view, she also discusses the emotional and psychological factors associated with death and how in death, one needs to hold on to their roots, leave some type of mark on history, and be remembered as an individual as well as part of society . This aligns itself directly with my proposal. Also despite her starting point, her final design proposal includes a chapel, crematorium, and columbarium, all relatively traditional methods of disposing of the dead. Furthermore, these are located on an open site in Edge City condition12. In conclusion, I have yet to find evidence of a project that fully represents this thesis proposal. I will instead draw on many examples of historic and modernist cemetery forms, prospective future technologies, and notes and theories on the role of memory in death. My proposal sits among these texts, occasionally in line, and occasionally opposed.
11 Severance, Debra B. “Shifts in paradigms and their impact on architectural design: A cemetery for Las Colinas, Texas”. Diss. Texas Tech University, 2004. Web. 18 December, 2012. < http://repositories.tdl.org/ttuir/ handle/2346/521/browse?value=Severance%2C+Debra+B.&type=author> pg. 24 12 Severance, 1994
6.2 Annotated Bibliography Anderson, E., Maddrell, A., McLoughlin, C. M., & Vincent, A. Memory, mourning, landscape. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011. Print. A collection of essays discussing specific instances of designing landscape for memory and mourning wth particularly relevant essays by Cynthia Wachtell and Joel David Robinson entitled Memory, Mourning, and Malvern Hill: Herman Melville and the Poetry of the American Civil War and Lethean Landscapes:Forgetting in Late Modern Commemorative Spaces. ArchDaily. Islamic Cemetery in Altach / Bernardo Bader. 07 Sep 2012. Web. 19 Dec 2012. <http:// www.archdaily.com/269407> ArchDaily. Santo Stefano Cemetery in Italy / Amoretti + Calvi + Ranalli. 25 Mar 2009. Web. 19 Dec 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/17410> Aries, Philippe. The hour of our death. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. Print. A large volume compiling decades of research into the past 1000 years of dealing with death in the Western world. Arnell, Peter, Ted Bickford, Vincent Joseph Scully, and José Rafael Moneo. Aldo Rossi: buildings and projects. New York: Rizzoli, 1985. Print. Includes a large collection of images, sketches, painting,s and scaled drawings of a number of Rossi’s projects. Specifically, these were available for the San Cataldo Cemetery. Auzelle, Robert. Dernières demeures: Conception, composition, réalisation du cimetière contemporain. Paris: Imprimerie Mazarine, 1965. Print. A french work with detailed analysis of cemeteries in France mostly, but includes some ancient cultures as well. Well analyzid through scaled and dimensioned drawings. This is the most prominent example of cemetery analysis through drawing. Berger, Alan. Drosscape: wasting land in urban America. New York: Princeton Architectural
Press, 2006. Print. This text explores and discusses interstitial spaces in urban areas. Sites that are seen as wasted space due to deindustrialisation and post-fordism. They are often unsightly and contaminated. These types of sites could prove beneficial to the location of future cemeteries. CBC News. “Ethnic students fill ‘untapped niche’ in funeral homes - Toronto - CBC News.” CBC.ca - Canadian News Sports Entertainment Kids Docs Radio TV. N.p., 29 Mar. 2007. Web. 5 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2007/03/29/ funeral-students.html>. Students in the Funeral Services program at Humber College are studying to try and provide options for their cultural communities. City of Toronto. “Toronto Facts, Toronto’s racial diversity.” toronto.ca | Official website for the City of Toronto. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2012. <http://www.toronto.ca/toronto_facts/ diversity.htm> Constant, Caroline. The Woodland Cemetery: Towards a spiritual landscape. Stockholm: Byggforlaget, 1994. Print. A chronicle of the long design and evolution of the Woodland Cemetery. The text takes a specific approach to document the way in which the architects drew on traditional spiritual values through nature to inform their design as opposed to using religious symbolism. Francis, Doris , Leone Kellaher, and Georgina Nephytou. “Sustaining Cemeteries: The User Perspective.” Mortality 5.1 (2000): 34-52. Scholars Portal. Web. 4 Oct. 2012. Gallanti, Fabrizio. Vertical cemeteries - Architecture - Domus. Domus. N.p., 21 Feb. 2007. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. <http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/vertical-cemeteries/>. A brief review of the growing popularity of vertical cemeteries in Brazil, and two proposals, one practicable, one theoretical, for high-rise cemeteries in Columbia and South Korea. Grainger, Hilary J.. Death redesigned: British crematoria, history, architecture and landscape. Reading:
Spire Books, in association with the Creation Society of Great Britain, 2005. Print. The history of crematoria in Britain with examples and case studies. io9. “The future of graveyards” www.io9.com - We come from the future. 5 June, 2012. Web. 16 December, 2012. < http://io9.com/5915693/the-future-of-graveyards> An overview of new methods and ideas in ceetery technology and practice including GPS marking, natural burial, cryogenics, social media, and mobile technology. Jackowski, Nannette, and Ricardo de. Ostos. The hanging cemetery of Baghdad. Wien: Springer, 2007. Print. A conceptual project that images Baghdad, after many years of wars, with full cemeteries. The idea is discussed through three characters. The dialogue flushes out no indication of when the project began, but instead focuses on details from the view of a passerby, a worker, a ghost, not from an architect. The cemetery that hangs above them deconstructs and abstracts the traditional islamic cemetery. The characters discuss the feeling of the place and the emotion attached to it. An important source for proposing a truly radical cemetery design and how to discuss it through emotion. Jackson, Kenneth, T. and Camilo José Vergara. Silent Cities: The evolution of the American cemetery. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1989. Print. An overview of cemeteries in America from church graveyards to the garden cemetery. It includes brief details on memorials and tombstones as well. Kaijima, Momoyo, Junzo Kuroda, and Yoshiharu Tsukamoto. Made in Tokyo. Tokyo: Kajima Inst. Publ., 2001. Print. This text looks at different landuse combinations in Tokyo that result from it’s high density. One example is a cemetery that bridges a road, traditional in design beyond this. The second example is a cemetery that engulfs a shooting range. The cemetery is also traditionally designed. Lantino, Luigi. “The Meditteranean Cemetery: Landscape as Collective Memory” in Spatial Recall: Memory in architecture and landscape. Ed. Marc Trieb. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print. Lantino discusses mediterranean monuments and burial grounds and their connection to the surrounding
site. The landscape of place ties the collective memory of those who live and are buried there. There is a recognition of individual burial as well as “a sense of history and the civilization to which he belongs.” (pg. 161) LifeGem. LifeGem memmorial diamonds. (N.d.) Web. December 21, 2012. < http://www.lifegem.com/> A company that processes the cremated ashes of a loved one into a diamond. Includes gems for pets! McCausland, Janet. “Burial Out of the Box.” Alternatives 34.1 (2008): 6. Proquest. Web. 4 Oct. 2012. An article on natural burial. Moloney, Paul. “Humber islands plan could solve soil dumping woes.” thestar.com. The Toronto Star, 19 June 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/cityhallpolitics/article/1213407--humberislands-plan-could-solve-soil-dumping-woes>. A news article discussing the possibility of creating islands at the mouth of the Humber River using the fill excavated from construction of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Mount Pleasant Group. “Prices.” Mount Pleasant Group: Funeral Centres and Cemeteries. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2012. <http://www.mountpleasantgroup.com/pre-planning/cemetery/prices>. Costs related to plot purchases as well as options for funerary costs at all of Mount Pleasant Group’s cemeteries. Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure. “Places to Grow Act, 2005.” Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2012. <https://www.placestogrow.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4&Itemid=9 >. The Places to Grow Act, 2005 dictates where and how growth should occur in the province of Ontario. Specifically relevant is the Greater Golden Horseshoe plan which dictates that Toronto grow inwardly and not expand beyond the greenbelt that has be designated around it. This is to protect Ontraio’s rich farmland, the richest of which surrounds Toronto and feels the greatest pressures of development. Pallasmaa, Juhani. “Space, Place, Memory, and Imagination: the Temporal Dimension of Existential Space” in Spatial Recall: Memory in architecture and landscape. Ed. Marc Trieb. (New York: Routledge, 2009). Print. A text that discusses memory in terms of it’s physical characteristics. The body is capable of remembering as well as the mind. There is a relationship between speed and memory. Slow movement allows remembrance, fast movement produces forgetfulnes.
Our society is fast paced and memory becomes more difficult. There is also the notion of architecture and design, not holding memory, but being more or less capable of reflecting our own memory back to us. Ragon, Michel. The space of death: a study of funerary architecture, decoration, and urbanism. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983. Print. An important text that chronicles the designs of spaces related to death across many cultures and thousands of years. The central text on how civilisation has dealt with death from a design standpoint. Rauterberg, Hanno, Hélène Binet, and Lukas Wassmann. Holocaust memorial Berlin: Eisenman Architects. Baden, Switzerland: Lars Müller, 2005. Print. One essay and one photo-essay about the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. The importance of this text for me is in the way the design is able to affect users in many ways, its ability to extract emotion without being specific in any way. Rethink Reuse. Transforming 520 Floating Bridge 2012 Design Ideas Competition. (n.d.). RETHINK REUSE COMPETITION Home. Web. October 20, 2012. <http://www.rethinkreuse. org/competition.html> This submission is the first truly adaptive and innovative design for a cemetery I have come across. It reuses pontoons from a discontinued bridge. It encourages civic programming in addition to funerary program. It includes a number of innovative practices, such as degradable cremation urns which dissolve into the water on which the entire cemetery floats. The field of burial vaults that it proposes is also emotional and reminiscent of both the Holocaust memorial in Berlin and the Santo Stefano Cemetery in Italy. Rossi, Aldo, and Gianni Braghieri. Cimitière de San Cataldo, Modène. Aldo Rossi. 2. Aufl. ed. Zürich: Artemis, 1983. 72-83. Print. The designers of San Cataldo cemetery discuss the project. Schwartzenberg, Susan. “Recreating the Past: Notes of the Neurology of Memory” in Spatial Recall: Memory in architecture and landscape. Ed. Marc Trieb. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Print. A look at how the specific inner-workings of the brain affect memory. Specifically, this is an overview of a project undertaken by the author, photographing scenes that attempt to match paintings that were completed by memory. It shows that memory is not an image, but a collection of images associated with values. The paintings show views impossible to actually see, but each depicts aspects of the location that the painter deemed personally important and memorable. Severance, Debra B. “Shifts in paradigms and their impact on architectural design: A cemetery for Las Colinas, Texas”. Diss. Texas Tech University, 2004. Web. 18 December, 2012. < http://repositories.tdl.org/ttu-ir/ handle/2346/521/browse?value=Severance%2C+Debra+B.&type=author> Shanken, Andrew. “The Memory Industry and its Discontents: The Death and Life of a Key Word” in Spatial Recall: Memory in architecture and landscape. Ed. Marc Trieb. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print. The central theme of this text is that often, memory has been separated from memorial. The memorial industry tries to depict events, or further, tries to incorporate political issues of the day into the design (often a sculpture). It discusses the potential of minimalism to allow interpretation by a polytheistic society. A valuable quote discusses our loss of traditional methods of memorial, through story and ritual. It has been replaced by the rationalisation and institutionalisation of history in the form of plaques and books. The Infinity Burial Project. Mushroom Death Suit. (n.d). Web. December 21, 2012. < http://infinityburialproject.com/ burial-suit> An intriguing project for a burial suit infused with mycellium bacteria, mshrooms that decompose the body more quickly. The fungo has potential for remediation of brownfield sites. Worpole, Ken. Last landscapes: the architecture of the cemetery in the West. London: Reaktion, 2003. Print. Zabalbeascoa, Anatxu. Igualada Cemetery: Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós. London: Phaidon, 1996. Print. Žychowski, Józef. “Impact of cemeteries on groundwater chemistry: A review.” CATENA 93 (2012): 29-37. Science Direct. Web. 4 Oct. 2012. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816212000124> A brief examination of ground water pollution in Ontario that results from cemeteries and current burial practices including chemically treated wood and embalming fluids.