MIARC Comprehensive Final Studio • Barrow House: Urban Mausoleum & Grief Center • Spring 2013
Barrow House is a proposal for a Urban Mausoleum and Grief Center in Portland, Oregon: it combines a funeral home, traditional mausoleum (housing of vessels and urns) and a grief counseling center which has options for both group and individual therapy. Barrow House is not specifically affiliated with any one religion, and is a place where a diverse populous can hold services, but it also is a space that recognizes the sacred nature of death. The challenge with combining a mausoleum and a grief center is that it must be both a place for sadness and grief, but also a place for happiness and remembrance (healing). The benefits of the combination come from allowing Barrow House to become a place that is a single, stable environment through the entire death and grieving process. The importance of an urban environment in the project is related to challenging the modern trend of developing burial sites outside of the city – by placing Barrow House in an urban environment it brings death and how we deal with it into the “everyday.”
This thesis project was developed by Kelsey over three terms and ended with the completion of a 121 page thesis book.
This thesis project was developed by Kelsey over three terms and ended with the completion of a 121 page thesis book.
Project Guiding Principles:
Challenge Contexts of Death:
• use an urban location: activating awareness through material, light and graphics
• highlight vertical format and movement through building (vs. horizontal organization of most cemeteries)
• push mausoleum zones to street facade and activate the facade using color, light, movement
• use barrow house to create a landmark or icon, that represents death, in an urban environment
Modernize Perceptions of Death:
• design niche spaces to solely house cremated remains to reflect industry trends and the urban environment
• use technology and modern practices to update the way we “interact” with death (specific to niche spaces)
• use color to create a positive & soothing environment
• use natural and light materials to contrast “traditional” spaces for death that are generally dark, somber or “heavy”
• use transparency to celebrate death and highlight bringing it into the everyday and city environment
Celebrate Diversity of Grieving:
• emphasize choice and provide a variety of spaces for different users’ needs: colorful/neutral, light/dark, outdoor/indoor, open/closed, public/private, individual/collective
• create variety in movement and organization to highlight procession and ritual differences in users
• provide spaces that guide (represent stability) and others that wander (represent discovery)
• create a gathering space that is flexible; representing sacredness, but allowing for different types of services
• use color and light to highlight and represent sacredness (vs. symbols) and provide opportunities for ritual practices that are common for many users (flowers, candles, memorial)
Represent Complete Cycles of Death - From Grief to Celebration:
• include program for different phases: funeral/funerary (beginning), grief (middle) and mausoleum (ongoing)
• provide a variety of spaces for healing: denial/isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance/celebration
• use procession through the vertical organization: creating a “lightening” as users move through and up into the mausoleum spaces. use the program organization to push users towards the light facade.
• bring death into the everyday (daily cycles for public) by pushing the mausoleum spaces towards the street facade
Challenge Contexts of Death:
• use an urban location: activating awareness through material, light and graphics
• highlight vertical format and movement through building (vs. horizontal organization of most cemeteries)
• push mausoleum zones to street facade and activate the facade using color, light, movement
• use barrow house to create a landmark or icon, that represents death, in an urban environment
Modernize Perceptions of Death:
• design niche spaces to solely house cremated remains to reflect industry trends and the urban environment
• use technology and modern practices to update the way we “interact” with death (specific to niche spaces)
• use color to create a positive & soothing environment
• use natural and light materials to contrast “traditional” spaces for death that are generally dark, somber or “heavy”
• use transparency to celebrate death and highlight bringing it into the everyday and city environment
Celebrate Diversity of Grieving:
• emphasize choice and provide a variety of spaces for different users’ needs: colorful/neutral, light/dark, outdoor/indoor, open/closed, public/private, individual/collective
• create variety in movement and organization to highlight procession and ritual differences in users
• provide spaces that guide (represent stability) and others that wander (represent discovery)
• create a gathering space that is flexible; representing sacredness, but allowing for different types of services
• use color and light to highlight and represent sacredness (vs. symbols) and provide opportunities for ritual practices that are common for many users (flowers, candles, memorial)
Represent Complete Cycles of Death - From Grief to Celebration:
• include program for different phases: funeral/funerary (beginning), grief (middle) and mausoleum (ongoing)
• provide a variety of spaces for healing: denial/isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance/celebration
• use procession through the vertical organization: creating a “lightening” as users move through and up into the mausoleum spaces. use the program organization to push users towards the light facade.
• bring death into the everyday (daily cycles for public) by pushing the mausoleum spaces towards the street facade