Rose Hills Crematorium
The goal of this project is two-fold: to explore interment as an infrastructural issue and to examine the role that architecture can play in the process of grief and healing. The project is developed as a series of paths aimed at evoking different feelings. Specific paths have been designed for members of the funeral party, and for return visitors paying respect to the memorialized. A shifting relationship to nature, spatial experiences, and close attention to texture all work together to form an phenomenological experience stimulating all of the senses.

The path acts as a columbaria, with enclosing walls containing spots for the ashes of the deceased. The crematorium and chapels are located at the crossroads of these paths. An open central courtyard separates the two chapels, and allows for circulation through the rest of the site. The buildings play with the concepts of light and heavy, reflecting their surroundings.


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