CONTACT
Tel: +61 (0) 466 464 485
CONTACT
Tel: +61 (0) 466 464 485
CONTACT
Tel: +61 (0) 466 464 485
CONTACT
Tel: +61 (0) 466 464 485
Transient Care
Rendered perspective from the garden of a main pathway leading through the central building.
Short Section A through edge of the grounds with a front elevation of the main building.
Interior perspective from the library space through the lounge area and view of the crematorium.
Rendered perspective from the garden of a main pathway leading through the central building.
Brief
An exploration into an institutional typology using critical investigation to uncover how design produces new spatial encounters and influences human interaction within the formal, social, and aesthetic principles of the institution. Taking the institution of the crematorium and the events surrounding death and the burial process, coupled with Guy Debord’s theory of the spectacle to propose a variant of a crematory institution – one that could challenge or embrace the spectacle’s dictations of the function of modern society.
Design
The assertion of western society’s perception of death and mourning has become innate, where we are taught that death is a sombre, stark experience where the feeling of loss is shared while the process of mourning is isolating.
By removing the conventional barriers surrounding death, the design of this new crematory structure proposes a renewed attitude towards the stages leading up to death as well as those experienced by the friends and family after the passing. Nestled upon the site of the Hyde Park Barracks within Sydney CBD, the proposed is a temporary end-of-life care facility that is hybridised with a crematorium, centralised within the main building and bounded within a glass enclosure, enabling visibility from the surrounding internal spaces. This exposure of the crematory process aids to remove the built up and perpetuated fear surrounding the dying process and to encourage an acceptance of what is to come and to help families engage in the difficult conversations prior to the passing. As those who reside within pass and the crematory process is completed, their ashes are in turn replenished into the soil of the grounds. Continually being cared for by those who will soon also find their resting place, creating a personal connection to one’s place of rest and a meaningful space for loved ones to visit.
The design opposes the assumed perception of a stuffy, sterile nursing home establishment through its focus on the inclusion of family members into the space. With the residence accommodation being integrated into the surrounding landscape in a network of pod structures, the surface of the surrounding grounds provides a communal parkland welcoming the public. With the location of the site, it aims to include and encourage the integration of the vibrancy that the heart of Sydney city offers.
Ground floor, central building, resident accommodation pods, landscape & access paths.
First floor plan showing surface of surrounding landscape.
Second floor plan.
Ground floor, central building, resident accommodation pods, landscape & access paths.