nathan
cilona
info
200 plan libre : anatomy of an architectural journal
plan libre 200 : neither building nor demolishing
plan libre 198 : happy medieval time
plan libre 197 : tinies
plan libre 196 : roundabouts
plan libre 195 : disappointment of the form
new fictions for architecture
architecture’s photogenicity at the instagram era
altered memory of space
[coll.] synopsis
juliette picherit, portfolio
atelier d’architecture david huet
places
faces
jars
- baud-chardonnet’s necropolis
A New Urban Facility,
a New Way of Managing our Deceased
The grid, as a mathematical system, induces a behavior of repetition, an obsession with patterns, something that cannot be adequately dimensioned. It organizes, measures, and structures. The organic, vegetal, bodily crowd is inherently transgressive. As time elapses, its progress becomes inexorable, and it directly confronts the rational grid, becoming a privileged witness to the passage of time.
By integrating into the urban fabric, this Necropolis project aims to incorporate death into the city while demystifying it. However, it does not intend to be detached from all symbolism. Its purpose is simply to transpose it from the remains to the space, its monumentality, its relationship with the city, time, and light. Here, death is approached as a temporality of matter. The grid, initially a raw mathematical system, gains dimension and materiality. Suddenly, there is an underlying tremor. It makes the grid vibrate. The matter bursts forth and spreads inexorably. Gradually, it invades the grid until it completely disappears.
The matter becomes a living, moving, abstract entity.
This project is a work of fiction that speculate within a critical approach of the Rennes 2030 urban program.
By integrating into the urban fabric, this Necropolis project aims to incorporate death into the city while demystifying it. However, it does not intend to be detached from all symbolism. Its purpose is simply to transpose it from the remains to the space, its monumentality, its relationship with the city, time, and light. Here, death is approached as a temporality of matter. The grid, initially a raw mathematical system, gains dimension and materiality. Suddenly, there is an underlying tremor. It makes the grid vibrate. The matter bursts forth and spreads inexorably. Gradually, it invades the grid until it completely disappears.
The matter becomes a living, moving, abstract entity.
This project is a work of fiction that speculate within a critical approach of the Rennes 2030 urban program.
By rooting itself in the current context, Baud-Chardonnet’s Necropolis Project addresses a problem at the heart of our cities that architects have neglected, and anticipates the consequences of failing to address and manage this issue in the years to come: the management of the deceased. By management, we refer to both the storage of bodies and their treatment.
Cemeteries, as we know them today, are essential places as they serve as true green lungs within cities. They provide calm, meditative, and contemplative spaces, partly due to the symbols associated with them and their heritage dimension. Therefore, these places have a relevant function in our current cities. However, by anticipating an increase in the number of deceased individuals — whether due to long-term demographic growth or a sudden health crisis like COVID — the space required by cemeteries in cities, and the limitations of this mode of managing the deceased, becomes questionable.
Urban space is increasingly valuable today. Allocating urban space to green areas is crucial for our well-being and health, but using it to store and accumulate more and more of our deceased becomes less and less sustainable in the long run, as cemeteries cannot perpetually encroach upon the urban space they occupy. Our research indicates that the imminent saturation of cemeteries is a concern that each municipality foresees with great apprehension, given the delicacy of the matter. To address this, concession systems are implemented; after a certain number of years — a duration intended to progressively decrease — relatives must pay to maintain the deceased's place in the cemetery. Otherwise, it is released to accommodate a new body. However, this system is only an interim solution to prevent cemeteries from quickly reaching capacity and is not viable in the long term. It is essential to consider an alternative, more sustainable way of managing our deceased.
Moreover, it seems interesting to take advantage of the extensive urban redevelopment program Rennes 2030 to integrate this proposal, which would become an integral part of the "city of tomorrow" project.
The idea embodied in this architectural project is to change the representations and symbolism associated with death by linking them not to the body but rather to architecture. The body is treated in a way that it diminishes or even disappears, while the space becomes a monument and carries the symbolism associated with death.
Therefore, we can imagine that if we stop burying our deceased in city cemeteries, we will crystallize them so that they continue to be used and appreciated as green spaces and heritage monuments. No longer accepting new bodies, these places will only retain their role as quiet and meditative green lungs in the heart of the city. The deceased will be stored in other places, probably more compact and neutral within the city, without specific religious or cultural markings. These new facilities could either be incorporated into existing cemeteries - which already serve as spaces for storing, honoring, and remembering the deceased — or located in other areas of the city. They could include a phase of gathering and paying homage in neutral spaces that allow for individual or collective appropriation — a form of versatile tribute hall — as well as a phase of ecologically treating and managing the bodies — such as aquamation or natural burial methods.
tribute rooms
Cemeteries, as we know them today, are essential places as they serve as true green lungs within cities. They provide calm, meditative, and contemplative spaces, partly due to the symbols associated with them and their heritage dimension. Therefore, these places have a relevant function in our current cities. However, by anticipating an increase in the number of deceased individuals — whether due to long-term demographic growth or a sudden health crisis like COVID — the space required by cemeteries in cities, and the limitations of this mode of managing the deceased, becomes questionable.
Urban space is increasingly valuable today. Allocating urban space to green areas is crucial for our well-being and health, but using it to store and accumulate more and more of our deceased becomes less and less sustainable in the long run, as cemeteries cannot perpetually encroach upon the urban space they occupy. Our research indicates that the imminent saturation of cemeteries is a concern that each municipality foresees with great apprehension, given the delicacy of the matter. To address this, concession systems are implemented; after a certain number of years — a duration intended to progressively decrease — relatives must pay to maintain the deceased's place in the cemetery. Otherwise, it is released to accommodate a new body. However, this system is only an interim solution to prevent cemeteries from quickly reaching capacity and is not viable in the long term. It is essential to consider an alternative, more sustainable way of managing our deceased.
Moreover, it seems interesting to take advantage of the extensive urban redevelopment program Rennes 2030 to integrate this proposal, which would become an integral part of the "city of tomorrow" project.
The idea embodied in this architectural project is to change the representations and symbolism associated with death by linking them not to the body but rather to architecture. The body is treated in a way that it diminishes or even disappears, while the space becomes a monument and carries the symbolism associated with death.
Therefore, we can imagine that if we stop burying our deceased in city cemeteries, we will crystallize them so that they continue to be used and appreciated as green spaces and heritage monuments. No longer accepting new bodies, these places will only retain their role as quiet and meditative green lungs in the heart of the city. The deceased will be stored in other places, probably more compact and neutral within the city, without specific religious or cultural markings. These new facilities could either be incorporated into existing cemeteries - which already serve as spaces for storing, honoring, and remembering the deceased — or located in other areas of the city. They could include a phase of gathering and paying homage in neutral spaces that allow for individual or collective appropriation — a form of versatile tribute hall — as well as a phase of ecologically treating and managing the bodies — such as aquamation or natural burial methods.