MEDIATING THE SPACE BETWEEN / 11 of 13

The early years of grief are usually the most painful. Promession allows a ritual and spatial accommodation of this period. Its remains degrade within a year under soil. Each plot is planted with a mugunghwa shrub, which acts as an additional memorial and focus for grief. The plant can act as mediator between the bereaved and the deceased, with maintenance and care for it forming a structure through which to mitigate grief.

The mugunghwa is an honest memorial. Wholly within time, each flower lasting only a day, it does not make the empty promise of permanence that is within stone. It lasts only the length of one’s grief - demanding equally from the bereaved as the bereaved does from it.

A TEMPORAL MEMORIAL

From the Retreival Garden the funeral party is led into the Memorial Tower to their allocated burial plot in a procession bearing the Mugunghwa, Glass Lantern and the Promains of the deceased.

Here the promains are interred, the Mugunghwa planted and the Glass Lantern mounted alongside. Once the final rites are completed, the bereaved return to the city and the day to day.

uRBAN mOUNTAINSIDE

The Memorial Tower is primarily accessed from the Retreival Garden and the Southern Stair Tower. Both promenades are connected by stair to the flower market below the Retreival Garden and the lowest point of the Tower is accessed directly from the Charnel House forecourt.

PROGRAMATIC ISOMETRIC / Internment
1 Cemetery - Eastern Promenade, 2 Cemetery - Western Promenade, 3 Cemetery - Level 1, 4 Cemetery - Level 2, 5 Cemetery - Level 3, 6 Cemetery - Level 4, 7 Cemetery - Level 5, 8 Cemetery - Level 6, 9 Cemetery - Level 7, 10 Cemetery - Level 8, 11 Cemetery - Level 9, 12 Cemetery - Level 10