Bereavement Within The Urban Horizon

INTO THE 3RD HORIZON / 12 of 13

BACK THROUGH THE PAST & FORWARDS INTO THE FUTURE

After 2 years the promains of the deceased have fully decomposed, leaving no physical trace of the deceased. As such, on the second anniversary of death the Mugunghwa shrub is removed back to the nurseries beneath the Retreival Garden and the individual glass memorial mounted with those of friends or family members who have already passed, hanging above the tables in which the Mugunghwa are planted.

Thus at all times the horizons are stabilised, the sky by the glass, the earth by the eternal flower and through these the bereaved are able to mediate their return to the day to day

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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

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TWITMADANG, THE GARDEN BEYOND / 10 of 13

A Garden Beyond the Homely, Before The Unhomely

Each Arcade is divided by a platform and each is refurbished as a Twitmadang - the Rear Garden. Though this space is undeniably more unhomely than not, being between the Threshold Wall and the Memorial Tower, it offers a place of respite, and a reminder of natural life in the midst of the city and in the midst of bereavement.

A Garden Between The City &; The Mountain

In addition to the glass memorial and promains, the bereaved recieve a Mugunghwa shrub at the Retrieval Garden. These are cultivated in two nurseries below the garden level and prepared for recieval in the Mugunghwa Preparation Hall which is linked directly to both nurseries and the Retrieval Garden.

The Retreival Garden is the first truly open space on the path from city to mountain. Though sheltered by the Mugunghwa Preparation Hall, the path behind it and the trees within, it acts as a moment of fresh air. Here is a place of timber, tree and grass, rather than the predominant concrete of the Arcade and the city beyond.

PROGRAMATIC ISOMETRIC / Receiving A Temporary Memorial / Mugunghwa
1 Mugunghwa Preparation Hall, 2 Retreival Garden, 3 Mugunghwa Nursery, 4 Path into Memorial Tower, 5 Path from Promain retreival, 6 Path from Threshold Wall

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BLACK FOREST GATEAU

These drawings are from a time in the design of the arcade when the final aesthetic had not been truly defined. The concept had materialised, the manner was formed, but the colour and the shape had not yet settled. With all of this weighing on my mind, I began to draw, creating little cupcakes of ideas - miniature versions of later decisions. The Arcade was too large a battle as yet, but if I formed a maquette - or a little sister, hopefully that would lead me somewhere along the way.

FINISHED GATEAU

This is as far as I got before feeling that I had to put these colours and shapes into a physical context. What I ended up with is the distilled representation of all the psychologies and sociologies I had been wrestling with - but without a place.

Looking at the finished gateau, I suppose it wants to be in a forest, approached by a winding path, along which there are clearings of various sizes. I could suggest that the Arcade is that forest, the platforms are those winding paths. Perhaps the gateau did in fact confirm to me what the Arcade wanted to be - I had already transformed it into a forest, at the foot of the mountain, with winding paths and small clearings - what it needed was a house at its core.

Though the final forms of the various houses inside the finished design may not share an exact aesthetic with the gateau, I do think there is still a family resemblance.

CUPCAKES

TESTING THE BASE

TESTING THE FILLING

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AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD / 9 of 13

PASSING THROUGH THE THRESHOLD BETWEEN THE CITY & THE MOUNTAIN

Much like its equivalent in the traditional Korean house dividing home from the unhomely - the Threshold Wall divide the city from the mountain. Each transition through represents a further separation from the day to day into the Twitmadang - the Rear Garden. It is in the early moments on entering the Twitmadang that the bereaved retreive the promains of the deceased.

PROGRAMATIC ISOMETRIC / Retreival of Promains
1 Retrieval House, 2 Path down from Thresshold Wall to Retreival House, 3 Line of the Threshold Wall, 4 A moment before passing through into the Twitmadang - The Rear Garden, 5 Last view of the City, before turning towards the Mountain, 6 Access to Northern Stair Core, Lifts and Amenities, 7 Path into Retreival Garden, 8 Path of the Last Journey

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TOWARDS THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAIN

A reference for these section drawings can be found here. Scroll across the relevant letters to view Sections A to AB and select to view each individually.