Bronze Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2020
Green Funeral Ceremony Center Place To Celebrate Life
by Or Man Lai
- A' Design Award 2020 Bronze Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Sage Funeral Services Ltd.
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 9,896
- Verification code 7C4102A451 · Verify this award
About Green Funeral Ceremony Center Place To Celebrate Life
Gather is a funeral ceremony center built in Sai Kung, Hong Kong. The building follows three stages of movement, named Leaving, Gathering and Connection. An exhibition space allows family and guests to view the deceased. A public atrium offers rest and reflection, with sunlight and tree shadows. A rooftop ash garden brings elements of nature to visitors. The structure combines human ashes with concrete, and recycled materials are used inside. The shapes recall two hands meeting. The intent is to ease grief and support social connection.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The green funeral center with the theme of Gather delivers the message of connection, of joining together and of humanity. The three stages of human flow are portrayed throughout the building and rooftop ash garden, which is intended to promote togetherness, in order to diminish the sadness and grief characteristic of traditional Chinese funerals. Its building materials and structure are composed of human ashes and concrete, in convergence with the center’s shapes, as a metaphor of two human hands meeting, implying that people can find a common point to understand that a funeral is a time to gather.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 67200 mm x 20800 mm x 8200mm
- Tags
- funeral, ceremony, centre, HongKong, contemporary, eco, green burial, architecture
- Production Technology
- The funeral center has been unique in its use of recycled materials for the interior. The focus is on highlighting the Earth, inside and out, and the most innovative building material used was human ash. The building has created a space that makes human bodies useful in death, as they were in life, and creates a strong foundation thereby minimizing the use of non-renewable resources. The rooftop garden offers elements of nature to the guests, and the outside trees provide natural shade for their comfort.
- Design Challenge
- During this architectural project, one of the greatest challenges was dealing with the complicated nature of death and funerals, which are associated with sadness and negativity. Sage Funeral Services Ltd. always strives to provide a customized, high-quality funeral service experience, but Asian elders and traditionalists may not accept a green funeral. However, the designer is confident that the theme will promote a sense of community and offer a safe space in which to grieve and heal.
- Project Duration
- Tai Mong Tsai Road, Sai Kung, Hong Kong
Remaining Portion of section B of Lot no.333 Lands - Operation Flow
- The whole space is divided into three parts: the Leaving, Gathering, and Connection. The exhibition space enables the family and guests to view the deceased in the early part of the ceremony in order to strengthen the cohesiveness. Then everyone can gather in the public atrium to have a rest and partake in some reflection. With the support of the family and guests, the sun and the tree shadows can calm the mind and body. Finally, all pass through the square, where the soul will be connected, and reach the final warm funeral and meditation space, and face the turning of life with forgiveness.
- Research
- In line with gathering together to celebrate life, the designer has created an eco-friendly funeral service center with recycled materials and an overall friendly space where visitors can have a unique experience of social connection and healing. The designer focused on the essence of a funeral to pay respects to ancestors and allow modern funeral services to infuse elements of environmental protection. We also utilized an ash and concrete mixture that is eco-friendly and reduces the use of resources.
- Inspiration
- With a view to gathering together, through an eco-friendly, modern funeral using recycled materials, visitors can experience social bonding and healing. Focused on the essence of a funeral being to remember one’s ancestors, Gather allows the customization of events to infuse elements of environmental protection. It celebrates humanity by using people’s bodies that were once important to life, allowing them to be essential in death, by converting the dead and Gathering them into a physical form. The building itself is designed to encourage movement.
- Image Credits
- #1 : Creator Or ManLai, Green Funeral Ceremony Center, 2019.
#2 : Creator Or ManLai, Green Funeral Ceremony Center, 2019.
#3 : Creator Or ManLai, Green Funeral Ceremony Center, 2019.
#4 : Creator Or ManLai, Green Funeral Ceremony Center, 2019.
#5 : Creator Or ManLai, Green Funeral Ceremony Center, 2019. - Patents
- Copyrights belong to Or Man Lai, 2019.