Green Funeral Ceremony Center 殡仪礼堂中心 by Or Man Lai

Green Funeral Ceremony Center 殡仪礼堂中心 by Or Man Lai is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award 铜奖 in 建筑与结构设计 Competition Category.

铜建筑· 2020

Green Funeral Ceremony Center 殡仪礼堂中心

by Or Man Lai

Client: Sage Funeral Services Ltd.

A' Design Award 铜奖 Winner in 建筑 Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #89953

Visit Site View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

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The Design

About Green Funeral Ceremony Center 殡仪礼堂中心

"Gather"是一座建于香港西贡的殡仪礼堂中心。建筑遵循"离别""聚合""联结"三个阶段的动线组织。展示空间供家属与来宾瞻仰逝者;公共中庭在阳光与树影之中提供休憩与追思之所;屋顶骨灰花园则将自然元素带给到访者。建筑结构将骨灰与混凝土相结合,室内则采用回收材料。其造型令人联想到双手交合的意象。设计意图在于抚慰哀伤,并促进人与人之间的情感联结。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 铜奖

Green Funeral Ceremony Center 殡仪礼堂中心是 A' Design Award 铜奖得主，这是授予以创造力、独创性和敏锐见长的杰出设计的极具声望的认可。铜奖得主是技艺娴熟、创意惊人的作品，印证了其设计师丰富的经验、想象力与机智。预计Green Funeral Ceremony Center 殡仪礼堂中心将成为一件备受推崇、令人钦佩且被珍爱的物品，兼具显著的专业性与创新性。这件赢得 A' Design Award 铜奖的设计融入艺术、科学、设计和技术领域的最佳实践，并因注重细节而出类拔萃。Green Funeral Ceremony Center 殡仪礼堂中心出色地满足需求，触动渴望，迷住情感，并吸引好奇心。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

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.
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.
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.
Patents: Copyrights belong to Or Man Lai, 2019.
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.