Living In Sync

Living In Sync

Rediscovering Nature's balance through a Re-wilded Cemetery

By: Brandon Halkitis

Our spaces can serve greater purposes in our fast changing, climate disruptive world. A space cannot just be open and it cannot just be green, it has to be regenerative, bio-diverse and equitable for it to be a high functioning, balanced space.

Contents

01. Cities vs Wildlife

02. Welcome to Northgate

03. A Re-wilded Cemetery: Concept

04. Re-wilded Concept Meets Washelli Evergreen Cemetery

05. The Memorial Meadow Brought to Life

00. Living in Sync: Introduction

LIVING IN SYNC

The idea of "Living in Sync" started with a feeling that we should be closer to nature. This doesn't just mean a physical closeness to plants and animals, it's about decreasing the mental separation that we have developed in our society over time. For example, commercial areas favor impermeable paved surfaces for easier access to products. Homes prefer ornamental plants and manicured lawns over native grasses and shrubs. All of these decisions steer us farther away from interaction with the other living things on our planet. For our homes and cities to be equitable, regenerative and bio-diverse, we must rethink the way we dwell with nature.

Living in sync brings a design for all living things to thrive together now and in the future.

Climate Change Affects People's Heritage, Sense of Place and Wellbeing.

What people face:

Lack of close proximity + access to nature.

Increased feeling of insecurity and instability in the natural environment.

Decrease in good air and water quality.

Decrease in forested trails in urban areas due to drought, development or wildfires ( for areas outside of city centers).

Decreased areas for natural healing.

How can we live closer to the natural cycles that are already embedded in the Pacific Northwest?

What types of infrastructure can change to accommodate for more than human life?

What benefits does living with nature and its cycles have on our cities and people?

Damage to intact habitat cores and ecosystems due to increased magnitude and frequency of extreme climate events.

Increased mortality and physiological damage, especially for native species.

Altered population dynamics and distribution patterns such as feeding, nesting and migration.

What animals face:

Ecosystems are transitioning in Response to Extreme Events.

Cities vs Wildlife

Exposing the relationships between cities and wildlife habitats.

Cities are where biodiversity is at risk the most. This map highlights the correlation between the concentration of imperiled species across the United States and protected areas for biodiversity. What this map reveals is that almost all the habitats where imperiled species live are concentrated outside of the protect areas for biodiversity. This raises the questions: Where do these species live? Do we need to shift our conservation efforts closer to cities? These species are most vulnerable when they are outside of their protected habitat, providing great reason to make room for them when they are pushed into our cities.

Fast growing urban cities, like Seattle, have history of habitat removal through rapid development, turning them into impermeable, unlivable conditions for our local species. Sometimes, natural habitats become private land, which are often in areas where there are high concentrations of imperiled species. Without protected areas for these habitats to take hold within our urban centers, the land faces drastic changes that often don't consider what was once living there.

Protected lands for biodiversity Imperiled species

About 10,047 species are present in Washington, United States

22 total species are considered endangered.

72 total species are considered vulnerable. Fish and bird populations have the highest numbers in both categories.

This map shows the correlation between the areas where wildlife are threatened the most versus intact habitat cores. The interesting part of this analysis is that the areas at the edges of the intact habitat cores have the highest concentration of threatened species. These areas are likely high in human settlements and in the future could potentially seep into dense cities such as Seattle, Everett, and Tacoma. Where will these species be ? How will they find habitat as they are forced to move due to disruption of their habitat cores?

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/hundreds-of-wa-plants-animals-at-risk-of-extinction/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/science/endangered-species-list-grows-by-2000-climate-change-is-part-of-theproblem/

"Along with the other designated urban centers – Downtown, Uptown, South Lake Union, Capitol Hill/First Hill, University District – Northgate is expected to experience significant population growth and investment in the coming decades" - The Daily Plan it Blog "City of Seattle Launching 20 year Plan for Northgate" 2023 (emphasis added)

Welcome to Northgate

A fast growing urban center of Seattle

Northgate is a neighborhood in north Seattle, Washington, named for and surrounding Northgate Mall, the first covered mall in the United States. The Northgate area has been subject to a large amount of residential and commercial development in the last few years, and many huge projects are underway.

Opening of Northgate Mall.

Opening of UW Medical Centre and Hospital.

Opening of North Seattle Community College.

A new park, library, and community center opened in the Northgate neighborhood across 5th Ave NE from Northgate Mall.

The Northgate Mall was remodeled and added dozens more retail shops. Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel was completed.

Northgate station on Link light rail, which opened in October 2021 as the terminus of the Northgate Link Extension. Northgate is also home to the headquarters and team practice facility of the Seattle Kraken which began play in October 2021.

In progress plans for the Northgate Mall area:

• Over 900,000 sf of Class A Office Space

• Up to 1,200 Residential Units

• Two high quality Hotels

• Transit-oriented amenities near the Link Light Rail

• Improved circulation routes created for pedestrians and bicyclists throughout the property.

UW Medical center expanded, Link rail connections expanded. More people, with resilient green and blue spaces. Increased habitat that are in sync with the natural cycles.

The Evergreen Washelli Cemetery lies just outside of the Urban Center and has the opportunity to play an even bigger role in bringing healthy and regenerative habitats to Northgate.

Green Highlights of Northgate

Notable green spaces that surround the Northgate Area.

Northgate has pockets of green spaces scattered around its urban area. Thornton Creek and Barton Woods play a significant role in ensuring healthy wetland habitats are present. They further increase the wellbeing of the neighborhood by providing clean and natural leisure spaces for many outdoor activities.

Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park

Licton Springs Park

Mineral Springs Park

Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel

Thornton Creek

Maple Leaf P-Patch

Hubbard

Homestead

Barton Woods

Beaver Pond Natural Area

Sacajawea Playground Park

Haller Lake

Map: Wetland and Urban Centre Analysis from Seattle GeoData 2022

Northgate Urban Center Open Green Space

Wetlands, Streams, Ponds, Creeks

What if the memorial cemetery took on some of the goals and values of the nearby UW Medical Center and Hospital?

The Washelli Memorial Cemetery sits directly next to the UW Medical Center, which is a rather morbid juxtaposition between a place that is meant to heal and care versus a place that is meant to home the dead. There is potential for the cemetery to be rooted in healing, a place that can also care for the living and not just the dead. Nature provides healing in ways that are imaginable and miraculous. What if the future of Washelli Memorial Cemetery can be a place where Mother Earth cares for both humans and animals at all stages of life?

Washelli Memorial Funeral Home & Cemetery

The Largest Cemetery in Seattle WA.

The Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park is located on both sides of Aurora Avenue in Seattle, Washington. It is currently a 144 acres of cemetery space and is the largest cemetery in Seattle with Lake view cemetery as a runner up. It was established in 1885 when at the time it was called Oak Lake Cemetery. It was once owned by David Denny, who started the practice of his love ones in the open space and the numbers increased as those people started burying their family. The cemetery was then sold to the American Necropolis Association, which gave the cemetery its "Washelli" name, a word from Makah meaning westerly winds. The Makah reside in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is closely related to Nuu-chahnulth and Ditidaht, which are languages of the First Nations of the west coast of Vancouver Island on the north side of the strait, in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

The cemetery currently is known for its Veterans Memorial Cemetery that was started in 1927, commemorating corronades from the frigate USS Constitution. The area consists of 5,000 white marble headstones and a 65-foot-tall Chimes Tower. On the east side of the cemetery we have approximately 30,000 cremated remains in the Washelli columbarium.

This cemetery embraces multicultural funerals, including Fung Shui Designs, Jewish burials and incense burials. They offer chapel services and celebration of life ceremonies .

Data: HistoryLink.org Washelli Cemetery

Current Observations

Human Composting

Mausoleum

Columbarium

Ceremonies

Biking

Hiking

Dog Walking

Cremation

Site Analysis What does it look like there?

The existing conditions of Washelli Memorial Cemetery reveal launching points for any design to take hold. There are open lawn areas located at the east and north side, which are areas where a sensorial planting palette can take over. Aurora and 115th St split the cemetery into three separate burial grounds, adding thresholds that make it challenging for people and wildlife to traverse. There is potential to connect the three separated burial grounds for easier and simpler flows across the site at large. Lastly, excess space is given to vehicular/ motor transportation within the cemetery, when it could focus more on foot traffic for minimal impact on the land.

However, Washelli has areas that are lightly forested, providing secluded and profound moments for the visitor, something that this project will expand on. With close proximity to the UW Medical Center Northwest Seattle Hospital, special attention will be given to make entrances and circulatory paths to encourage the visitors and patients to use the park for its natural healing.

UW Medical Center: NW Seattle Hospital

Interurban Trail

Jewish Cemetery

Multicultural Cemetery

Multicultural Cemetery

Broadview Neighborhood

Map: Google Earth 2024

Existing Funeral Home

Washelli Columbarium

N 115th ST

Where do most of the threatened species go?

Other parks in North Seattle that are high in biodiversity.

This map highlights the concentrations of wildlife spottings in the Northern Seattle Area. Areas such as Magnuson Park, Green Lake, The Union Bay Natural Area and Carkeek Park have high concentrations of animal spottings. The outskirts of Northgate hold the most diverse areas. What if we can bring a diverse landscape like these closer to the Northgate Center? The Cemetery is an area where wildlife struggles to take hold due to its lack of healthy systems in place. How can the cemetery pull wildlife closer to Northgate and contribute to the circulation of species around North Seattle?

An analysis of the surrounding ecologies is important to establish which habitats the Washelli Memorial Park will take on. The idea is to add to the existing bio-habitats that are in the area, and pull more wildlife closer to the Northgate center. This map highlights river, lakes, reservoirs, marshes and swamps that help identify which typologies are common for North Seattle

A glimpse of threatened species spotted in the North Seattle Area ▶

Threatened Animals

Threatened Plants

Warren G. Magnuson Park

The Union Bay Natural Area

Carkeek Park

Golden Gardens Park

Discovery Park

Washelli Cemetery

Green Lake

Full Threatened Species List and Their Desired

Environment Analysis

Which habitats will the Cemetery take on?

Grasslands/Meadow

Bird

Japanese Qual ( Coturnix Japonica)

Evening Grosbeak ( Coccothraustes Vespertinus)

Rufous Hummingbird ( Selasphorus Rufus)

Insect

Golden Northern Bumble Bee ( Bombus Fervidus)

Western Bumble Bee

Juniper hairstreak ( Callophrys Greyneus)

Mollusk

Oregon Forestsnail ( Allogona Townsendiana)

Mammal

European Rabbit ( Oryctolagus Cuniculus)

Plants

Riverbank Lupine (Lupinus Rivularis)

Spurless Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens Ecornuta)

Plants

Oregon Ash ( Fraxinus Latifolia)

Pacific Yew ( Taxus Brevifolia )

Bird

Sharp-Shinned Hawk (Accipiter Striatus)

Peregrine Falcon ( Falco Peregrinus )

Snowy Owl ( Bubo Scandiacus)

Harris's Sparrow ( Zonotrichia Querula)

Black Swift ( Cypseloides Niger)

Merlin ( Falco Columbarius)

Olive-Sided Flycatcher ( Contopus Cooper )

Northern Harrier ( Circus Hudsonius)

Mammal

Fisher (Pekania Pennanti)

Low Land Forests

The Washelli Cemetery meets Re-wilding

To understand the idea of rewilding, we have to take a step back and look at how the mind perceives nature in our developed, dense cities. As Nature became a secondary player in our urban spaces, people unknowingly develop a despiritualised understanding of nature, internally and externally. Internally, the mind separates the human from nature, cutting off the innate human characteristic of experiencing the Earth as sentient.1 This removes a plethora of deep emotional connections one can have with nature on a spiritual and mental level. Often, it is not our fault that we think this way, it is the circumstances around us that force us to shift our thinking to focus on other societal pressures. Physically, the absence of Nature in our homes, work and play spaces decreases our sensory abilities. We know when rain is bout to fill the skies and soak the ground we walk on based on smell and change in pressure. We can sense the health of the earth through observing color and growth patterns of plants. Our bodies are naturally tuned to listen to the motions of Earth and without it, we forget how to listen. When we actively try to close the separation, Nature quickly finds its way back into our web of life, showing us how to accept the abundance and complexity of her natural cycles.

Once we begin the journey of learning how to listen and live with Nature, re-wilding becomes an extremely important piece in the puzzle. The term re-wild can take many forms across the world, for western cities it typically is a form of ecological restoration, often on land that has been degraded or lacks in biodiversity. In the Anthropocene, era of the human, a bio-diverse, natural area increases the health of our human and more than human communities ten fold. We find that a lot of our open spaces are designed with the "extraction" mindset, which follows a take, make , waste pattern. This type of design model drives habitat loss and produces fragile spaces that cannot survive with fluctuating climate and development. A re-wilded area takes on a more cyclical model, bringing a give, nourish, regenerate and repeat pattern.2 With this model, our spaces have greater chance of withstanding the incoming changes in the environment, greatly increasing its resilience.

For the Washelli Evergreen Cemetery, it is indeed open and green however it is a place where economic exploitation predominates natural processes. Thinking of a cemetery through the lens of re-wilding raises deep discussion and thought provoking questions, as the way we experience grief completely changes. How will people grieve without the presence of a headstone? How will someone feel shifting to a natural burial process as opposed to our common casket or cremation processes? These are questions we shouldn't be afraid to answer. When tragedies occur, humans react with emotions ranging from shock and anger to sadness and lasting depression. While mourning can throw us into a state of prolonged grief and despair, the natural world can help us to regain a sense of peace and inner calm. Bringing Nature into our grief and emotional healing brings the same feelings as being hugged by your Mother, Father or any guardian that has cared for you, as her Latin root literally means, "mother" or " she who has given birth".3

To me, re-wilding does not reference a time when the land was "pristine" and "lush". The aim of this project is to present land that takes away some of the human infrastructure that has drastically changed nature from being wilderness to "green space". It is a great act of reverencing nature, respecting its processes and taking the time to weave these processes into the infrastructure we build. Whether it be cemetery, hospital, housing commercial plaza, we must make room for our more than human neighbors to thrive with us in the places we call "home".

1 "Rewilding and Cultural Transformations: Healing nature and reweaving humans back into the web of life" Peter Taylor, Alan Watson Featherstone, Simon Ayres, Adam Griffin, and Eric Maddern in Routledge Handbook of Rewilding (1st ed.).

2"Wilder Values: The ethics and philosophy of rewilding" Kate Rawles in Routledge Handbook of Rewilding (1st ed.).

3"Rewilding and Cultural Transformations: Healing nature and reweaving humans back into the web of life" Peter Taylor, Alan Watson Featherstone, Simon Ayres, Adam Griffin, and Eric Maddern in Routledge Handbook of Rewilding (1st ed.) Page 331.

▲ Ecoversity www.ecoversity.org

▶ Our Planet "A Netflix original documentary series and groundbreaking collaboration between WWF, Netflix and Silverback Films, Our Planet showcases the world's natural wonders, iconic species and wildlife spectacles that still remain" www.ourplanet.com

Defining the concept of Re-wilding and its impacts. People / Organizations that inspire me to spread this knowledge...

Data & Theory: Hawkins, S., Convery, I., Carver, S., & Beyers, R. (Eds.). (2022). Routledge Handbook of Rewilding (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003097822

◀ Mossy Earth "The re-wilding membership that restores nature across a wide range of ecosystems" www.mossy.earth

Joshua Kwaku Asiedu ASAASE LearntoLive Live to Learn www.asaase.net

◀ Soul and Soil Composting Nicholas Fox "DacompostKing"

"Ecological Landscape Alliance educates, inspires, and empowers people to value biodiverse landscapes and employ ecological practices." www.ecolandscaping.org/ ▲

◀ Dick DeAngelis’s Documentary Be Wild to ReWild: "The re-wilding institute brings light to who we are, where we live and what it will take to help ALL life, human and nonhuman, survive and thrive." www.rewilding.org

▶ Recompose "Soil created by Recompose will nurture growth on the same forest floor that inspired its creation, allowing us to give back to the earth that nourishes us all our lives." www.recompose.life

A Re-wilded Cemetery

Redefining the connection Washelli Memorial Cemetery has to Nature.

Urban Re-wilding projects provide many environmental and social benefits to cities. To name a few, they create spaces that require low maintenance, increase wildlife and pollinator habitats, improve air quality through carbon sequestration, and heal the human body physically and mentally. These projects actively tackle the euro-centric ideology that humans and nature live separately. A re-wilded cemetery for Northgate means that this cemetery has the opportunity to live in sync with the natural ecosystem around it, while celebrating life and death.

Cemeteries occupy some of the most promising and productive lands in North America. Rather than them support wildlife while commemorating the dead, they are manicured landscapes pumped with chemicals to prevent life from taking hold. This is what is called a "Green Desert". A landscape that seems green but in reality lacks biodiversity and ecological health. Often these cemeteries experience drastic change from constant disinterring. As generations emerge and pass, old burial plots lose their magic of being a place that keeps stories alive resulting in them being sold to another person that will fill its place. We deserve a place to lay our lost and know that their story will be present in the land forever. A place where their physical body and soul can return to Mother Earth, where their story can continue in peace and celebration.

Today, the practice of using cemeteries for outdoor recreation is bubbling up once more, as urban dwellers seek out nature in developing cities. In the case of Northgate, green spaces are small and limiting, while its urban center is growing. Washelli Evergreen Cemetery can be a place where we will never run out of space for the dead. Where we can lay our loved ones stories to rest forever. It can be a place that grows with us, holding our footprints in a sustainable, regenerative and bio-diverse way. Allowing a more "wild" natural experience in our urban spaces has the greatest potential bring us back to the tune of nature.

Grieving with nature.

Nature teaches reminds us to stay in tune with our internal and external world. She helps when it comes to living life and also experiencing loss, knowing that you are part of something bigger, especially when the world inside feels very lonely and dark.

"Rewilding is restoration by letting go, allowing nature to take the driver's seat."

- Isabella Tree, Rewilding Pioneer

Dynamic land sculpting to create unique habitats for animals and playful terrain for people.

A place to find shade, heal the mind and body and find comfort and relaxation.

Lowland Forest habitats to provide home for bird and tree dwelling mammals. Threatened trees such as the Oregan Ash and Pacific Yew will find a home here.

What

Washelli Memorial Cemetery could

Green burials that practice chemical free, low maintenance rituals. Grounds will mimic the forest floor, with either cremated stone or special plantings as grave markers.

Meadows that invite threatened pollinators and insects into burial grounds. Animals like the Rufous Hummingbird and Western Bumble Bee will be spotted doing their daily activities.

Flowering shrubs, like Common Camas, TouchMe-Nots, and Riverback Lupine will bring color and texture to burial grounds.

Spirit Sanctuary, 304 Cook Road Essex NY.

Image and Data: SpiritSanctuaryny.org

Spirit Sanctuary is a 3-acre private burial ground in Essex, New York, where the deceased will naturally become a part of the earth and nourish a forever-regenerating forest. It is a place of protected habitat for native plants, birds, and other animals. Visitors to Spirit Sanctuary will experience life in its many forms and be comforted by the great circle of existence.

What's admirable is that the cemetery is nestled in the beautiful Champlain Valley, with beautiful Lake Champlain to the east and the foothills of the Adirondacks to the west. The Sanctuary lies directly in the Split Rock Wildway Corridor on the eastern edge of the Adirondack Park, marking the blend of burial ground and wildlife passage.

The Meadow at Greenacres Memorial Park 5700 Northwest Dr, Ferndale, WA 98248

Image and Data: Moesfarewelltributes.com

The Meadow Natural Burial Ground at Moles Greenacres Memorial Park allows families the option to lay loved ones to rest in a serene and natural environment. Natural burial, commonly referred to as “green burial” is the only form of burial here.

As part of the restoration efforts, each family will have the opportunity to have a native tree, shrub, flower, or ground cover planted in the memory of their loved one. Also available for memorization are boulder-sized, engraved river rocks. I wish for Washelli to carry on these methods and join Greenacres Memorial Park in showing us how to grieve and handle death in a natural way.

Storm King Wave-field, 2009

Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, NY

Image and Data: Mayalinstudio.com

The Non-Catholic Cemetery is located in Rome’s Testaccio neighborhood. This plot of reconsecrated land, created out of the need to give a worthy burial to non-Catholics and the unbaptized, is one of the places in the hearts of many Romans and beyond.

Although a more traditional burial site at first glance, this cemetery has a lot of layers. From my visits around Rome, this site was by far one of the most memorable. Walking through this garden cemetery, I not only found tombstones but also fruiting trees, flowering shrubs with nesting birds. It was like a celebration of life that eased the heavy thoughts I usually have when walking through graves. This is the feeling I wish for visitors to have when visiting Washelli Memorial Cemetery.

Case studies that inspire.

This 11 acre site takes hold in the southwest edge of Storm King Art Centre in new Windsor, NY. What is inspiring is the use of land to create a beautiful story. Maya Lin took her love for water forms and flow translated that into dynamic berms that mimic the surface flow of water. These berms sit from 10 - 15 feet tall with a trough about 40 feet wide. The site itself was once a gravel pit, an open pit-mine for the extraction of gravel. An example of degraded lands turned given back to nature and its systems.

Although using low-impact grasslands to help mitigate this site, through the lens of this project, it could've been taken further to include more plantings to create more habitat for the species around the site. It is a stunning piece of land art but what if it targeted the impacted species that were harmed/pushed out from the mine?

Tomba Di Andrea, Camilleri Via Caio Cestio, 00153 Roma RM, Italy

Study: B

Study: A

Re-wilded Concept Meets Washelli.

How could this design unfold?

The concept brings together land form and habitat design. The berms have the opportunity to create different ecologies mimicking lowland meadows and forests around Washington. As a visitor traverses through the park, they are guided through many meadow nodes that are acting as main burial and grief ceremony grounds. The intermediate forested spaces change the pace of your walk, presenting different colors, foliage and assemblages.

There are four major memorial meadows that are twice as large as its surrounding meadow nodes. These spaces are dedicated to larger gatherings, burials ceremonies and heavy leisure activity. Here someone can visit their loved ones that have returned to the natural cycle through observation and presence of grasses and perennials. The surrounding sixteen meadow nodes support the larger nodes in a way were they provide a more intimate experience. Some are more secluded and less crowded, allowing for a more quiet visit for those who need space to grieve and contemplate with themselves and nature.

The site has a total space of 144 acres of space.

83% 16%

119 acres of the space is dedicated to lowland forest ecosystems to act as reclaimed, protected wildlife areas.

Approximately 25 acres is dedicated to wildflower pollinator gardens and grass mixes.

*Path networks within and around the meadows make up for the remaining 1% of acreage.

How will people access the Meadow Nodes?

Access points that surround the Washelli Cemetery.

Entrances are focused in areas that already have high foot and car traffic. For instance, entrances to the existing buildings, the Funeral Home (A) and Columbarium (B) are most important. These are located on Aurora Ave E and N 115th ST, welcoming all forms of transportation and act as one of the many starting points to explore the Cemetery. The Meadow Node (C) in most cases is the first meadow that one encounters as they arrive to Washelli, therefore it is important that this node demonstrates how one will pass onto the natural world through greener burials.

An entrance near the UW Medical Center (D) is vital to welcome patients, visitors and staff into the Cemetery for natural healing. Washelli can expect walks during lunch breaks, patients who need a moment of fresh air, or those who need a little time to unwind. The re-design of Washelli targets the relationship that it has with the Hospital as it evolves to be a place rooted in healing. A place that can also care for the living and not just the dead. Nature provides healing in ways that are imaginable and miraculous, Washelli Memorial Cemetery can be a place where Mother Earth cares for both humans and animals at all stages of life.

The Interurban Trail is a north-south, off-road, bike and foot that passes by the west side of the Cemetery. Entrances into the Cemetery from this trail prioritizes pedestrians and bikers, giving them a safe accessible starting point to explore the meadows and forests. These connections will further attract curious commuters to take a detour and enjoy the stories and relationships that Washelli provides. A sense of discovery is important when entering the Cemetery, as it is one of the first feelings we have when we enter a "wild" natural area.

Traversing the Cemetery starting from the UW Medical Center ( D ) and ending at the north most entrance ( E ) is approximately a 2.7 mile walk.

(This includes both the smaller trails adjacent to existing building A & B and the meadow path network.)

Study A: Plant Zones Across the Cemetery

Grassland/Lowland Meadow

Flowering Shrubs

Small Cammas (Camassoa Quamash)

Sweet Pea (Lathyrus Odoratus)

Riverback Lupine (Lupinus Rivularis)

Purple Sage (Salvia Dorrii)

Tall Grasses

Big Bluestem (Andropogon Gerardii)

California Brome (Aruncus Dioicus)

Switch Grass (Panicum Virgatum

Indian Grass (Sorghastrum Nutans)

Clover/Wildflower Lawn

Red Fescue (Festuca rubra Creeping (Introduced))

Clover / White Clover (Trifolium repens Ladino (Introduced))

Fescue (Fescue ovina (Introduced))

Alsike Clover (Trifolium hybridum (Introduced))

White Micro Clover

Low Land Forest:

Trees

Pacific Yew (Taxus Brevifolia)

Big Leaf Maple (Acer Macrophyllum)

Oregon Ash (Fraxinus Latifolia)

Gary Oak (Quercus Garryana)

Understory Shrubs

Ocean spray (Holodiscus discolor)

Oregon grape (Berberis nervosa)

Salal (Gaultheria shallon)

Groundcover

Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum)

Trillium (Trillium ovatum)

Spurless Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens Ecornuta)

Soil to Soil: Picture the forest floor. "Rich earth continually replenished by fallen trees, dry leaves, and bright moss." Recompose uses the principles of nature to transform our dead into soil that joins the process of replenishing earth.

A Relationship with Death

"Death is an essential part of life. It is as remarkable, in its own way, as birth." Talking about our mortality can be comforting, and death care can be both straightforward and healing when nature and its cycles is weaved into the conversation.

Life After Death

Our bodies return to the embrace of nature, mingling with soil and roots, becoming one with the heartbeat of the world. Our essence, dispersed among the elements, pulse through the rustle of leaves and the flow of rivers, forever woven into the fabric of existence.

Placing a body into the ground is an intimate practice. We are made from the natural elements and returning to them feeds life that lives around us. Our bodies nourish the soil, which then feeds plants and animals that depend on nutrient rich soil to thrive. Washelli Evergreen Cemetery can take on more green burials that either involve human composting or biodegradable burial shrouds that has it roots on replenishing the land while reverencing the dead.

Organizations, such as Recompose in Seattle WA, continue the conversation about how we are in need of finding healthier ways to prepare for death. Human composting is a form of burial that involves placing the body in a compostable solution, with the end goal being rich soil that can be taken to restore and replenish ecosystems. Phrases like, "Garden Cemetery" can make a return in our landscape.

Example: In 2022 there have been 15,606 deaths in King County Seattle, as Washelli Cemetery being the largest in Seattle lets assume it receives a quarter of these deaths.. That would equate to 3902 deaths per year, which could equal to 3902 cubic yard of nutrient rich soil added yearly. This soil could then be spread during a burial ceremony, kick starting the process of natural healing while feeding all of life that exists around us.

One human composted body.

One Cubic yard of soil (3x3x3 feet)

The Grand Oak Tree: A Watercolor Painting of the Seasons Artwork by: Goddy Bor

How Washelli will grow over time

The

dead building us up and replenishing our soils.

Today

The first phase of re-wilding Washelli Evergreen Cemetery begins with the delineating the meadow nodes. These nodes act as educational/demonstration burial meadows for the public, showing an alternative way to commemorating the dead through human composting and natural grieving. This kick-starts the shift in mindset that is essential for the design to unfold successfully.

10 Years

As people understand the impact that a re-wilded cemetery has for Northgate more, they begin to believe and support the mission that the Cemetery has set out. More and more people turn to human composting, donating their soil to the cemetery, spreading them on the memorial meadow or adjacent forest spaces. The main goal is to use the soil to build up the undulating wave-like land forms to create a dynamic lowland forest. Different low and high elevation habitats begin to emerge and take shape here, allowing space for animals to find sanctuary where it best fits them. Here the lowland forest archetype starts to show itself, becoming an important wildlife habitat for Northgate.

50 Years

The wave-like berms take shape and become apart of the circulation between the meadow nodes on site. The meadow node is now hugged by an undulating mature forest that create a grand yet intimate experience when spreading soil in the memorial. At this point, the forest is self sustaining with little to no maintenance/ human interference. People have the option to traverse atop the berms to explore the "re-wilded" areas outside of the meadow nodes which are meant to house threatened birds, mammals and amphibians.

With an accumulation of composted soil added every year, here is how the cemetery could evolve.....

A Dynamic Meadow

Understanding the designed landforms in Washelli Memorial Park after 50 years of soil additions.

The memorial meadows require intimacy and privacy from the surrounding activity. The core experience here is to feel hidden and supported by nature. Not only is it sunken, but each node is hugged by undulating berms. In this example (using a meadow node that is about 350' wide and 10' deep) it has the potential to be grand yet very intimate. As Washelli welcomes the soil from those who chose to prepare for death through human composting, that soil is used to sculpt the surrounding berms that act as a wildlife haven in a low land forest archetype.

The steepness and depth between the crest and the trough of the berm are designed to deter visitors from traversing these, as they are meant for the threatened species that find a home in Washelli Memorial Cemetery.

It would take about 16,800 cubic yards of soil to sculpt berms that are approximately 10-15' tall and circle the 350' wide node. If Washelli received all deaths from 2022 (15,606) and assuming the families chose human composting as a form of burial, this feature could be fully created in a little over a year. These landforms act as visual and sensory screening from the surrounding urban area, allowing for a peaceful, healing walk.

Study B: Wetness Mapping for Seattle's Rainy Season

Seattle receives an average of 39 inches of precipitation per year. The heaviest months of rainfall are October through March, with November, December and January leading in wettest months of the year.

In 2024 so far, January has been the wettest month, bringing 6.31 inches of rain to Seattle. The constant precipitation coupled with the dynamic earthwork of the cemetery will create conditions where low elevation areas will be saturated for most of the rainy season. Producing what is known as Wet meadows or seasonal wetlands.

"A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are saturated for part or all of the growing season—the “sponge” of the local ecosystem. As one of the region’s most plant-diverse habitats, wet meadows attract large numbers of birds, small mammals, and insects — including several species of butterflies." Pacific Forest Trust.org

These systems help regulate the amount of water flowing into forest creeks— preventing flooding in the spring and intense drought in the summer. As the climate is shifting, Seattle continues to receive hotter and drier summers. The re-sculpted Washelli Memorial Cemetery combats this by allowing water to sit and be stored for longer periods of time, extending wetness and cool temperatures into the hotter, drier months.

Threatened and non-threatened Species that thrive in wetter conditions

Pacific Fisher

Giant Garter Snake Merlin Pacific Tailed Frog

Materials:

1/8" Chipboard

1/16" Chipboard

Floral/Grass

Tufts

Baby's Breath

Scale:

1/8" = 5'

The

Memorial Meadow

Brought to life.

Through physical modeling, some of the moments one can have at the meadow node are visualized. People gather around the meadow to sit and contemplate and take in the sensorial explosion that the meadow plantings bring. Meanwhile others use the space around the node to be wild, engaging in their own curiosity. With the combination of low and high elevations, the land moves like a wave, bringing fluidity and excitement to the cemetery.

A Re-wilded Washelli reconnects us

Nature: Listening to Indigenous Perspectives on Death and Dying

"Afterlife The spirit can be seen and felt leaving the body. It travels westward across prairie grass, over a river and into the mountains. It ascends the mountains to the high clouds where a bright light guides it to a place where loved ones wait to embrace it. The spirit lives forever. It takes its place in the spirit world according to the deeds completed on earth. The spirit completes its journey in the cycle of life to return to its place of origin." Dianne M. Longboat - Mowak Nation - Toronto, Canada

"At the point of death, it is said that our original mother, Mother Earth, who nourished our bodies, reclaims our physical forms. Our Orifinal father, the Creator, takes our spirit, to return to them to their place of origin." The sacred ceremony of Death: Healing Ceremonies

"We understand Who we are - We know where we come from. We accept and understand our destiny here on Mother Earth We are spirit having a human experience" Dianne M. Longboat - Mowak Nation

The Suquamish maintain a strong connection to the ancestral world and hold a great reverence for their departed relatives. As the larger population becomes more aware of the virtues of being ecumenical, ecologically aware, and respectful of the limitations of our planet, the virtues of traditional respect for nature are becoming better appreciated, understood and encouraged. suquamish.nsn.n - Suquamish People Seattle

"The Poet" 47in x 36in by Reynair Llanes, 2021

Living in Sync in a Re-wilded World

Goals and Values that a re-wilded Washelli Evergreen Cemetery carries as our world becomes more developed and climate disruptive.

The Washelli Evergreen Cemetery is rooted in biodiversity conservation. By re-wilding, the cemetery can become a haven for native flora and fauna. It will help protect endangered species and maintain ecological balance within Northgate and beyond.

The natural systems that once existed have a chance to re-establish and re-create relationships between plants, animals and humans. One of the biggest goals of a re-wilded project is too allow nature to be complex, collaborative and dependent on its own systems. We no longer feel need to implement drastic measures to keep plants alive, as plants and animals collaborate to help the health of their own ecosystem. The relationships between plants and animals are so complex that most have evolved to depend on each other for survival, such as the Hummingbird and Red Flowering Currant. It is one of many beautiful and intimate love affairs in the natural world.

The re-wilded ecosystems that establish in our post-wild world actively fight the effects of fast-developing, climate disruptive cities. People and animals migrate as their home changes due to climate fluctuation or harsh development. This puts pressure on our already dense cities to make space for the influx of animals and people that seek a stable space and often, those spaces lack in natural processes, stories and relationships. A re-wilded cemetery, parking lot, or any place that has lost some of its natural relationships has the greatest potential to make cities resilient, regenerative and bio-diverse.

People have the chance to re-connect with nature spiritually, mentally and physically. The opportunities to encounter different wildlife and plant species are endless. Perhaps someone can find a new love for bird watching or establish a connection with a single tree in the cemetery. One can live with and feel a part of the natural elements that in most cases are not present in our urban spaces. It is important to look beyond the infrastructure that we have built which benefits the human and explore the exciting natural infrastructure that Nature creates which benefits all.