MEMORY GARDENS: Creating a Poetic, Ecological Approach to Death and Remembrance

Memory Gardens / Jardines de memoria: Creating a Poetic + Ecological Approach to Death + Remembrance in Mexico City Elana C. Honig-Juarez Master of Architecture, May 2021

MEMORY GARDENS / JARDINES DE MEMORIA: Creating a Poetic + Ecological Approach to Death + Remembrance in Mexico City By Elana C. Honig-Juarez Project presented to the Faculty of the Department of Architecture College of Architecture and the Built Environment Philadelphia University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE Design 6: Research and Design Primary Advisor: David Kratzer Committee Member: Rob Flemming Committee Member: Martha Anez Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA May 12, 2021

ABSTRACT The day of the dead is a significant manifestation of Mexican culture - challenged by the modern issues of density and space. Compounding these issues, particularly in Mexico City, is growing concern about the environment, pollution, and quality of life. This project seeks to create a culturally meaningful space that contemporizes the challenges of death in a large city with the continuing need for cultural ritual, sacred-secular ceremonial spaces, and memory. It focuses on architectural ideas including hydrology, site, procession, ceremony, and water as metaphor for transformation, emotion, and farewell. The project that evolved out of these explorations is a nondenominational ceremonial space for funerals and memorial gardens, with sustainable handling of mortal remains and also improves hydrology on site.

CONTENTS

3 ABSTRACT 7 DESIGN RESEARCH THESIS

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ANALYSIS

ARCHITECTURAL PRECEDENTS 17 DESIGN OBJECTIVES AND DESIGN BRIEF

SITE ANALYSIS AND DOCUMENTATION

PROGRAM STUDY

PROCESS DOCUMENTATION

FINAL DESIGN DOCUMENTATION 51

REFLECTIONS

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WORKS CITED AND CREDITS

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

“El Corazón” A Space to Nurture Meaning in the “Third 30” of Life and Beyond TRANSFORMATIVE INNOVATION

IENCE

ATTITUDE

BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED DESIGN

HEALTH + RESILIENCE

CREATIVITY

MEANING

EXPERIENCE

LEGACY

LIVING SYSTEMS THINKING (Graphic marries regenerative design principles with meaning therapy.)

Image 1

DESIGN RESEARCH

THESIS “Memory Gardens / Jardines de Memoria: Creating a Poetic and Ecological Approach to Death and Remembrance in Mexico City” This project seeks to create a culturally meaningful space that contemporizes the challenges of death in a large city with the continuing need for cultural ritual, sacred-secular, and memory, while maximizing positive environmental impact wherever possible.

In Mexico City, the public cemeteries are full and there is limited space in expensive private cemeteries. Moreover, fire cremation is energy intensive, adds air pollutants to a city with chronic poor air quality, and does not offer Mexicans a physical location, a memorial PLACE, to visit following the death of a loved one. As one of the world's largest metropolitan areas, Mexico City needs an alternative means for dealing with the remains of its deceased residents. Resomation (water cremation) is the best burial practice for the environment. Tapping canal water and passing it through constructed wetlands helps restore the health of the land, water, and infiltration basins to recharge the aquifer during the rainy season. This would have even greater value in Mexico City, which struggles with water quality and a depleted aquifer. A Resomation Facility would provide a viable alternative to burial and cremation. A Memorial Garden nourished by a loved one (through the Resomation Center) provides a place to visit. The proposed Ceremonial Center offers a meaningful farewell option for city residents, while simultaneously helping to address serious environmental challenges facing Mexico City.

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METHODOLOGY Architectural case studies were analyzed, as were scientific reports on resomation, issues of urban hydrology, and bio filtration (living machines). A literature review of both books and scholarly articles was conducted. This academic research was supplemented with interviews of residents of Mexico City.

ANALYSIS Topic Evolution Community living has always been an area of interest, and so research for this thesis began with exploring innovative retirement communities. The initial topic was “Architecture + Holistic Aging For Seekers: Architecture That Supports The Spiritual Journey Of The Aging” The “third 30” (from 60-90 years old) is a time when many people move into communities of like-minded souls to grow old, and oftentimes die, in a supportive environment. People who want to live in a community and use the last phase of life for introspection and eastern spiritual practices currently have limited options. There exists a unique opportunity to design a sustainable community whose architecture supports both the aging process, and the search for connection to the divine. Research was conducted on trends in aging worldwide, where individuals in different cultures chose to live the last years of their lives, communal living, and how architecture can strengthen social resilience, improving the physical and emotional health of individuals during that life stage1. Regenerative design principles combined with meaning therapy guided the initial design development2 (Image 1). Case studies of multi-generational cooperative living permaculture communities such as Findhorne in Scotland, Ecovillage at Ithaca, New York, and Alegría Village in San Mateo de Alajuela, Costa Rica were evaluated.

This investigation led to the conclusion that designing a retirement community was too large a topic for a Master’s Thesis, and so began the process of narrowing the focus. Sustainability and architecture that supports the experience of the sacred remained underlying values. The project moved from:

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designing a whole retirement community

designing built components serving the elderly in a multi generational permaculture community

an urban project that seeks to create a culturally meaningful space for processing the mortal remains of a deceased loved one, memorializing and remembering them, that nourishes and replenishes the environment

Issues This project explores the issues of urban density, space, and culture, coupled with environmental concerns. Mexico City (CDMX) was chosen as the site for this project. It is one of the oldest urban centers in the Americas, and is a diverse city, filled with people of varied religious, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Its location in a basin of internal drainage in the central high plains of Mexico presents environmental challenges. It faces destruction from earthquakes, and the city center is sinking at an average rate of 9’ a year. Yet this centuries-long pattern of destruction also creates the space for architectural rebirth and renewal.

Right: Mexico City (CDMX), National Capital in the Central High Plans of Mexico

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Mexican cultural attitudes toward death and remembrance are best exemplified by the Day of the Dead celebrations.

Death is not a stranger, and when a loved one dies, their memory is maintained fresh with altars containing their favorite foods and objects, picnics at the cemetery, music and pageantry. While attitudes towards death are fairly universal across Mexico’s socio-economic stratum, people in the lower tiers are the most likely to celebrate the day of the dead at cemeteries rather than with parades in the center of town. For this reason, having a ceremonial place to remember a deceased loved one is particularly important to CDMX residents of limited economic means.

Like many large urban centers around the world, CDMX is facing issues of space. Since 1960, people have migrated from rural communities to urban centers, and CDMX has grown exponentially.

Upper Left: Day of the Dead, Panteon de San Antonio Tecomitl, CDMX3 Upper Right: Day of the Dead Cemetery (CDMX)4 Bottom: Change from Rural to Urban Populations5

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Mortal Remains

Its current population is 12,294,193 inhabitants. In 2017 (pre-COVID) 170,000 people died in CDMX.6 There is more than one possible way to handle the disposition of mortal remains. (Fig 2). Of the 170,000 annual deaths, 55% (95,200 individuals) choose to be buried. At the end of 2020, public cemeteries were full and there was limited space in expensive private cemeteries. This poses a serious problem that is only likely to get worse.

Given the lack of burial space, cremation seems the logical alternative. Currently, 45% of CDMX residents choose cremation. However, fire cremation is energy intensive, and adds air pollutants to a city already plagued by chronic poor air quality7.

Upper Left: Methods of Dealing with Mortal Remains Upper Right: Space in Cemeteries in CDMX Bottom: Negative Impacts of Cremation

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Of equal importance is that cremation does not offer Mexicans a physical location, a memorial, to visit following the death of a loved one. The current death and memorial business in Mexico City is not environmentally or even physically sustainable. As one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas, Mexico City needs an alternative means for dealing with the mortal remains of its deceased residents.

Resomation (also known as aquamation or alkaline hydrolysis) is the best burial practice for the environment. It uses between one third and one seventh the energy of cremation. The following is a look at the shadow cost of burial vs. cremation vs. resomation:

So what exactly is resomation and how does it work? The mortal remains of an individual are placed in a cylinder with water and potash, and the liquid is slowly heated. The natural decomposition process that normally occurs takes a couple of years when an un-embalmed body is buried, accelerates in resomation.

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Left: Comparison of Environmental Impacts of Burial, Cremation, Resomation 8

It takes three hours, an average of 92 gallons of water and four gallons of potash lye heated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit to treat the body, What remains in the cylinder are bones and effluent.

Upper Right: Resomation Process Lower Right: Resomation Output

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The challenge of redesigning “the business of death” offers opportunities for innovation and regenerative design outcomes.

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ARCHITECTURAL PRECEDENTS Upper Right: Channel guiding circulation Lower Right: Water reflecting on threshold conditions

Carlo Scarpa: Water in Brion Family Cemetery building,

Center: Pool surrounding building, reflections, threshold condition Left: Threshold condition reflecting pool

• Water delineates space, creating paths and threshold conditions.

• Water reflects on the buildings, creating an ever-changing play of light and shadow.

• Materiality is”pure” and “raw”, with board formed concrete, and water being the dominate elements.

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Tado Ando: Light & Earth Sheltering Left:

• The Church in the Forest drops the church into the ground, leaving a narrow space around the building with a Light Well, UNESCO Meditation Space 16 reflecting pond, creating beautiful reflections inside the structure.

• The UNESCO Meditation Space is a cylindrical volume with .apertures in the roof allowing light to wash the walls.

• The Hill of the Buddha mounds earth around Buddha, so from the outside, one only sees the hair.

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Center: Light Reflecting off of Water, Church in the Forest Upper Right: On top of the Hill of the Buddha Lower Right: Ando’s Hill of the Buddha Conceptual Sketch

DESIGN OBJECTIVES AND DESIGN BRIEF

The design philosophy of this designer is rooted in phenomenology, critical regionalism, and sustainability. Jardines de Memoria seeks to create a poetic and ecological approach to death, farewell, and remembrance in Mexico City. This urban project endeavors to create a culturally meaningful space for processing the body of a deceased loved one, as well as memorializing and remembering them, that nourishes and replenishes the environment.

Measurable Goals:

Subjective Goals:

• Restore environment

• Poetic experience for mourners

• Enhance hydrological cycle

• Connection with nature, cycle of life

• Native plantings

• Place of repose and reflection

• Interior ceremonial spaces

• Phenomenology: Purity of materials, sunlight, water

• Exterior space for festival/memorial

SITE ANALYSIS AND DOCUMENTATION The site for Jardines de Memoria is located 17.4 miles (28 kilometers) south of CDMX historic city center, at the southern-most tip of the outer borough of Coyocan, bordering two other boroughs, Ixtapalapa and Xochimilco. Site selection was achieved by researching the city with the following criteria:

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Site to be located at least one mile from public cemeteries:

Site to have access to a body of water:

Public Cemeteries in CDMX

Public Cemetary

Site 18

Water in CDMX

Above-ground Rivers

Rivers Buried by CDMX in the 1950’s and Now in Concrete Tunels

As the memorial gardens will provide a peaceful spot for passive recreation, the site should provide balance to an area with existing active recreation, but a dearth of passive recreation.

Recreation

Active Recreation

Passive Recreation

Site 19

Since the cost of burial at private cemetaries is prohibitively high for residents

The nondenominational ceremonial space will be utilized most by individuals

in the lower socioeconomic stratum, the site needs to be situated within dense

who are not devote Catholics so a location with higher rates of non-Catholics

urban fabic, and near poorer communities.

is preferable.

Income

Catholicism

0 Medium Income

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Low Income

1

2 miles

TRANSPORTATION

Main Roads

Bus Stop

Pedestrian Circulation

Metro Station

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CDMX is classified as Cwb (oceanic subtropical highland) on the Koppen Climate Classification scale. The rainy season lasts four months, and the other eight months are dry. The rainy season is warm and overcast, and the dry season is comfortable and partly cloudy. The average temperature varies between a low of 43 and a high of 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Envelope and Building System Implications In order to reach passive house standards, this means that the walls and roof of a building need not be more than R3, with an extract air system, double glazing, and an airtight envelope. Passive ventilation and fans can also be effective in achieving human comfort. For heating in the cooler months, radiant floor heat is recommended.

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PROGRAM STUDY The two main component of this project are hydrology and ceremony.

Hydrology During the rainy season, the city is subject to rain storms that can dump 2-4” in an hour. With the city being in a closed internal basin, the majority of the original rivers being moved underground, and all the paved areas, there is significant runoff and sporadic flooding. The region used to be in homeostasis, with lagoons, rivers, and a healthy aquifer. Now the city hydrology is completely unbalanced.

Left: José María Velasco, El Popocatépetl y el Iztaccíhuatl desde el lago de Chalco, 1882.

CDMX Valley Before Industrialization 23

During the rainy season, due to existing topography, flooding occurs on site. There is a need for seasonal flooding management and bio-filtration of the runoff. To this end, topography was modified to create two infiltration basins connected by an infiltration swale. An overflow valve is used in times of extreme flooding to replenish the cistern used for the resomation process.

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Intervention

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Ceremony Precedent

The Funeral Ceremony Center designed by HofmanDujardin is an innovative approach to programmatic organization.

Their “sharing memories” space is a room with a parabolic screen where loved ones can cast images of the departed.

The layout is inspired, with the “saying goodbye” space lying between “sharing memories” and the “celebrate life”.

Each space uses materiality and light to enhance the experience.

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PROCESS DOCUMENTATION Beginnings Taking inspiration from HofmanDujardin’s Funeral Ceremony Center, the program for the ceremonial portion of the project began to take shape.

Back of House

Front of House

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Evolution Contemplating what the needs of each of the programmatic spaces, the design began to change.

The first major move was to open up the earth, and bring both the buildings and the water into the cut.

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Diagramming out the types of interactions between users, the focus of the users in each place, and the lighting needs informed the building forms, relation to the earth, and directionality of the glazing.

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The operational verbs FLOW - EMBRACE - REPOSE guided the building forms, the shape of the cut, and the relationship between the buildings, the cut, and the ground.

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Iterations Multiple iterations of buildings, shape of cut, and flow of water were explored.

7,348'

N

33'

51'

48' 54' 53' 52' 51'

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50' 49' 48'

N

47'

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45' 44' 43' 42'

48'

41' 40' 39'

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38' 37' 36'

0"

35'

156'-

34'

36'

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42'

45' 42'

42'

39'

45'

1 R011

SITE PLAN 1" = 40'-0"

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Iterations In the last stages of development, the relationship between building and land was finalized.

Welcome

Prayer

Remembrance

Farewell

Celebration

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FINAL DESIGN DOCUMENTATION The last piece of the puzzle to fall into place was the architectural language for the buildings in the cut. Now all the pieces of the project supported each other.

Water serves as a metaphor for grief, tranformation, and farewell. The mourner walks into the cut, litterally going “into the ground”, as they follow the path of water. At each building, there is a different experience of water, depth of cut, and light. At the end of the cut, they emerge into light and walk out onto a platform overlooking the National Canal. They then turn and follow the canal towards the celebration space, and then towards the exit.

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SZE: APPROXIMATELY 7 ACRES

ZONING: COMMERCIAL

MAXIMUM HEIGHT: 6 STORIES

RESOMATION DELIVERY

GEN A DE LA VIR

CALZAD

MEMORY GARDEN ENTRANCE CEREMONIAL ENTRANCE

INFILTRATION BASIN

CIRCULATION

MEMORY GARDENS

NI

DA

MEMORY GARDENS

LA

RI

A

PE

AL AN

ER

LC

ND

NA

CA

TIO NA

AV E

CEREMONIAL AREA

RE

Z PV OVER PARKING

BUS STOP INFILTRATION BASIN

CALLE

NIMES PA R

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KIN

G

A Monumental Pump

B Constructed Wetlands, Canal Water

C Ceremonial Water

D Constructed Wetlands, Resomation Effluent

7 6 5 D 8

4 C

3

2 9 1

1 Entrance

2 Welcome

3 Prayer

4 Remembrance

5 Farewell

6 Resomation

7 Outlook

B

8 Celebration

A

9 Exit 37

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Farewell

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REFLECTIONS

Critical regionalism, phenomenology, and sustainability are this designer’s guiding architectural principles in every project. A complete site analysis takes into account the landscape, built environment, culture, history, climate, potential passive energy strategies, and hydrology. We live in an age where information technology makes it possible for an architect in Malvern, Pennsylvania to be familiar with, and learn from, the work of architects in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In recent decades, architects and social scientists have taken a closer look at how architecture can influence mood and well being. Climate change and an ever-increasing global population that taxes existing resources have made sustainable architectural practices essential. The focus of this thesis project was not death and memorial, but finding an architectural solution to a real-world problem, and using these three architectural philosophical approaches to do so. Measured thusly, the research was successful.

Often, a Master’s Thesis is about exploring a particular issue or building typology. It would be easy to think that the root passion behind this project is an interest in memorial practices and death architecture. This is not the case.

Throughout this project, the discovery process was not so much about a particular problem, but rather an exploration of how to create a poetic experience for the user that is both meaningful and environmentally responsible. At different points over the course of the year, small epiphanies led to a paradigm shift. What types of human problems have architectural solutions? How can one learn to see through that lens? Don’t be afraid of big moves. Sketch and sketch some more. Bad sketches, good sketches, it doesn’t matter, just keep sketching out one’s thoughts. Take the time to think deeply. Find architects whose buildings inspire, and reflect on why they do so. Be open to the insights that 51

opposing views engender. And finally, there’s no such thing as a finished design, or even a definitive architectural style.

Peter Zumthor took almost a decade to design the Thermal Baths in Switzerland. Tado Ando’s work continues to evolve. Frank Gehry just finished a renovation of the Philadelphia Museum of Art that looks nothing like his works of starchitecture. Like artists, an architect’s body of work only becomes definitive once they have died. Who knows what Zaha Hadid would have developed if she had lived another 20 years. This project progressed as far as it could in the time available, with the skills this designer currently possesses. It is a beginning and that is an important contribution in and of itself.

POTENTIAL FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT Architectural philosophy aside, this project is exciting. There is a very real and urgent need to find a culturally respectful and environmentally responsible way to handle mortal remains. At the time of this writing, the explosion of COVID deaths in India and the subsequent cremations of the bodies in accordance with preferred Hindu death rites, is fueling horrific air pollution and deforestation. The country is literally running out of wood. Current resomation practice is to give the crushed bones to the family of the deceased in an urn, and then treat the effluent with CO2 to lower the pH, and dump it down the drain. The concept of instead using a living machine to clean the effluent, thereby allowing one’s remains to nourish a botanical garden, is a much better option. One can even imagine resomation with a memorial garden being the gold standard for handling mortal remains as humans become a space-faring species. By earth sheltering the majority of the structures in this project, one takes advantage of passive cooling, while creating a metaphorical experience of “going into the earth”. Finally, the rehabilitation of a paved urban site in this fashion is an excellent case study of how to maximize cultural, economic, and ecological good in a project.

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WORKS SITED + CREDITS

1 Eric Klinenberg, Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. New York, NY: Broadway Books (2019): 11, 135-139

2 Daniel CristianWahl, Designing Regenerative Cultures. Axminster, England: Triarchy Press (2016): 19

3 https://socgeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Day_of_the_Dead_at_Tecomitl_Cemetery.jpg (accessed May 2021)

4 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Day_of_the_dead_at_mexican_ cemetery_3.jpg (accessed May 2021)

5 https://populationstat.com/mexico/ (accessed January 2021)

6 INEGI. Direccion General de Estadisticas Sociodemograficas. Estadisticas de mortalidad. www. inegi.org.mx (Jan 3, 2017)

7 https://air.plumelabs.com/air-quality-in-Mexico%20City-eOt7

8 E.E. Keijzer and H.J.G. Kok, “Environmental Impact of Different Funeral Technologies”. Innovation for Life , (Aug 8 2011): 40, http://www.petmemorialcenter.ca/aquamation/TNO_report_Environmental_impact_of_different_funeral_technologies.pdf

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, G. Z., Bruce Haglund, Joel Loveland, John S. Reynolds, and M. Susan Ubbelohde. Inside out: Design

Procedures for Passive Environmental Technologies. 2nd ed. New York, NY: John Wiley, 1992.

Ching, Francis D. K. Architecture: Form, Space, & Order. 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2015.

Durrett, Charles. The Senior Cohousing Handbook: A Community Approach to Independent Living. The Senior

Cohousing Handbook. Gabriola Island, CA: New Society Publishers, 2009 Fleming, Rob, and Saglinda Roberts. Sustainable Design for the Built Environment. NY, NY: Routledge,

Taylor & Francis, 2019.

Karlen, Mark, Kate Ruggeri, Kathryn Hunchar, and Mia Kang. Space Planning Basics. Hoboken, NJ: John

Wiley & Sons, 2009.

Keijzer, E.E. and H.J.G. Kok, “Environmental Impact of Different Funeral Technologies”. Innovation for Life, Aug 8 2011, http://www.petmemorialcenter.ca/aquamation/TNO_report_Environmental_

impact_of_different_funeral_technologies.pdf Klinenberg, Eric. Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization,

and the Decline of Civic Life. New York, NY: Broadway Books, 2019.

Wahl, Daniel Cristian. Designing Regenerative Cultures. Axminster, England: Triarchy Press, 2016.

TalkDeath, “Green Burial Updates 2021” TalkDeath, March 3, 2020. https://www.talkdeath.com/greenburial-updates-2020/

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