Decompose & Recompose

-Death is not the opposite of life, but a continuation of it.

We humans have such destructive tendencies towards mother nature such that even as we die, our rite of passage to the afterlife causes environmental degradation.

This project aims to create a new cemetery concept through the “recompose” method, which converts the body remains into the soil. This keeps the entire procession environmentally friendly, while at the same time preserving the spiritual and emotional aspect of a conventional funeral.

This space offers the loved ones of the deceased to conduct their fnal farewell and use the soil to cultivate the plants in the Garden of Rebirth. The whole space through borrow nature scenery to bring a psychology journey for living relatives, that evokes a spiritual connection between the living and the deceased, allowing the living to reach an understanding of mortality in their respective ways as well as to offer spiritual sustenance and hope for the living.

- Generates Carbon dioxide

- Waste energy

- Land pollution

- Generates greenhouse gas

Both of the funeral procession methods in Singapore are proven to give a negative impact to the environment.

Objective Funeral Solution

This project creates a new cemetery concept with a method that aims to make funerals more environmentally friendly while also retaining the spiritual and emotional aspect of traditional funeral rites.

Recompose Method

Recomposition is a corporate service offering organic reduction, a process which gently converts human remains into the soil in about 30 days. The soil can be used to cultivate new lives.

Location Map

Site

Yi Shun Nature Way

Mandai Crematorium

Residential

Nature Reserve

Sport & Recreation

Nature Park

Reserve Site (Jungle)

Special Use

Mandai Avenue

Seletar Expressway

Mandai Road

Sembawang Road

Lentor Avenue

Bus Stop

The site is located in Mandai crematorium that is nearby Central Catchment Nature Reserve and is a part of Yi Shun Nature Way. This area is far away from the downtown area, with a good ecological environment, therefore, you can see the monkeys and other varieties of species here.

Flourishing jungle around here with an excellent nature view and a water body in the lowest area.

Psychology journey Garden of Death

Main Entrance Recompose Area Rest Area Soil Collection Car Park Sub-Entrance 1 2 3 5 4 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 Section A

For thousands of years, funerals have been meaning for expressing our beliefs, thoughts, and the feeling about the death of someone we love. This area aims to provide a space that offers people to memories past to fnd out the meaning of life and death and offer spiritual sustenance and hopes for the living.

Section A’

After converts the body into the soil that provides nutrients for the plants. The plants selected are nectar plants and fruiters as they are able to attract animals and potentially create a thriving ecosystem.

This helps the deceased to be reintegrated back to earth through the ecological cycle, contributing to environmental protection via a greener method of funeral rites. Death is not the opposite of life, but a continuation of it.

Original site

Inspiration

The form of my design inspired by the circle. Death is not just only an end but also a new beginning. And the circle is also like this, any point can be the starting point or the ending point.

Use circle as basic form

Raise up the service hall for borrow

Remove some part of the recompose area to opening view nature

Same language the entrance

Follow the contour line sloping down the recompose area

Increase water body

Add one more entrance, from crematorium underground car park

The death of relatives and friends is an indelible scar. I hope this space can break people’s impression of the traditional cemetery. When people think about it, it’s not only the pain, but also the warmth and hope. Death is not the opposite of life, but a continuation of it.

There is a huge acrylic water pool in the center and I’m using the mirror nish stainless steel as the shelter material for the Immaterial entities effect. Those kinds of materials will re ect the surrounding bamboos. This space allows the people to recall memories of the past.

After entering the entrance, people will go through the Garden of Death which is a bamboo forest. when the sun shines on the bamboo leaves, it will cast a beautiful shadow. When the wind blows over the bamboo or animals’ activities, the bamboo will swing and makes a slight sound. It’s a very long corridor for people to calm down and prepare the last farewell.

A lot of vertical and horizontal lines are used in the whole space to create frame. The sun will shine in from the side and bring people’s attention to the huge window. The window frames the view of deceased and nature together.·

In this area, people can see the opposite land symbolising hope, it’s just like another starting point of life and it bring hope to us. The cover will block a part of sight to force people looking to the water that re ect the surrounding environment.

This space expresses the cycle of death to the next stage. Just like the owering plants here, they bloom and bear fruit, then wither and return to the land for fertilizer. Whether it’s plants or people, life goes through the same cycle.

This is a lively garden where all life gathers around and make life a meaningful new chapter. I am using limestone for the road material as a metaphor of tracing time. The stone weathers, but life carries on.