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Revitalizing the Urban Cemetery: The Waters at Holy Rood

The Project started as an examination of the American Urban Cemetery as a type. What would become of these spaces where nothing can grow? The bath building and approach derived from a metaphorical connection between water and death which drove the design process.

Enhancing Memory

The Cemetery site is interesting because it already has a history buried below the surface. How can a building enhance that memory as opposed to destroy it?

Procession

If we consider the cemetery site to be worthy of protection, then it makes sense to frame it with a series of built pieces, having visitors process around the site before being allowed to enter.

Water

Water has drawn many comparisons with death, from the Greeks and the river Styx to the South American Indians who believed that the dead returned as morning dew. Water is a means to cleanse the visitor, much in the way that many cultures cleanse themselves at sacred sites. There is also the potential to renew water on site, thus making the project more sustainable.