I am fascinated with the inevitability of life and death and the ties that bind these inevitabilities together. Death has interested all civilisations, no matter the culture or religion, there is a kind of grounding in the act of dying that unifies every individual. We all live, and we all die. Death is something we as humans have had to deal with since life began. In the modern world, a realm of environmentally conscious mindsets, the way we deal with death is rapidly becoming outdated. I began to look at how a modernised, eco-friendly method, called ‘Promession’, can be incorporated into today’s society. I was considering how to maintain the importance of a funeral ceremony and the architectural poetics of death, while attempting to provide a new hope for those who are left behind with a knowledge that in death, one can still give back to the Earth.
In short, the scheme consists of three parts; the ceremony, the Prematoria and the living memorial. This scheme is to give Coventry a space for those who are grieving to respectfully commemorate the deceased. It focusses on death on a micro scale; the emotive side of death on a personal level for the bereaved. But also considers death on a macro scale; death as an entity that unites the human race, one inevitable, constant event. By thinking of death in both these terms it allows for the prospect of transformation of a city.