The landscape of death - not a dead subject

Abstract

Death is one of those subjects many of us in the contemporary western world like to avoid. However, its inevitability, to ourselves, and to others with whom we are associated, makes it an extremely important subject. One significant aspect of it is body disposal. This dissertation considers the design of places where this occurs.

For New Zealand, design for death should be a topical subject, as it is an area with considerable scope for improvement. Many factors have contributed to unsatisfactory results. One component has been that the designers involved, have too often not had the breadth of knowledge necessary to deal with such a sensitive subject in a comprehensive way. Therefore before addressing actual design, a considerable amount of important background information is discussed.

I commence with an assessment of the subject which generates the design requirement - that being death, or more precisely how a death of an associate emotionally affects a person. Following on from this some variations to impacts accounted for by social and cultural factors are stated.

In Part 2, I discuss some of the design approaches taken to body disposal and the landscape implications of these. I then identify functional requirements and certain relevant characteristics of perception, before in Part 5 drawing all of this knowledge together to address the specific design of cemeteries and crematoria. To compare the theory with reality, three case studies are then discussed. Finally conclusions are reached with the major principles for their design started, and recommendations made as to how these can be pursued.