/// Cherish - WS 2003/2004
/// Concept for Krefeld-Bockum cemetery
/// Prof. P. Fuhrmann

Site

The history of the cemetery of Krefeld-Bockum goes back to the middle of the 19th century. In 1886, the cemetery was extended.

Today, it is over 6 hectares in size, has a big stock of trees and you can find some picturesque places.

Subject

The subject was to search for conceptional approaches to future potentials of cemeteries.

The cemetery in Krefeld-Bockum should be seen as an historical site but also as a place where leave-taking, mourning and burial can be spatially experienced.
All features, characteristics and uses of the possible structure and its density had to be developed according to the concept.

Concept

When analyzing the current layout of the cemetery, you can notice that the interface between the old and the newer part is quite indifferent. There is neither a clear separation or segmentation nor a conscious kind of fusion of both parts. The axis finds next to no expression, the arrangement of trees and ways is indistinctive.

This leads to the idea of positioning a new building right at this problematic place. Through its long, line-shaped form, a new relating axis is developed, and by also embedding it in the existing net of ways it is the new backbone of the cemetery. A new small square in front of the building indicates the new situation at the main entrance.

Inside the building, there is an outer space within an inner space. This space provides a kind of pedestrian space which functionally organizes the different parts of the building and also creates a fluent relation between the profane and the spiritual. It is connected to the paths of the cemetery. This way, a quiet transition -  cemetery-building-cemetery - is created.
Spaces are lined up, going from public and profane over spiritual rooms for devotions and leave-taking to functional and technical facilities.

If you look at the development of society in Germany, you will find an individualization of believes and ideas about existence and death. Related to this,  there is a change from originally ecclesiastical to places with other meanings.
With respect to this fact and to help people find their own way of coping with mourning, it seems to make sense to bring some new, thus far unusual rooms to the cemetery. There is a flexible room for exhibitions, arrangements and seminars which also contains a small library.
Complementing these rooms for spirituality, there is great emphasis on the process of physically saying goodbye. Hence, there is a workshop to personally work on coffins or urns, intimate rooms for lying in state and an additional room for farewell when cremating the corpse.