Junior students of the Department of Environmental Design won prizes in international design competition-AADTHU

Junior students of the Department of Environmental Design won prizes in international design competition

2020.11.18

In times of accelerating urbanization and densification, urban cemeteries face the challenge of keeping their relevance with public urban space. This is not only an issue of space but also a matter of culture, belief and spiritual cognition.

On February 20, 2020, winners of the contest “Circle of Life: Reinterpreting Urban Cemeteries in Context of Future” sponsored by UNFUSE were announced. Two groups of students from the Department of Environmental Design of the Tsinghua Academy of Arts & Design participated in the competition with their works for the SRT course “Future Lifestyle”. Among them, the group work “Leave a Light On” (instructed by Song Limin and Yao Yanhua) by 2017 undergraduate students Wang Ziyao, Cai Linghang and Pang Lei won the “Honourable Mention” prize in this competition, while the group work “FU FU” (instructed by Song Limin and Yao Yanhua) by 2017 undergraduates Wang Zhiyue, Li Yiwei and Wu Xinjie won the “Shortlisted” prize.

The design site for the competition was set in Shanghai, China, with 74 participating teams from all over the world.

Introduction to the Competition

All the works in the design competition of urban cemeteries present a completely new interpretation of death by modern people, especially in the context of metropolis and integration of its complex cultures, beliefs and religions. The super-multicultural characteristics of big cities are stimulated by big data, information society and rapidly developing science and technology, showing a very complicated new social space organization. This competition for the design of urban cemeteries has been launched against these backdrops.

The design site for the competition is located in Hongkou District of Shanghai, characterized by a metropolitan comprehensive urban space, i.e. high population density, land shortage, diversified functions, and unbalanced urban space, etc.

First Prize Work of Tokyo Vertical Cemetery Competition, Death Is Not The End. Being Forgotten Is

The main purpose of the Circle of Life competition, besides the basic requirement to create a resting place for the deceased, is to give the participants the freedom to propose the main functions of architecture and adjust the mood of the space through experimental design. The design results need to meet four competition elements: inclusiveness, creating a harmonious environment for different beliefs; balance, balancing the density and quality of space; sustainability, the general function of a resting place conforming to the strategy of sustainable development, and extension, being sufficient to support future needs.

Competition panel

Stefano Peluso: Founder of Stefano Peluso Architecture, Italy. He is a partner of Milan MAARCH Architecture Landscape and Urban Design Group and editor of an Italian architectural magazine Turrisbabel. He was invited to participate in the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016, where he exhibited his work “PM800 Post Metabolic City”. His design project “Albes Cemetery Extension” won the Südtiroler Architecture Award in 2019.

Darius Reznek: Architect/partner of Karres en Brands, the Netherlands. He has led the team Karres en Brands’s to win many international competition awards, including Paper Island Urban Design Competition in Copenhagen, Area Design of Roskilde or Helsinge Garden City Station in Denmark, Master Plan Design of Randwick Academic Health Science Center in Sydney, Triangle de Gonesse in Paris and Master Plan Concept Design of Germany Hamburg’s newest district Oberbillwerder, etc.

Manuel Herrera: Architect/partner of TALLER DIEZ 05, Mexico. He has won two silver medals at the Mexican Architecture Biennale and his architectural firm was named the best firm of the year by OBRAS magazine in 2019.

Honourable Mention

Leave a Light On

The group consisting of Wang Ziyao, Cai Linghang and Pang Lei, based on the spatial mechanism established by the unique connotation between the city and the countryside in the Chinese context, put forward the concept of “falling leaves returning to their roots” in the city, fully understood the site characteristics and urban spatial attributes, completed the design of Shanghai urban cemeteries, and also completed a journey of self-study and challenge.

The design of the group work makes full use of the unique atmosphere of day and night in the city, making “space full of memories of hometown” play different roles in the city during the day and at night. The rich space during the day will trigger more diverse modes of social communication and co-occurrence. At night, the lighted light-spots and the huge light-beams assembled by them represent the souls of the deceased relatives, standing in the city as the light of protection.

Shortlisted

FU FU

Wang Zhiyue, Li Yiwei and Wu Xinjie’s group work “Fu Fu” criticizes the spatial arrangement and worship methods of contemporary industrialized cemeteries, believing that modern worship methods need a freer mode. Combining the biological characteristics and poetic connotation of ephemera (FU) in the concept that “A day of human is ephemera’s whole life”, they have created a brand-new platform space for worshipping the dead. Through the random movement of “ephemera” floating in the water, different clusters are formed, breaking the traditional private and industrialized forms of worship. Finally, through space design, the design site becomes an extremely inclusive and free public cemetery space.