Cemetery extension
The project proposes a new space for the scattering of ashes as a place of farewell and remembrance. The space of farewell is formed by gently undulating grassy surfaces intended for the ceremony, while the space of remembrance takes the form of a memorial forest where the names of the deceased are recorded.
Ashes to the eternity
The two spaces are connected by a central path that continues along the axis of the existing cemetery and stops at the southern edge just before the endless fields, symbolically expressing both transience and freedom.
The circle, the path and the forest
The architectural narrative unfolds through three distinct elements: the circle, the path, and the forest. The mourning circle forms a quiet center whose geometry expresses continuity and life cycles, serving as an intimate space to scatter ashes and mark transition, memory, and symbolic return. Next, the mourning path guides visitors from everyday life into the ritual, framing movement and anticipation that culminates in open views of distant fields where loss meets the horizon. Finally, the forest provides a space for post-ritual withdrawal where architecture recedes into nature, allowing quiet contemplation and personal grief as the deceased symbolically returns to the natural cycle.
Materiality and landscape integration
The design incorporates rammed earth walls at the entrance and within the memorial forest to record the names of the deceased. Their horizontal texture symbolically mirrors the agricultural fields stretching south of the cemetery, while serving as a sustainable, natural material choice for the site.
Planted with numerous birches, the memorial forest preserves open sightlines through its vertical trunks, complemented by site elements and custom urban furniture crafted entirely from weathering steel to ground the intervention within the landscape.
Project Cemetery extension
Author Žan Pirman
SiteBitnje pri Kranju, Slovenia
TypeStudent competition (Faculty of Architecture), Recognition
Year 2025
Program Area for scattering ashes
Status Concept design
