The project, a crematorium and garden for the burial and scattering of ashes, is situated in Menlo village. The site lies between an existing cemetery and a small woodland, with the River Corrib running along its boundary. The intention of the project was to create a strong link between the traditional burial ground and a new garden of remembrance, embedding the new crematorium into the landscape. Visits to recently established crematoriums revealed a lack of depth in these spaces, which often feel commercial and do not fully serve their purpose. The programme is structured around two distinct orders: the symbolic, centred on the chapel; and the industrial, serving the cremators. In interpreting the brief, the design evolved as a series of parallel constructions: Existing cemetery – Proposed crematorium and grounds Crematorium building – Burial landscape Chapel – Cremator Entrance with coffin – exit without The building is aligned with a natural path that runs from the cemetery to the woodland on the opposite side of the site, while maintaining a safe distance from the river to address potential flooding. The final design comprises three independent thatched roofs covering an arrival space, chapel, and condolence room. A grass roof covers the sunken staff areas and the cremator. The car park is positioned behind an existing ditch, screening vehicles from the burial grounds. As mourners approach the crematorium, they follow a path along an external wall beneath a canopy that reaches out to invite visitors into the arrival space. Inside the chapel, seating is arranged in an informal circle around the catafalque, the focal point of the space, with mourners seated in light surrounding the coffin. A concrete gable wall, read independently from the timber roof structure, frames views through carefully placed openings, including a view to Menlo Castle, and acts as a transition between chapel and the cremator. The coffin passes mechanically through an aperture in the concrete wall. In the surrounding garden, limestone burial walls radiate into the meadow, decreasing in scale. Formed from precast concrete niches set within dry limestone walls, they reference local stone field boundaries.
Project school: Oxford Brookes University (RIBA Studio)
A Journey Home
‘Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home’ Basho
A personal tale, common to many; away from home, on a distant shore, caught up the ebb and flow of the everyday, we lose ourselves. Divided by political headlines, our memories become eroded. Missing home, I lament.
If only momentarily, we dream of escape. Conjuring an otherworld, we ostensibly undertake a journey; physically and in parallel a deeper discovery into oneself, from sound to silence.
Idealized, imagined utopias. Islands exist in a semi dream-like state. A distant memory or creation of our imagination.
Tangible: Tory Island, shrouded in mythology sits isolated, silent. Resting on the shore the Arrivals Hall a shelter for islanders and visitors, a space for exchange, offers an opportunity to share stories. Connected sits hulled structures host fisheries and touristic functions support year-round sustainable economic activities.
The Music Hall; linked by a rhythmic pathway, a conduit between earth and sky; musicians as translators evoke the intangible mythological lore. Drawing from the granite geo-scape, legends of Tory converge with tales of distant lands. In the mode of Irish traditional music, the spaces promote a culture of oral transmission, of exchange. The tunes, vehicles for emotional expression making the invisible visible.
Departing, leaving this Atlantic edge, I return home, spirit reawakened ready to begin again.