Eternal Hill Columbarium / Behet Bondzio Lin Architekten

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Text description provided by the architects.Funerals and grief are full of emotions. We often face the cemetery, the last place we say farewell to our family with fear. What kind of architecture will be able to drive away the fear, bear the emptiness of emotion and memory, and at the same time be a space for us to settle down and recollect the past? We need a carrier for grief and loss, it does not mean what we left behind after we passed, but it meant what kind of space encourages us to face our past.The wall is an element that constructs distance. In this case, tilting the walls at a different angle creates a visual of it gradually leaving the griever. These walls create a distance of departure, instead of separation. A rectangular entryway invites unpredictable climate, and slanted walls introduce wind from different directions. As the cemetery is located in Hsinchu, Wind City. The design and construction method, of this wind tower, tells stories and memories of the city.The stacking of slanted walls constructs a vision of being surrounded by mountains. Placing incense, candles, and flowers on the “mountainside”, creates a wall and a chance for us to be lost in our thought. The wall being slanted and facing the sky, registering the rays of the sun, accompany us to confront fear. The skylight in the middle of the heavy concrete structure gently lays down light and hope in the courtyard.In this cemetery, it needs to carry 70,000 past, which means it needs to contain 70,000 irreparable regrets.