architect: Eduardo Souto de Moura with SumProject
location: Kortrijk, Belgium
year: 2011
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
T.S.Elliot
It is a matter of searching for calm and make peace with the impressive landscape of Hoog-Kortrijk.
The cemetery of Hoog-Kortrijk is a serene place that folds with the landscape, with plateaus that slip rhythmically over the slope. The strength of this place is born especially from its extension and vastness. It is very important to maintain the perspective and the silence.
The new crematory is covered with earth and green as the landscape, making part of it.
On the roof of the crematory one can recognize some figures of the light and sky, in granite, metal, glas and stone. The new crematory will breathe light and sky, water and landscape, for us the essential things.
The crematory will not become a church or chapel, with a religious or mysterious ambiance. Nor will the crematory be a house with a familiar ambiance.
The new crematory that we propose will become an extremely sober and righteous building, for a clear and dignified farewell.
