Transcendental floating and land art | The success of a Hungarian engineering firm in Vienna

TSPC office and the Austrian Who Cares?! design agency won a special award with their common designs on a tender announced for a new crematory.

The urn promenade formulated with the tools of land art, the floating building symbolizing the final farewell and the sophisticated interaction of lights encapsulating transcendence – these architectural solutions earned the praise for the collaboration of the Hungarian TSPC engineering firm and the Austrian Who Cares?! design agency, prepared for a new crematory building to be implemented in a cemetery in Vienna.

The tender was announced because they wanted to expand the existing spaces of the cemetery located in Vienna with a new building, as the demand for the ceremony of the cremation process in front of the deceased’s loved ones has increased.

When developing the concept, the designers also laid a great emphasis on symbolism in addition to architectural solutions.  The building escorts the people saying goodbye to their loved ones along two steps: through the so-called “space of thoughts” and the” space of leaving souls”. The “space of thoughts” creates a dense inner world and symbolizes the ruthless lack of transition from life to death – here, the attention of mourners are directed inwards, and they can feel the weight and pain of the moment.

In the “space of leaving souls”, the moments of the final farewell are followed by the illustration of floating and transparence. The final passing is also symbolized by the giant glass wall: the glass surface of the building fully reflects its environment, the natural landscape surrounding the crematory, to a certain point with a gradient solution.

“During the design process, we kept in mind that we need to create a building in which everyone can find their own questions and answers, regardless of whether they think of death as passing without a transition, a slow shape-shifting or as returning to nature. Our design accompanies the preparation, the meeting and the difficult moments of letting go, with simple yet sensitive symbols” – explained Dr. Szabolcs Dienes, the project manager architect of TSPC.

• architecture
• landart