Montpellier Metropolitan Cemetery
Basic information
Project Title
Montpellier Metropolitan Cemetery
Full project title
The new metropolitan cemetery was made by extending the communal cemetery of Montpellier
Category
Reconnecting with nature
Project Description
Our cemetery project is a public park project that dialogues with the surrounding living landscape. It creates a new landscape, a place that can be visited and which offers the possibility of installing new uses. The project addresses the highly symbolic theme of death and the signs with which our societies organize it and makes this cemetery a landscape of journeys by working on the voids, the notions of time, thresholds and sequences in the wandering.
Geographical Scope
Regional
Project Region
metropolis of Montpellier comprising 31 municipalities, France
Urban or rural issues
Mainly urban
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
EU Programme or fund
No
Description of the project
Summary
The cemetery was conceived as a public park its natural and tectonic landscape a symbolic expression of our relationship with nature and the cosmos, the sky and the earth, the living and the dead. Landscape and architecture merge harmoniously to frame and reveal this dialogue through pathways infrastructures tombs and meditative spaces. The cemetery doubles as a water retention infrastructure for the surrounding area and the natural topography of the land was instrumental in integrating the local hydraulic constraints. From this multi-scalar infrastructure emerges a diversity of ambiances and spatial sequences which forms the compositional framework for the entire project.
The program included the creation of a multi-faith metropolitan cemetery for the 31 municipalities of the metropolis. This cemetery was to be built by extending the municipal cemetery of Montpellier, thus sharing funeral facilities between the municipality and the metropolis. The program provided for a capacity of 8500 burial spaces split temporally into 3 phases that will ultimately occupy a total surface area of 13.5 hectares. The present project represents phase 1, which occupies a surface area of 8.7 hectares and includes all the infrastructure of this new facility: a new caretaker's lodge, an ossuary, 1,500 columbarium spaces, two memorial gardens, places of contemplation and meditation distributed throughout the site.
"The site informs the project": this was the motto of our work to create a new landscape that draws on the existing qualities of the place.
In concordance with the landscape, the principal material of the project is béton brut, its colour and texture blends with the earth from which it springs.
However, aside from the concrete used for the infrastructure, the main materials of the project are vegetation, water and its pathways, natural topography, fertile soils, light, views of nearby and distant horizons, sounds and scents of existing landscape adjacent to our project.
The program included the creation of a multi-faith metropolitan cemetery for the 31 municipalities of the metropolis. This cemetery was to be built by extending the municipal cemetery of Montpellier, thus sharing funeral facilities between the municipality and the metropolis. The program provided for a capacity of 8500 burial spaces split temporally into 3 phases that will ultimately occupy a total surface area of 13.5 hectares. The present project represents phase 1, which occupies a surface area of 8.7 hectares and includes all the infrastructure of this new facility: a new caretaker's lodge, an ossuary, 1,500 columbarium spaces, two memorial gardens, places of contemplation and meditation distributed throughout the site.
"The site informs the project": this was the motto of our work to create a new landscape that draws on the existing qualities of the place.
In concordance with the landscape, the principal material of the project is béton brut, its colour and texture blends with the earth from which it springs.
However, aside from the concrete used for the infrastructure, the main materials of the project are vegetation, water and its pathways, natural topography, fertile soils, light, views of nearby and distant horizons, sounds and scents of existing landscape adjacent to our project.
Key objectives for sustainability
In addition to the conceptual aspects of the project, we have given great importance to the environment to provide the city with a landscape that connects with and enrichens the local ecosystem. The creation of a landscaped cemetery is already a first guarantee for the environment. To achieve this, we sought to minimize soil sealing to increase porous and fertile soils, to create hydrological continuities by organizing water retention and direct infiltration, and by promoting evapotranspiration. These "soils that drink and sweat" contribute to the reduction of UHI (urban heat islands) and the creation of “cool islands”, as well as improves biodiversity. The creation of layers of plantations (herbaceous, shrub and arboreal) also helps to promote temperate environments through the shade and evapotranspiration of plants. The palette of plants is mainly composed of Mediterranean species, adapted to the local climate. The choice of light colours for the mineral parts of the project makes it possible to obtain a high albedo, thus creating surfaces that reflect the sun's rays and also contribute to the reduction of UHI. Excavated materials from the site were reused up to 70% to shape the new cemetery, and low-carbon concrete was used.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
For measures of hygiene, most cemeteries were created "outside the city walls" following the decree issued by Napoleon in 1804. Current urbanization has eventually engulfed many of them and these frequently visited spaces could, in their own way, bring a little bit of nature back into the city... In general, the capacities of existing communal cemeteries and crematorium sites are diminishing due to the demographic evolution of the municipality of Montpellier and the municipalities of the Metropolis. The leeway of the municipalities to ensure the necessary developments and extensions is very limited due to land reserve issues. Our approach consisted of creating a shared public space that is not simply a reductive infrastructure for organizing burials for different faiths. Instead, we created a public park, a place that can be visited and that generates potential new uses. We have made this new cemetery a landscape of pathways by working on spatial voids, the notions of time, thresholds, and deambulatory sequences. The numerous pathways are organized in a "cinematographic" way, that gradually and dynamically reveal multiple vantage points of existing landscapes, lights, sounds, and smells. Architectural devices sequence and reinforce these sensitive relationships with inert and living materials of the project. The specificity of the project lies in its polyvalent solutions to program requirements and integration with its site. The flow of water shapes the cemetery, generating a deep interlock of embedded spaces, as one transits from the scale of the greater landscape to that of the tomb. This results in multiple trajectories through this new terrain that offer the visitor multiple vistas, both near and far, towards recognizable features of the local territory.
Our project deals with the highly symbolic theme of death and the signs with which our societies organize it. Our project approaches the subject in the calmest way possible, symbolically returning to nature.
Our project deals with the highly symbolic theme of death and the signs with which our societies organize it. Our project approaches the subject in the calmest way possible, symbolically returning to nature.
Key objectives for inclusion
The program included the creation of a multi-faith metropolitan cemetery for the 31 municipalities of the metropolis. iI's a bit like creating 31 cemeteries in one, by pooling all the necessary infrastructures. This cemetery was to be built by extending the municipal cemetery of Montpellier, thus sharing funeral facilities between the municipality and the metropolis. The program provided for a capacity of 8,500 burial spaces split temporally into 3 phases that will ultimately occupy a total surface area of 13.5 hectares. The present project represents phase 1, which occupies a surface area of 8.7 hectares and includes all the infrastructure of this new facility: a new caretaker's lodge, an ossuary, 1,500 columbarium spaces, two memorial gardens, places of contemplation and meditation distributed throughout the site. Our project integrates all religions into this universal relationship with mother nature. We have also given particular importance to the treatment of burial vaults by modifying the industrial manufacturing process, to obtain industrial tombstones, but with a specific design allowing poor families to keep the basic industrial tomb, without having to resort to costly subsequent marble cladding.
Results in relation to category
We don't have an answer to this question...
How Citizens benefit
The residents were not contacted directly for the development of the project.
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Innovative character
The innovative dimension of our project lies in the idea of designing a cemetery as an urban public park providing ecosystem services and being able to install new uses there.
Disciplines/knowledge reflected
The fields of hydrology and geology were important in defining the rainwater and runoff management plan, and in the geographic location of burial typologies. We used hydraulic constraints and topography to create a new landscape and to gradually divide the large scale of the site (13.5 hectares) into a small scale of meditation.
Methodology used
"The site informs the project": this was the motto of our work to create a new landscape that draws on the existing qualities of the place. In concordance with the landscape, the principal material of the project is béton brut, its colour and texture blends with the earth from which it springs. However, aside from the concrete used for the infrastructure, the main materials of the project are vegetation, water and its pathways, natural topography, fertile soils, light, views of nearby and distant horizons, sounds and scents of existing landscape adjacent to our project.
The cemetery was conceived as a public park, its natural and tectonic landscape a symbolic expression of our relationship with nature and the cosmos, the sky and the earth, the living and the dead. Landscape and architecture merge harmoniously to frame and reveal this dialogue through pathways, infrastructures, tombs, and meditative spaces. The cemetery doubles as a water retention infrastructure for the surrounding area and the natural topography of the land was instrumental in integrating the local hydraulic constraints. From this multi-scalar infrastructure emerges a diversity of ambiances and spatial sequences which forms the compositional framework for the entire project.
The cemetery was conceived as a public park, its natural and tectonic landscape a symbolic expression of our relationship with nature and the cosmos, the sky and the earth, the living and the dead. Landscape and architecture merge harmoniously to frame and reveal this dialogue through pathways, infrastructures, tombs, and meditative spaces. The cemetery doubles as a water retention infrastructure for the surrounding area and the natural topography of the land was instrumental in integrating the local hydraulic constraints. From this multi-scalar infrastructure emerges a diversity of ambiances and spatial sequences which forms the compositional framework for the entire project.
How stakeholders are engaged
The municipalities of the metropolis were associated with the architect well in advance of the studies, in order to specify the program during a masterplan phase, which made it possible to refine the needs for each municipality.
Global challenges
The approach to rainwater management through ecological systems (without pipe infrastructure) is a good way to take into account the problem of water resources management which is a global problem. This also contributes to the management of urban heat islands to combat global warming, promoting the establishment of biodiversity, which are also a global problem.
Learning transferred to other parties
What can be reproduced in other places lies in the management of rainwater, the fight against urban heat islands and the fight against the loss of biodiversity.
Keywords
The site informs the project
create a new landscape with the cemetery infrastructures
make a public park for the living
use vegetation, fertile soils, water, topography and views as materials
the symbolism around the earth and the sky shapes the pathways
