Water Memory
Columbia GSAPP Core II
Spring 2019
Studio Critic: Karla Rothstein
Water Memory Botanical Archive celebrates the dualities of life and death, where they coexist in multiple scales. A collection of structures is calibrated to house three primary functions: a chapel and bio-cremation space, a spiraling garden, and recreation space. These functions are networked through circulations that interlace a field of pockets of repose, from intimate to large gathering spaces. The concept of this archive lends itself to the idea of the meandering promenade that each individual experiences through different stages in life.
This archive aims to emerge and redefine the perception of the modern cemetery on both scales, the public park and the urban fabric. The Botanical Archive defines a civic sanctuary for educational purposes, as well as a space of remembrance. Together, they recall the idea of life after life through a self-sustaining system, where the effluent from the bio-cremation serves as the essential nourishment for the garden, and the garden serves to nurture the malleable mind of the younger generation.

A diagonal void cuts through the building mass, creating an oblique view through different spaces, as well as bringing in direct light to the ground plane.
The running track falls tangent to the garden and undergoes sectional change sallowing the users to fluidly move through the space while simultaneously engaging in a global rise.
