CREAMATORY

The city council understands the urgent need to implement this type of facility, as the city’s ability to extend the area for burials is limited. There are currently only three crematoriums in Ukraine, built many years ago, which do not have modern equipment. “It is also worth noting that the extensive preparatory work preceded the design of the crematorium: changes were made to urban planning documentation, which addressed many aspects of urban planning, including coexistence with the cemetery, connection issues, columbariums, allotted land, etc.” said chief architect Anton Kolomietsev.

For the abmk team, designing a crematorium was a compelling challenge, as it is important to consider not only the functionality of the building but also to depict its essence and significance for humans through exterior and interior solutions. A crematorium is a special place with an enormous emotional component. There are two main noteworthy advantages of the crematorium over traditional burial. The first is the decrease of harmful emissions, thanks to the manufacturability of filters for equipment. The second is the optimization of the area, which requires three times less space for storing urns.

The area provided for the crematorium is located on a hill – this allowed us to design a building with aboveground and underground zones. First, the visitor crosses the memorial park and the outer columbarium, then through the entrance area enters the farewell hall. Simplicity and conciseness of forms, light lanterns and natural lighting, natural materials and colors – stone, glass, wood – do not overload and do not put pressure on visitors, do not distract them from the purpose of the parish. From the farewell hall, bypassing the technical area, the visitor enters the rock garden and, walking along the stream of water, comes to an artificial pond in the center of the yard – a place of calm and acceptance. Here you can organize your emotions, restore mental balance, and clear your thoughts through union with nature.

Under the crematorium is an underground columbarium – an urn burial, with several entrances and exits for the convenience of visitors. We wanted to harmoniously combine the comfort of visitors and the technical needs of the place. So the crematorium is designed so that the entrance group does not intersect with the exit. Our team sees the Lviv crematorium as a calm, functional, aesthetic space.

We congratulate the winners of the architectural competition – a team of architects from Mariupol, who now work in Berlin. The authors note that the project emphasizes on person’s last path, its meaning, and the family’s feelings at the moment of farewell.

For more information about the project, follow the link.