Oasis in the city: A Place to Integrate Spirituality in a Multicultural Society

Abstract

The growth of different cultures in Canada has been accompanied by a reduction in the influence of religion. Christian burial customs in Canada are being replaced by secular cremation and multicultural rituals, creating new issues and needs that cannot be resolved by current funeral facilities.

This architectural thesis for Halifax, Nova Scotia, proposes a new crematorium in Point Pleasant Park, at the south end of the Halifax peninsula. It draws from historical funerary culture, traditions, and architecture application, using three architectural elements (water, light, geometry) and architectural relations (contrast, merger, and reciprocity) to integrate building and landscape, the living and the dead, and place and ritual.