Kashiwa Center Cemetery

What sort of place is a cemetery? We began the design process for this project by asking ourselves this question. For family and friends who have lost a loved one, the experience of going to a graveyard is similar to visiting the deceased person’s home after an interval months or years. From the perspective of the deceased, it is a place from which to welcome those one has left behind.

Based on these impressions, the key phrase we chose to guide our design was “hospitality from the afterworld.” One steps into the space as if one has been invited into a mansion, moving out of time and space to cross between the everyday world and the home of the dead.

Architecture: Someya Architectural Design Office