Kalliopi Patros and Samuel Murnane

Situated on Herring Island, a man made construction surrounded on all sides by water and containing a rich array of flora, is the site for The Herring Island Crematorium, Columbarium and contemplative Temple. The project arose through a distillation of ideas conjured by the 1950’s film “Orpheus” by Jean Cocteau and was embedded with the idea of “Memento Mori”, the ever present knowledge and embrace of death as a part of the life cycle and the threshold that this idea creates. Thresholds are the principle driver across all three spaces as they not only symbolize a gateway between living and deceased spaces, as was pivotal in Orpheus, they also enforce a solitary moment as individuals move through them. Sympathetic to the existing and established flora of the island, whilst still having a large footprint is intrical to the architectural drivers of the project. The buildings and walls camouflage and sink themselves amongst the topography of herring island to offer individual spaces and privacy.