Lynn van Zweden

Transience is a theme that has increasingly fascinated me during my studies. Not only within architecture, but also in the way materials live, age, and carry meaning. Sometimes I joke that I long for my urn when I encounter a headwind. That humor does not stem from weariness of life, but from the realization that we as human beings are transient and all deal with that thought in our own way. Nothing is permanent; everything changes, ages, and eventually disappears. With my design, I want to reinforce that awareness and make the beauty of simplicity and transience visible.

During a visit to the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof, a cemetery in the heart of Berlin, I strongly experienced how transience can be palpable in a space. The silence, nature, and James Turrell's mourning chapel, where light and color changed with the setting sun, created an almost timeless atmosphere. This experience prompted me to think about the role of transience within spatial design. In architecture, the focus is often on sustainability as a way of extending life. In my research, however, I look specifically at the value of decay, letting go, and transience, and how this influences our view of mortality. Why do we try to erase aging, when rust, wear, and damage actually show that something has lived?

With this in mind, I designed a new purpose for the former Senzora factory in the Raambuurt neighborhood of Deventer. The factory is situated in an area being transformed into a residential environment with over a hundred new homes. The surroundings lack a place where farewells and mourning can be consciously experienced. Precisely for this reason, the design and the location reinforce each other: right in the midst of daily life, space is created for reflection and learning to cope with transience. Instead of smoothing out the industrial building, I want to preserve the traces of time. The weathered materials and industrial structure carry an emotional charge connected to transience.

The building offers space for farewell ceremonies, commemoration, and stillness. The ceremony space is arranged in a circle around the coffin, allowing emotions to be visible and enabling people to look at one another. The pallbearers are slowly led into the building via a funeral route made of steel plates. The steel is intentionally allowed to rust; the material lives with time. A cutout in the roof, inspired by the building's iconic window frames, lets in light and creates an almost sacred atmosphere.

Alongside gravity, irony also finds a place within the design. For me, humor is a coping mechanism and a way to put death into perspective. Therefore, the building contains ironic and Surrealist elements, such as a wall full of tissues, a maze with dead-end paths, and a scaffolding structure that alludes to something temporary yet remains standing.

The building remains open to the public when no ceremony is taking place, ensuring that it becomes a place of remembrance, confrontation, and awareness even outside of the farewell. My design demonstrates that transience need not be hidden. Precisely by making time and mortality visible, space is created for acceptance, remembrance, and meaning.

Memento mori.

Lynnvanzweden@gmail.com

Telefoon: +31 634561126