This design for a ‚Place of Parting‘ (Chapel of Rest) inside an existing room aims to direct the external movements and internal dynamic of the mourner, so as to support the development of an ‚intuitive experience‘. The device for achieving this is a ‚Skylight‘ which throws a gentle, diagonal shaft of light though the whole room. On entering the building, the Skylight comes into view. Positioned at a right angle to the Skylight, in the natural direction moving further into the room, two parallel partition walls open up a path. Crossing this path, another partition wall comes into sight, which is markedly separated from the ceiling as well as from the first two walls, creating a feeling of lightness. The positioning of the walls slows down and condenses movement through the room. The gaps in the room become more intimate and the ‚meeting‘ with the deceased is thereby given a breathing space. Entering the ‚Place of Parting‘ becomes an act of consideration. Behind these partition walls, the ray of light falls onto the ‚Casque‘ situated in the centre of the room, directly under the open Skylight. Beyond the centre of the room, a clean white wall rises just to the height of the ‚Casque‘ … revealing behind it the final wall of rammed earth. Light and earth form the material, as well as metaphorical, surroundings of this ‚Place of Parting‘. On one side of the room three enlarged openings are let into the wall, framing unique glass mosaics by the artist Anne Knödler, which create abstract sky fragments in warm, light colours. The glass surfaces are like a sheltering membrane between inside and outside. From a distance it is only possible to catch a shadowy glance if there are visitors inside the ‚Chapel of Rest‘; still a connection with the outside world is also maintained in our thoughts through the fragmented transparency.

2013 / 2014