Cassette tiles

The new building for the crematorium in St. Niklaas (Belgium) has been divided into two parts: a reception building, and a technical building (the crematorium proper). The decision to separate the two buildings was based primarily on practical and environmental considerations, but it also provides an opportunity to give each building a character and look of its own deriving from its function. It also enables a spatial rite de passage on the site and in the buildings which is appropriate to the different stages of a funeral ceremony. Emptiness, space and clarity predominate in the new reception room. The use of clear spatial gestures and materials results in a room with a presence, but nowhere do the accents introduced take over. The... More