friedhof +

Description

friedhof + is a concept for activating surplus cemetery areas in German cities. It responds to the change in burial culture and the accompanying declining occupancy numbers, protecting cemeteries as important urban spaces for culture, climate, and biodiversity from de-consecration and development. friedhof + offers a proposal on how these spaces, in an otherwise avoided and stigmatized location, can be preserved and activated for new uses, particularly as an interim use during what are sometimes decades-long resting periods.

A modular, reversible design system was developed for utilizing the space. Boundary stones mark areas and serve as attachment points. Poles, floors, roofs, and textile walls, as well as curtains, flexibly form open spaces for lingering or enclosed rooms. In this way, temporary or longer-term uses can arise depending on needs, such as rooms for mourning and retreat, green classrooms, cultural formats, or low-threshold opportunities for encounters.