YOUSUF VAWDA
UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL
‘Memento Mori - Remember Your Death’
Places of the dead have played a significant role
in shaping the urban fabric and portraying a society’s
attitude towards their dead throughout history. These
sacred spaces would be important elements in the
landscape for the living to pay respect and remember
those that have passed.
The Christian faith has a unique history regarding
their interment spaces, utilising a variety of methods
throughout its two thousand-year history.
The purpose of this project was to explore the
relationship between sacred space and the memory
of the dead in Christianity, through mnemonics. The
study investigates the relationship between life and
death via sacred and memory evoking architecture
through the design of a cemetery complex for Durban.
Situated in the otherwise underutilised Stellawood
Cemetery, the project attempts to engage the
public through retail, community and leisure spaces.
68
Thereafter the user is lead along a ‘journey’, acting
as a metaphor for life, death and the Resurrection,
where the spaces are meant to evoke memories of
the dead, as well as act as a reminder to the living
that there is more to life than the mundane and
profane. In addition, Bio-Cremation or Resomation is
incorporated as a sustainable body disposal method.
Discussing the reason to incorporate clay
brick into his thesis, Vawda said ‘The materials
incorporated also reference the passage of time
and the effect of deterioration through time on
the materials. The temporality of the materials, as
well as its deterioration reminds the user of the
temporality of human life. Materials are chosen to
emphasise weathering, allowing the structure to age,
without the need for continual maintenance. The
use of clay brick throughout the scheme perfectly
encapsulated this idea.”
Student Awards