Project description by jury

Today, many municipalities around the world impose the construction of cemeteries on the cities’ outskirts neglecting, in most cases, how to deal with their integration within the urban fabric once the cities start to encroach beyond their initial limits. Starting from this consideration, the project suggests a change of perspective in the way cemeteries are currently perceived in Amman, reclaiming their construction in the urban area to serve as public spaces for the community at large. The architectural design focuses on a new cemetery typology that distinctly separates burial units and the funeral house, all placed below ground level, and the ‘general’ public area made by a system of plazas and greenery at street level. The new typology enables far more burial spaces to be accommodated, courtyards open to the sky allow sunlight to reach the below-ground level while serving as meeting points required for funerals. The program of the project includes an Al-Tikyeh (hospice), a traditional communal building that dates back to the Ottoman era, to assist poor people and to collect donations from the deceased to support the community. It also incorporates a worship space, a library, a community kitchen and other public communal facilities. The project provides additional green spaces to punctuate the dense residential areas of Amman while offering new occasions for the gathering of people inside the neighborhoods.

Jury appraisal

The LafargeHolcim Awards jury Middle East Africa was fascinated by this audacious proposal that revolutionizes the way in which cemeteries can be conceived in the Middle East, adding a remarkable social character to this architectural typology. These revisited spaces suggest a new relationship between the living and the dead, which was found to be very poetic. Architecture creates a beautiful atmosphere which is very appropriate for the place. Also this design option alleviates soil consumption by drastically decreasing the footprint of graveyards inside the cemeteries, which was considered a powerful claim.