Oluwaseyi Salako

The architecture of the Water Cemetery derives from the designed rupture of a 16th century well in the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel. It is a broken vessel cut, cast and channelled to contain and distribute water for the purposes of ritual and memory adjacent to the Couesnon Dam. Water from the river is harnessed, creating a series of streams that are seen to flood the internal landscape of the cemetery. Light is used as a tool to carve spaces amongst the rubble and illuminate the choreographed assemblage of architectures required for the preservation and commemoration of a body through aquamation.

An architecture of wall and pavilion, walkway and void comprises granite walls enclosing two reflecting pools, copper basins, a carved limestone columbarium, a series of interconnecting walkways for the sequence of mourning and remembrance and a carefully articulated enclosure for private reflection. A gilded chapel aligned to Mont-Saint-Michel anchors the Cemetery to the site. Reflecting on the material and structural language of Abbey, Dam and Dyke, masonry connects to fine mesh walkways, timber lines stone and steel, steel spans and braces stone and water.