How can architecture create an environment of memory and mourning for all, even those who have no one to mourn for them? A tyrant ruler will be remembered in statues of gold and monuments while a humble shepherd will be remembered by a small wooden cross. The goal of this vertical studio (Graduate Landscape Architecture/Undergraduate Architecture) was to understand the ways in which various landscapes would be designed and inhabited in the 21st century. Equity in Memory is a 21st century cemetery located in Albuquerque, NM.

I was interested in the idea that how you are seen and remembered after you die is often decided by how much money you have. The goal of the design was to create a space in which everyone would have the same grand space to remembered and mourned. Everyone is made equal in death and are made equal again within this space.

In the design there is a singular procession from the parking to the burial space. The public descends from the parking area onto the main site. The circulation then leads to a non-denominational chapel used for memorials, etc. From there visitors proceed from the chapel, outside into the memorial space. Within this area a surrounding columbarium wall creates a small barrier around a green space and life garden. In the center of the garden is a marble mausoleum, the memory to all those buried in the space. People can walk past small channels of water into the garden, trim flowers, and then place them at their loved ones space. The high walls and white noise created by the sound of the running water separates the visitors from the context of the city. Visitors can sit and mourn without the noise and context of the city creating distractions.