Henning Larsen

Communal Crematorium

Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg

COMMUNAL CREMATORIUM

Henning Larsen

CONSULTING ENGINEER
Damgaard Consulting Engineers

MANUFACTURERS
Sellex, Dfw Europe

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Birgitte Fink

CONSTRUCTION
Elindco

PHOTOGRAPHER
Anders Sune Berg

AREA
2700m ²

YEAR
2013

LOCATION
Ringsted, Denmark

CATEGORY
Crematorium

Text description provided by architect.

The coffin is first carried from the hearse to a quiet and peaceful room for last goodbyes.

Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg
Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg

From this quiet room, friends and relatives of the deceased have the option to follow the coffin and observe the cremation through a window into the furnace room.

The 12-meter-tall furnace room is flooded with daylight; brick walls and granite floors are lit throughout the day by windows placed high on the East and West gables, which face the woods. The crematorium is designed with consideration for the people who work there.

Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg
Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg

The new furnace room creates good indoor climate and working conditions while also offering a worthy atmosphere for the relatives of the deceased.

Users of the space are able to enjoy the light as it changes throughout the day and the year. The warm light reflects on the walls and flows in along an undulating ceiling.

Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg
Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg

From the outside the building volume is long and low, with the tall furnace room in the middle of the complex.

The furnace room is inscribed into the base, bringing building to an approachable and human scale. Situated on a 50.000 square meter site, the crematorium is adjacent to the park-like grounds of an historic Danish estate, Kærup Gods.

The Ringsted Crematorium is built to meet new standards for flue gas purification and replaces eight former crematoria in the region.

Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg
Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg
Communal Crematorium
© Anders Sune Berg

The design places an emphasis on flexibility, both with regards to function and to non-religious spaces, in order to sensitively accommodate all types of memorial gatherings.

In the future, the surrounding site will function as a cemetery, and relatives will be able to pick up the urn from the crematorium and bury it at the cemetery.


Communal Crematorium
Elevation


Communal Crematorium
Elevation
Communal Crematorium
Section

Henning Larsen
T +45 8233 3000
Henning Larsen
Vesterbrogade 76, 1620 København, Denmark