‘More trouble than Coventry Cathedral’: The Architectural Identity of Mortonhall Crematorium, Edinburgh 1961-67.

In 1962 architect Sir Basil Spence wrote to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh that the Mortonhall Crematorium ‘job is giving me more trouble than Coventry Cathedral’. The postwar period in Scotland witnessed Modernist architecture becoming inextricably linked with ambitious utopian visions representing a new social order based on equality and improvement, whether for the living or the dead. Glasgow and the West had set the bar high in terms of progressive crematorium building during the 1960s – its record was remarkable – Scotland’s first crematorium, Maryhill opened in 1895 and Daldowie, Craigton and The Linn all completed by 1962. Edinburgh might have been hard pressed to match this achievement had it not responded by commissioning the internationally renowned Sir Basil Spence. The result was one of the finest crematorium designs in Europe. The story of Mortonhall, illustrates very eloquently, the arguments and compromises over costs that architects often had to face to produce civic buildings of quality that identified the visions and values of an urban society and culture. This paper chronicles the architect’s quest to create not only ‘a dignified and austere crematorium for the city of Edinburgh’ but also to ‘get the best crematorium in Britain’

In Defiance of a Stylistic Stereotype: British Crematoria, Architecture, Design and Landscape

This paper presented a new critical reading of the crematorium, rendered ‘invisible’ by the taboo surrounding death and provided the first opportunity to disseminate this research to an international audience. It focussed on the ways in which architects responded to the challenges of modern secularism and relativism. The paper developed issues identified by the research for Death Redesigned (Grainger 2007), in particular it explored the social, political, economic determinants that hindered the development of an identifiable architectural canon and investigated the reasons why the architectural pluralism that followed attracted so much early criticism from architects, architectural commentators, clergy and members of the public alike. It discussed the challenges that this building type presented arising from a lack of a common understanding of what is required by a building at once functional and symbolic, secular and religious. The crematorium has to provide a stage for the ritual of all denominations and none. For many people cremation is a religious act. For those individuals, the principle determining the arrangement of a building used in any religious service needs to be the physical expression of a religious rite, whether this be for example Christian or Hindu. The building must therefore embody its ritualistic purpose in a coherent and recognisable architectural form. For those who do not belong to the dominant religious groups, their spiritual and emotional needs must also be provided for in a meaningful way. But, a crematorium as a religious space, deriving directly from liturgical imperatives – the accepted norm in ecclesiastical architecture – is problematic because there is no liturgy for cremation in Europe – no agreed order of service. The result has been the lack of a conceptual basis for these buildings, and this paper examined the variety of stylistic options that architects adopted in order to address the dilemma

Invisible Landmarks: The Architecture of Crematoria in the North East

Given that seven out of deaths in the UK today result in cremation, it begs the question as to why, until recently, crematoria have been almost entirely absent from architectural histories. Although in many ways the ‘invisible’ buildings of the twentieth century, crematoria nevertheless tell us a great deal about the complex and changing attitudes to death and disposal. There are currently 274 in operation in the UK, the first opening in Woking, Surrey in 1889, but the majority dating from between 1950 and 1970. As cremation slowly gained acceptance in Britain, this progress was reflected in its architectural expression and each crematorium can therefore be seen as a symbol of social change. Furthermore, crematoria and their surrounding Gardens of Rest and Remembrance were intended to created a new landscape for mourning. The crematorium presents a series of challenges to the architect. It is a building frequented by a large cross-section of religious, secular and ideological movements, all with different, but overlapping needs. From the outset the lack of a shared and clear expectation of what is required from a crematorium has given rise to the cultural ambivalence lying at the heart of many designs. Not surprisingly, architectural responses have often been ambiguous and evasive. At once utilitarian and symbolic, religious and secular, crematoria are fraught with complexity. Forty years ago the crematorium was a place for cremation and a brief committal ceremony. Now the ritual, the function and the remembrance all centre on the crematorium and setting. This paper will explore the reasons why crematoria remain ‘invisible’ landmarks, despite their growing significance in today’s society. It will draw its examples principally from the North East

Green is the New Black’: Sustainability in Contemporary UK Crematorium Design.

Environmental issues have been at the forefront of crematorium design in the UK since the passing of the 1990 Environmental Protection Act. In 2005 Defra introduced a further requirement for the cremation industry to remove mercury from 50% of cremations, resulting in the need to accommodate costly filtration equipment in crematoria. This caused considerable problems for outdated buildings, particularly the many chapel conversions of the 1950s and 1960s, and presented significant financial and architectural challenges in the design of new crematoria. In 2006 the cremation industry responded imaginatively to emission compliance by creating CAMEO, the lead organization providing and managing a national burden sharing scheme, whereby emissions are negotiated between crematoria. For its part, the architectural profession responded with innovative and thoughtful design solutions in tune with current environmental thinking. This paper will explore contemporary crematorium design in the UK, with a particular emphasis on the work of Robert Potter & Partners, architects of award-winning Roucan Loch Crematorium, Dumfries and Galloway (2005) and South Lanarkshire Crematorium, Blantyre (2006). The partnership’s much acclaimed Oak Chapel Crematorium at Milton Keynes (2010-2011) privileges high standards of energy conservation by means of natural ventilation by wind towers on the roof, and heating generated from the cremators. The work of Stride Treglowan for the Westerleigh Group at Livingstone Crematorium (2010) and Melrose Crematorium in The Borders (2011), further illustrates the ways in which wider environmental aspects of crematorium design and landscapes have been addressed

Private Perspectives: The Architecture and Design of Scottish Crematoria 1975-2011

The building of Scotland’s 27 operational crematoria fell into three distinct phases, the first being the pioneering work of the private sector between 1895 and 1939. In keeping with the governing agenda of Improvement, which promoted the harnessing of ‘material betterment to secular utopian ideals’, the post war period witnessed local authorities assuming responsibility for crematoria. An interregnum in building followed in the 1970s with the cessation of large-scale reconstruction programmes in Scotland. This was mirrored by a halt in the building of crematoria. By the late 1980s changes were afoot as global capitalization began to encourage a move away from the morality of social building types. The professional context for architects widened accordingly as new opportunities arose - exemplified by the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988 and the city being declared the European City of Culture in 1990. In many respects crematorium buildings and the pattern of their patronage represent, in microcosm, the wider social and architectural developments taking place in Scotland. In concentrating on the final phase of crematorium building between 1975 and 2011 including the role played by individual companies such as The Westerleigh Group, this paper seeks to explore the implications for design that has resulted from the substantial shift from public to private cremation provision in Scotland

Designs on Death: The Architecture of Scottish Crematoria 1895 -1955

This period was pivotal for modern Scottish death culture. Within art and literature death was a familiar companion. This interdisciplinary collection draws from the fields of art, literature, social history, religion, demography, legal history and architectural and landscape history

Death Redesigned: British Crematoria, History, Architecture and Landscape

This book, the first full-length study of the subject, represents the culmination of eight years research and provides the first critical reading of this significant modern building type, hitherto neglected by architectural historians. With Forewords by leading British cremation historian Dr Peter C Jupp and international architectural historian Alan Crawford, the book examines the special historical, social and cultural conditions that surrounded the design of Britain’s 251 crematoria. It focuses on the ways in which architects and designers of crematoria have responded to the challenges of modern secularism and relativism. Although cremation did not claim widespread support until the second half of the twentieth century, it called for a new building type and a new landscape for mourning and a collective sense of loss. The book argues that the absence of a shared understanding of what is required by a crematorium has led to ambiguity and evasion in its architecture. Crematoria nevertheless have the marks of modernity upon them and can be seen to reflect the evolving values and social life of a changing urban society. As cremation slowly gained acceptance, this process was reflected in its architectural expression and each crematorium can be seen as a symbol of social change. Increasing secularisation of society raises the role of the crematorium to that of a highly significant public building; architects and designers are responsible for an environment where the ritual, function and remembrance are centred on the crematorium and its setting. The gazetteer provides comprehensive information about individual buildings

Maxwell Fry and the 'anatomy of mourning': Coychurch Crematorium, Bridgend, Glamorgan, South Wales

Publisher's text about the book that this chapter is included in: Death is at once a universal and everyday, but also an extraordinary experience in the lives of those affected. Death and bereavement are thereby intensified at (and frequently contained within) certain sites and regulated spaces, such as the hospital, the cemetery and the mortuary. However, death also affects and unfolds in many other spaces: the home, public spaces and places of worship, sites of accident, tragedy and violence. Such spaces, or Deathscapes, are intensely private and personal places, while often simultaneously being shared, collective, sites of experience and remembrance; each place mediated through the intersections of emotion, body, belief, culture, society and the state. Bringing together geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, cultural studies academics and historians among others, this book focuses on the relationships between space/place and death/ bereavement in 'western' societies. Addressing three broad themes: the place of death; the place of final disposition; and spaces of remembrance and representation, the chapters reflect a variety of scales ranging from the mapping of bereavement on the individual or in private domestic space, through to sites of accident, battle, burial, cremation and remembrance in public space. The book also examines social and cultural changes in death and bereavement practices, including personalisation and secularisation. Other social trends are addressed by chapters on green and garden burial, negotiating emotion in public/ private space, remembrance of violence and disaster, and virtual space. A meshing of material and 'more-than-representational' approaches consider the nature, culture, economy and politics of Deathscapes - what are in effect some of the most significant places in human society