Sacral neutral
An exploration of the funeral spaces of tomorrow Robert Wallin
Master Thesis 2020
Umeå School of Architecture 10th semester
Master’s Programme in Architecture and Urban Design Studio 13
ABSTRACT
The thesis addresses the current need for new ceremony spaces for funerals. Non-confessional or civil funerals are increasing in Sweden, where projections indicate that one of four funerals in 2030 will be civil. This is believed to have its origin in that more and more Swedes have gained a more distant relationship to the institutional religion and its ceremonies. Instead, we can see today a movement towards more individualized and personalized ceremonies.
The funeral chapel, the most common ceremonial room for funerals, has been designed since the 1960s to be a neutral space, possible for non-confessional or civil funerals. It is important to clarify though, that the dominant ceremony in these rooms has always been the Christian funeral. Conse-quently, ceremonies that are outside the Swedish Church are based on tolerance to the dominant religion in these buildings. Sweden, however, is no longer a homogeneous country to the extent that the entire population confesses to the Lutheran faith. Instead we are today made up of a pop-ulation with a variety of faiths and views of life. Consequently, we can see a dissonance between the ceremonial spaces provided by the Swedish Church and the cultural diversity in Sweden today. Seen against this background, it is expected that there will be a future need of new ceremony buildings. Spaces accessible for everyone, which can respond to the varying forms of ceremonies, secular as well as religious.
Table of
Contents
Background Aim Research question Methodology DefinitionsSeparation through ceremony
The funeral chapel - a space for farewell The non-confessional space
Introduction
6 Sacral neutral
This thesis addresses the current need for new cer-emony spaces for funerals. Non-confessional or civil funerals are increasing in Sweden, where projections indicate that one of four funerals in 2030 will be civil1. This is believed to have its origin in that more and more Swedes have gained a more distant relationship to the institutional religion and its ceremonies. Instead, we can see today a movement towards more individualized and personalized ceremonies2.
Following the church’s separation from the state at the turn of the millennium, the responsibility for the burial activity in Sweden continued to be entrusted to the church. Accordingly, the Church would provide equiv-alent premises for the country’s funeral ceremonies, without religious symbols and denominations3. How-ever, the results of these reforms varied greatly, with the debate recently focusing on whether the spaces provided by the church, could be described as worthy of their purpose. In many cases, the ceremonies have been held in the parish hall of the church or in other facilities that were initially built for other purposes than funeral ceremonies.
The funeral chapels, which are the most common cer-emonial rooms, has been designed since the 1960s to be neutral a space, possible for non-confessional or civ-il funerals. This in the light of the Freedom of Religion Act from 1951 and the Burial Act a few years later4. In practice, this means that religious symbols should be possible to remove or cover, and that artistic decoration should not have clear religious motifs but be open to interpretation. However, it is important to clarify that the dominant ceremony in these rooms has always been the Christian funeral5. Thereby the design has been in the preserve of this ceremony, but with the condition
that the room could be turned into a neutral space, when necessary. Consequently, ceremonies that are outside the Swedish Church are based on tolerance to the dominant religion in these buildings.
Sweden, however, is no longer a homogeneous coun-try to the extent that the entire population confesses to the Lutheran faith. Instead we are today made up of a population with a variety of faiths and views of life. Con-sequently, we can see a dissonance between the cere-monial spaces provided by the Swedish Church and the cultural diversity in Sweden today.
Seen against this background, it is expected that there will be a future need of new ceremony buildings. Spac-es accSpac-essible for everyone, which can rSpac-espond to the varying forms of ceremonies, secular as well as reli-gious6.
1 Mångkulturella begravningsskick. Sveriges Begravningsbyråers För-bund 2014. 17.
2. Lerner, Thomas. Svenskarna är religiösa och sekulära på sam-ma gång. Dagens Nyheter. 2015-05-27. http://www.dn.se/insidan/ svenskarnaarreligiosaochsekularapasammagang/ (Accessed 2019-10-09)
3. Hertzell, Jacob. Det sekulära högtidsrummet. Rum för mening: om plats och ritual i det postmoderna samhället, Christina Engfors (red.), 112–121. Stockholm: Arkitekturmuseet, 2006: 115–116.
4. Petterson, Thorleif. Sekularisering i Svanberg, Ingvar & Westerlund, David (red.) Religion i Sverige. Stockholm: Dialogos, 2008: 34 5. Thurfjell, D, Det gudlösa folket: de postkristna svenskarna och reli-gionen. [Ny utg.]., Stockholm, Stockholm: Molin & Sorgenfrei, 2016: 24 6. Mångkulturella begravningsskick. Sveriges Begravningsbyråers Förbund 2014. 17.
7 Part 1 Introduction
AIM
RESEARCH QUESTION
This thesis aims to create a proposal for a non-confessional ceremonial building intended for funeral ceremonies in Umeå. Through a theoretical as well as practical exploration regarding our historical and current rela-tionship to the funeral ceremony and its spaces, architectural and design related principals will be developed that in turn will be applicable to the development of the non-confessional ceremonial space. Thus, this thesis will strive towards clarifying the nature of the next generation of ceremonial buildings for funerals. Furthermore, philosophical standpoints as well as strategies for fulfilling the future need for new ceremonial spaces will be discussed.
8 Sacral neutral
METHODOLOGY
The methodology of this thesis will be presented in three sections: Qualitative content analysis:
The study will be based on a qualitative content analysis of the articles, documents and literature I find relevant in relation to the purpose of the thesis. Central terms and keywords will determine how I search for litera-ture and internet-based information.
Case studies:
Performing case studies as well as site visits will be crucial for answering the research questions of the thesis. Through studying and analysing differ-ent sites and building, old and new; colour, composition, proportions, light, shape, acoustics, space, function, usage, what works and what is absent, differences and similarities, I aim to categorize and catalogue their archi-tectural qualities and functions. The purpose of this process is to formulate explicit design principles I can relate to when creating my design project. Design process:
The design process will have a strong character of theoretical grounding, where I will formulate architectural and design related principles based on the theoretical background of the project. These principles will influence most aspects of the proposal such as: site, features, spatiality, aesthetic and design expressions.
DEFINITIONS
There are several different denominations of buildings that occur in cemeteries and burial places. To distinguish which buildings had a ceremonial use, it has been im-portant to define these terms.
A building, often at a newly constructed cemetery, used for funeral ceremonies. The word has been in the Swed-ish language since 1884.
A facility for cremation (incineration) of the deceased. Previous term is cremation facility. The word has been in the Swedish language since 18837.
7 Sträng, Maria. Begravnings- och krematoriekapell i Lunds stift. Rapport 2018:39. Kristianstad: Regionmuseet Kristianstad / Landsantikvarien i Skåne, 2018
Chapel, which is part of a crematorium, intended for fu-neral ceremonies.
Church building in smaller scale, can be solitary, ex-panded or included as part of a larger building or facility. Worship services for many free-church communities are called chapels.
Building where the funeral ceremony takes place, usually in connection with the burial ground. The word has been in the Swedish language since 1890.
A building for storing the deceased until burial. May have technical equipment such as cold storage.
research
12 Sacral neutral
THE DEVELOPMENT OF
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Demand of uniformity- with some controlled exceptions. The state religion was maintained, and religious equality largely lived on. To-wards the end of the century, exceptions were created for certain groups which enabled settlements for foreign workers. The Enlight-enments ideals of religious freedom began to emerge in Sweden. Increased tolerance for religious diversity - slowly. The church con-tinued to be a part of the state, but the demand for unity in religion is challenged and forced to give way. The religious revivalist move-ment and the emerging free church, together with other popular movements, were key players in this process.
Freedom to (and from) religion is established by law. The disappear-ance of the requirement for unity in religion manifests even clearer when the liberal democracy Sweden takes shape during the 20th century. The 1951 Religious Freedom Act guarantees all Swedish cit-izens religious freedom. A diversity of churches and other faiths is established when Sweden goes from being an emigrant country to an immigrant country.
Separation between the Swedish Church and the state. Require-ments for belonging to the Lutheran Christianity has completely dis-appeared and the church’s relationship with the state is redefined. The Swedish Church shall now be a nation-wide free church that operates on equal terms with other religious communities. Church retains a particular peculiarity, e.g. as being the head of state’s reli-gion and responsible for the funeral activities in Sweden8.
8 Willander, Erika. Sveriges religiösa landskap – samhörighet, till-hörighet och mångfald under 2000-talet. SST:s skriftserie, nr 8: 38. Stockholm: Myndigheten för stöd till trossamfund (SST), 2019
14 Sacral neutral
Fundamental to the understanding of the ceremonial space for funerals is the understanding of the funeral as a ceremony. The space and the act of the ceremo-ny have been constantly changing over time, while the parting has been constant. Thus, this chapter is dedi-cated to investigating the development that the funeral ceremony has undergone in Sweden until today and why we see this movement towards more individual-ized and personal ceremonies.
The funeral ceremony in the 19th and 20th century The funerals of the 19th century most often took place in the cemetery before Sunday’s mass. The body of the deceased was usually kept in the home until the burial. Because of this, the procession with the coffin departed from the home of the deceased. More and more people joined the procession the closer it came to the church. Arriving at the cemetery gate, the gathering awaited
the bell ringing ahead of the high mass. Occasionally, more than one group of mourners had gathered. After-wards, the priest and the sexton joined the procession. The coffin, or coffins, were carried to the grave, or the graves, and lowered. The priest consecrated the dead to the final rest which was then followed by prayers and hymns9.
9 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked – begravningskapel-lets arkitektur och konstnärliga utsmyckning i 1900-ta-lets Sverige. Göteborg/Stockholm: Makadam förlag, 2005: 51–53.
The burial in the cemetery was then followed by the high mass. After the usual sermon, the priest then held a funeral sermon. The funeral sermon was based on Bible texts and consisted of reflections on death and resurrection, as well as a description on the life of the deceased10.
During the 19th century, the funeral became detached to the context of the high mass and instead became its own sermon. Soon the funeral was moved in from the cemetery. This change is first noticed in the cities but from 1870 also in the countryside. By the end of the 19th century, it was common for the funeral to take place ei-ther inside the church or in a funeral chapel. Possibly the change can be linked to the fact that the churches began to be equipped with modern heating; To begin with, it was also in the winter that the funeral took place indoors11.
The growth of cities at the end of the 19th century and sanitary problems resulted in the 1874 health act. The law now, prohibited cemeteries near urban areas and as a result, new cemeteries were built outside the cities. In the relocated cemeteries and many of the older cem-eteries, it now became common to build a funeral chap-el where the funeral service could take place. Many of the original drawings that remain from the turn of the 19th century, shows varied terminology of the funeral chapels, which gives indications that something new was in the offing. Many of these chapels were erected from the beginning of the 20th century and contained chapel rooms in the ground floor and a mortuary in the basement12.
As the funeral had been separated from the high mass and become an independent act at the beginning of the 20th century, it could be expanded into a social manifestation with its own rites such as speech, wreath laying and solo singing. Further development during
the first half of the 20th century was that the funeral, which had been characterized by being a community rite, would turn into a smaller, more closed ceremony. In the obituary it could be said that the funeral would take place “in silence”, with the meaning that the burial was for the nearest circle, and that the participants needed an invitation. The background to the funeral in silence is complex. For those who called for a smaller funeral, the expressed view that this form was more honest and sympathetic, unlike the lavish act of past funerals, which were traditionally open to the entire church parish. By the end of the 1950s, “funeral in silence” had become a general term for a smaller funeral. The explanation to why the smaller funeral ceremony is now the norm is due to the increased life expectancy, mobility and that the funeral has become a family affair13.
During the last three decades of the 20th century, the average attendance at funeral services was between 30-35 participants14. Thus, it can be stated that the fu-neral in the 20th century has continuous changed, from having been a community rite to becoming a private act for a smaller circle. The ceremony now takes place in-doors and has been given specific rooms through the funeral chapel and access to the church.
10 Ibid., 51–53
11 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 53–56. 12 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 56–60. 13 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 60–64.
14 Medelvärden antal gudstjänstbesökare i jordfästning per stift 1971 – 2003. Svenska kyrkan statistikdatabas. 2003
16 Sacral neutral Funeral ceremonies today
At the turn of the millennium, nine out of ten funerals still take place according to the order of the Swedish Church. The service has undergone a few changes during the 20th century. With the freedom of religion act of 1952, the non-confessional or civil funeral became a real alternative. In recent decades, churches and com-munities other than the Swedish Church and other re-ligions other than Christianity have come to play an in-creasingly important role in Swedish society. At the end of the century, more than 5% of all funerals took place according to other religious communities, 1.5% were so-called civil funerals, the rest were funeral services ac-cording to the order of the Swedish Church15.
Today however, we find ourselves in a situation vast-ly different from the one at the turn of the millennium. Since the Swedish church was separated from the state in 2000, the church has lost about a quarter of its mem-bers. This is believed to be due to that more and more Swedes have gained a more distant and estranged re-lationship to the institutional religion and its practice16. Many Swedes today describe themselves as agnostic or “religious in their own way”17. This can be clearly seen through the increased interest in civil funerals.
Unlike the Christian act, a civil funeral can take place anywhere, for example in a communal hall, but also in private spaces such as one’s own garden. However, it usually takes place in a funeral chapel. The various pro-posals for civil funerals have remained largely the same throughout the years. The order of music, poems and possible speeches is quite close to that of the church burial. Instead of a priest as in the Christian ceremony, it is customary for a celebrant to lead the ceremony. How-ever, a celebrant is not something that is necessary, and anyone can take on this role18.
Although most of the funerals today remain within the order of the church, the rapidly rising number of civil ceremonies cannot be ignored. Since the turn of the millennium, civil funerals have increased from 1.5% to to-day’s 13%. The forecasts indicate a continued increase, with every fourth funeral in 2030 estimated to be civil or non-confessional19. According to Ulf Lernéus, asso-ciate director of the Swedish Funeral Association, he describes the development as follows. “Partly it’s about people leaving the Church of Sweden, partly it’s about wanting our funeral to feel personal. We do not want to be guided by the church structure, but be able to choose freely, both in terms of place for the ceremony and how it is designed“20. Thus, we are today at a his-torical crossroads for funerals in Sweden, where we can see a movement towards more individual and personal ceremonies.
15 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 64–70. 16 Thurfjell, Det gudlösa folket: 29
17 Thurfjell, Det gudlösa folket: 25
18 Fonus. Borgerlig begravning. 2020. https://www.fonus. se/planera-begravning/ceremonier-enligt-olika-trosin-riktningar/borgerlig-begravning/(Accesed 2020-01-20) 19 Mångkulturella begravningsskick. Sveriges Be-gravningsbyråers Förbund 2014. 17.
17 Part 2 Research
Fig. 02 Member development The Swedish Church21
Fig. 03 Perentage of civil funerals in Sweden22
21 Svenska Kyrkan. 2018. Medlemsutveckling år 1972–2018.
https://www.svenskakyr-kan.se/filer/Medlemmar-Svenska-kyrkan-1972-2018.pdf (Accessed: 2019-10-08)
18 Sacral neutral
The following chapter are dedicated to understanding the funeral chapel as a concept and typology to clar-ify its qualities and functions. After which principals are, they designed and what architectural expressions can be described as constant as well as characteris-tic? What environments and contexts do we find them in and is it possible to establish universal factors and aspects that are applicable when designing the neutral ceremony room?
1900 - 1930
The first form of funeral chapel at the beginning of the century was a three-window shaft-long building consist-ing of a windscreen, a chapel body and a rear mortu-ary part for keeping of the body of the deceased. The latter function was often housed in the basement. The chapel room accommodated 50 - 100 participants and was equipped with an altar in the usually slightly raised
chancel and often also with an organ. Not seldom there was a fixed catafalque for the coffin. The obvious spa-tial dominance of the catafalque was further enhanced by furnishing around it, with the participants facing the coffin and each other23.
By its very nature, the early funeral chapel, in its design, can almost be characterized as a small church. In its function, however, it meant something entirely new; the funeral thus got its own dignified room. The uniformity, the clean and calm lines, were advocated.
23 Sträng, Maria. Begravnings- och krematoriekapell i Lunds stift: 12 – 14
The funeral chapel followed the changing design lan-guage of architecture. The type that eventually dis-tinguished itself exhibited the appearance of a small country or parish church. With its whitewashed walls on a natural stone socle, crowned by a saddle roof - occasionally also marked by hand-made bricks or shin-gle-covered building bodies - the funeral chapel gave a kind of authenticity to the newly constructed cemeter-ies, a link back in time24.
The chapel room was usually bright and sober, and the decoration was often sparse. In addition to the crucifix of the altar, there could be ornamental painting, some-times also an altarpiece, preferably with the resurrec-tion as motif.Through artistic decoraresurrec-tion, such as fres-coes and stained glass, the rooms could be shaped into a character of being suggestive yet also soft25.
1930 - 1950
From the 1930s, the funeral chapel turned into an in-creasingly large facility. This was especially true for chapels with crematoriums that were given a number of specific rooms for handling the ashes, the coffin re-ception and the collection of the urn. Here it became common with two chapels: a larger one with room for up to 200 participants and a smaller one for about 50. Waiting rooms or waiting halls were another new fea-ture. The usual funeral chapel was also slightly larger than before26.
The shift around 1940 is characteristic, from the light and smooth, more or less cubic building bodies to compara-tively robust volumes in brick or rough finish, sometimes with hip roofs. The change illustrates the contemporary preference for shapes of a more organic character and materials with warm texture27.
As in previous decades, the funeral chapels were de-signed with aisle, catafalque and chancel. The
crema-torium chapel’s larger chapel could have features of an assembly hall, with the closest relatives placed around the coffin and other participants on either side of the aisle. The spatial concentration on the coffin could be further enhanced by the location of the organ and by the absence of raised chancels28.
The size of the chapel was discussed regularly during these years. Based on the development of smaller cer-emonies, in some cases the chapels were too large, even desolate. The arrangement of two chapels was an adaptation for funerals with different participation29. The artistic decoration was much richer than in the pre-vious period. The fresco now became the dominant medium. Resurrection motifs were still common but were given a broader meaning. It was portrayed within the current context and the people in it were dressed in modern clothing. Ultimately, it was about how church art could become something that was relevant to the mod-ern person. Symbolism and motives derived from agri-culture and nature became characteristic for the sacral art of this period. The art could thus be perceived as a motif of resurrection through the composition between the changes of the seasons and life itself, while at the same time it could be interpreted in a general non-reli-gious way30.
24 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 97–100. 25 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 335 - 338.
26 Sträng, Maria. Begravnings- och krematoriekapell i Lunds stift: 18 – 20.
27 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 339.
28 Sträng, Maria. Begravnings- och krematoriekapell i Lunds stift: 19.
29 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 339 – 340. 30 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 312 – 314.
20 Sacral neutral 1950 - 1970
After many years of building regulations due to the labor and material situation during and after the war, the con-struction of churches, chapels and crematoriums during the 1950s entered an intensive phase. During this time, the sacral architecture came to establish itself as a pres-tige building.The era was marked by a remarkable di-versity and freedom to search for a new sacral architec-ture. A characteristic building type became the complex where the chapel building was almost triangular, and the practical functions were housed in a lower protrud-ing wprotrud-ing. The buildprotrud-ing type with a steeply slopprotrud-ing roof silhouette can be seen as an abstraction and stylization of a historical form, a modernized parish church. The chapel was designed with aisle and elevated chancel. With this type of building, the road to simplification and reduction continued. Peter Celsing and Sigurd Lewer-entz were seen as innovators with their church architec-ture in enclosed and elemental shapes31.
This tendency towards streamlining and geometrically clean volumes was also noticeable in the design of the funeral chapel. This architecture played with the intro-vert as a concept and not infrequently all sides had a similar expression that could make orientation difficult. During this period, a more rational approach to sacral architecture prevailed, where the active architects abandoned the “unnecessary” theatrical elements of church architecture32.
The tendency towards a somewhat smaller chapel was clear, which should be seen as an adaptation to the general decrease in the number of people attending the funerals. In cases where the crematorium had two chapels, the smaller chapel, usually for some 30 partici-pants, was often more intimately designed with the
participants facing the coffin. In the larger chapel, the participants’ seats were instead usually placed on ei-ther side of the aisle33.
Artistic embellishment also followed the path of reduc-tion. The chapel usually had sparse decorations crafted with carefully processed materials. A formulation typical for this time period was that there should be a balance between architecture, space and decoration. In line with the increasingly integrated and rational decora-tions in the chapels, the character of the rooms often became serious, even remarkably strict or cold. In the years that followed, however, the possibility of an open interpretation of the symbolism in the room would be-come something of a requirement, due to the increase of civil funerals34.
1970 - 2000
The notion that Sweden was completed at the end of the 1900s is also valid for the funeral chapel. The few larger and more complex facilities that were now erect-ed were built in places where new cemeteries were needed. For the period as a whole, the architectural effect was the same whether the funeral chapel had a technical facility for cremation or not. The funeral cha-pels that are from the earlier part of the period usually have simple and closed building bodies.
The different parts, the ceremonial and the technical, often have the same architectural effect and the mate-rial asceticism is striking. The buildings from the 1980s to the 1990s, on the other hand, exhibit the landmark architecture. The chapels are often striking. Sometimes the chapels may have an exciting roof silhouette, ac-cented by a tower or window sections35.
However, the most common building task during these years consisted of completion and remodeling. The addition could mean that a much smaller chapel was erected adjacent to the existing facility with its often the oversized chapel. The smaller chapel usually had space for some 30 participants. The new building body was often discreetly designed and subordinated to the old-er building36.
The importance of the funeral chapel being neutral and possible to use for all groups in Swedish society and for all types of ceremonies, was increasingly empha-sized during the end of the 20th century. In the artistic expression one can sense a desire to design a space that is “open” to everyone. It is visible that the chapel design manifests the play between closed-mindedness and openness. Because the seats are slightly angled, an enclosing effect arises around the coffin, but the
par-ticipants are not directed at each other. They sit in sol-itude, but together. The walls can be high and closed, but there is often a stripe of windows under the ceiling at the top of the space and thus an opening. There are also often windows at the location of the altar deco-ration. Through the window, nature with the changes of the seasons provides an ever-changing motif. This provides the constant presence of a changing larger whole37.
Nature overlooking the sea or open landscapes, is also the dominant motif in fixed decorations, with the tex-tile being the dominant medium; through its material it gives the chapel a warm character. The neutral design of the chapel is now obvious. Religious symbols such as the Crucifix can easily be removed. Thus, it is pos-sible to see an architecture that now relates more to the practical aspects of the space, enabling the funeral ceremonies of a more heterogeneous population38.
35 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 342. 36 Ibid., 342.
37 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 343. 38 Ibid., 343.
22 Sacral neutral 1910 1940 1970 1920 1950 1980 1930 1960 1990
24 Sacral neutral 1910 1940 1970 1920 1950 1980 1930 1960 1990
In the previous chapter we have been able to study the architecture that has been most strongly conditioned by the funeral in Sweden. The sacral architecture in Swe-den regarding the funeral chapel has undergone signif-icant changes during its more than 100 years. As a new concept and typology at the turn of the century, it can almost be described as an architectural experiment. At the same time, these buildings clearly reflect Sweden’s development during the 20th century until today. The state of the Swedes’ spiritual life and development. From a homogeneous country to a country characterized by cultural diversity.
The question, however, is how these rooms can gener-ate an insight into how we shape the next generation of ceremony buildings. What principles and architectural expressions can we use and apply when designing the neutral ceremony space? What is in line with meeting the need for more individualized and personal ceremonies?
Design principles to consider
The inspiration and references that can be gathered from the chapel are extensive, but first and foremost, the studies of these buildings offer an insight into the dilem-mas faced by architects of the past. Above all, it is about the practical aspects in relation to the funeral ceremony. For example, it can be stated that the size of the ceremo-ny rooms has been a constant subject of dilemma and debate. In the 50s and 60s, this was solved by offering two chapels in one complex, one larger and one smaller. But over time, the size of the chapels has varied enor-mously. Thus, it is possible to conclude that the archi-tects’ attempts to meet the prevailing needs of ceremo-nial rooms with a static architecture have resulted in their practical functions quickly becoming obsolete in relation to the rapidly changing religious landscape39.
THE NON-CONFESSIONAL SPACE
The possibility of being able to screen and transform the room for smaller and larger contexts is therefore something one may want to consider when shaping the ceremony room of tomorrow. Today, the average num-ber of participants at a funeral is 25 people, but at the same time there are many growing minorities in Swe-den today who prefer larger ceremonies40.
One further aspect that provide insight into the neutral ceremony room is how the chapel has changed from being highly conditioned by the Christian ceremony to being open to all. Above all, this is visible through the change of art and decoration. From traditional resurrec-tion motifs to art that is open to a freer interpretaresurrec-tion. From fixed religious symbols to symbols that are easily removable. The previously static interior, which often consisted of heavy benches, has been replaced with chairs that can easily be rearranged as needed. In par-ticular, this development occurred during the last two decades of the 20th century, when very few chapels were built, which we see the consequences of today41. Through these changes in design and artistry, nature however, has been something of an artistic constant. Greenery and nature’s mark on the sacral architecture is probably the foremost example of universal idolization of beauty. In particular, we can see the framing by nature as an artistic expression during the last era of chapel construction, during the 80s and 90s. The closed look and feel which had previously characterized the chapel, was now instead given the ever-changing motif of the seasons. This inarguably was a suitable motif in relation to finding artistic expressions that could communicate spirituality or solemnity without any religious elements. A motive that could possibly provide the comfort of a larger whole and context for the non-believer as well as for the believer42.
A neutral building?
Finally, the question regarding how to combine all prin-ciples and design approaches into a coherent formu-la remains. By studying the funeral chapel, we have learned that the rooms should be malleable and pos-sible to screen in order to suite both smaller and larg-er contexts. Art and embellishment should be open to interpretation and not characterized by clear religious motives. Religious symbols must not be fixed but should be easily removable. The interior should be flexible and rearrangeable to suit the needs of each individual fu-neral. Nature as a scenery is a significant means of in-viting contemplation, calm and comfort. Thus, we find factors that generate a framework as well as starting points how to design the confession-free ceremony room of tomorrow43.
39 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 341 - 342. 40 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 341 - 343. 41 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 342 - 343. 42 Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked: 343.
43 Hertzell, Jacob. Det sekulära högtidsrummet. Rum för mening: om plats och ritual i det postmoderna samhäl-let, Christina Engfors (red.), 112–121. Stockholm: Arkitek-turmuseet, 2006, 115–121.
The general aesthetics that these buildings should re-late to, however, remain complex. For example, which materials are relevant and which ceiling height best invites the purpose of the neutral room? Should one do as the architects did in the construction of the first chapel and seek inspiration from the already existing sacral architecture? One aspect that can create further complexity in this regard is that the architecture that has been referenced has worked in a Scandinavian and Western building tradition. Sweden is today a mul-ticultural society with several religions and beliefs. For example, 350,000 Swedes have a Muslim background, with their own ceremonial traditions, different from the Christian faith. How do we characterize the rooms to be inclusive even for these groups without being marked by too strong sacral building tradition, in the elements that are translated into the neutral space?
What design principles can we then use? Earlier in the thesis we were able to clarify the importance of these ceremony rooms, should be able to provide a substan-tial scope for the user being able to freely influence the design of their own ceremony. But how do we meet the varying needs44?
An approach may be to consider the building as pas-sively inclusive. With passive, meaning that it opens for diversity and represents an alternative rather than try-ing to meet everyone’s individual needs and requests. The risk otherwise is that the ceremonial rooms, are dismissed as too just too general and bland. The cere-monial language should still relate to a solemn tradition. Here, the design work needs to have a high level of de-tail to just get past the everyday language that we are accustomed to. Ultimately, it is important that the room in its basic form give a solemn expression for those who do not have a clear idea for the ceremony45.
44 DeMarinis, Valerie. Postmodern ritualisering och ge-staltning av symboliska och trygga platser. Rum för mening: om plats och ritual i det postmoderna samhäl-let, Christina Engfors (red.), 23–39. Stockholm: Arkitek-turmuseet, 2006, 38.
45 Hertzell, Jacob. Det sekulära högtidsrummet, 2006: 117–118.
In conclusion, it can be said that Sweden is at a histor-ical crossroads regarding traditional religion where the Swedes are increasingly seeking a more personal and individualistic spirituality. The traditional approach that the church is synonymous with national and cultural identity no longer seems to be the case. Instead, many Swedes find the traditional stories of our meaning as distant and likewise the intuitions that protect theme. The same applies to the ceremonial life of the Swedes, where this crossroads is expressed through ambitions for more personal and individual ceremonies. Our pre-vailing and future need for new spaces for personal spirituality and ceremony is thus evident.
However, the Swedish Church have still great influence over our ceremonial spaces, and as earlier discussed, the main part of them is dedicated and intended for the Christian faith. Sweden, however, is no longer a homo-geneous country to the extent that the entire population confesses to the Lutheran faith. Instead we are today made up of a population with a variety of views of life. Thus, I believe that these confession-free ceremony buildings play a far greater role than simply meeting our ceremonial and spiritual needs, but a requirement if we want to secure religious freedom equal conditions for religious and non-religious.
With a reduced number of members in the Church of Sweden and ultimately a declining economy through lost membership income, it does not seem likely that the church will be able to meet the imminent need for new ceremony buildings. Much indicates instead that the re-sponsibility for constructing the next generation of cere-mony buildings will pass to Sweden’s municipalities.
The last time we had a great era of sacred building in Sweden was during the 1960s, much indicates now that the next great era of spiritual and ceremonial architec-ture will be the 2020s. In this thesis, I have tried to in-vestigate how this architecture will manifest. By studying the architecture related to the funeral chapel, several aspects have been discovered that provide insight into how we will shape our ceremony rooms in the future. foremost, it is about principles that counteract the static principles that is characteristic of Christian sacred archi-tecture, in favour of spaces that stimulate increased flex-ibility. The spaces possibilities to be shaped based on its specific context and needs appear to be an answer for the future.
The questions regarding how the rooms manifests its artistic expression through materiality, decoration and craftsmanship remain, very complex. Thus, no clear for-mula for this could be clarified, but instead the question seems to be more associated with the possibilities that exist based on situation and context. The questions of-fer something for further research as the area is con-stantly changing, not least in relation to my own study of sacral architecture development.
The importance of the aesthetic and design aspects in creating good ceremony buildings cannot be called into question. However, the question of designing the cer-emony building of tomorrow may be even more about practical considerations in regard to people’s individual needs for the ceremony rather than architectural reali-zation through aesthetic expression.
CONCLUSION
ARTICLES
Lerner, Thomas. Svenskarna är religiösa och sekulära på samma gång. Dagens Nyheter. 2015-05-27. http:// www.dn.se/insidan/svenskarnaarreligiosaochsekulara-pasammagang/ (Accessed 2019-10-09)
Sandqvist, Anna. 2013. Fler vill begravas utan Gud. Tid-ningen Årsta/Enskede. 22 mars. http://www.stockholm-direkt.se/nyheter/fler-vill-begravas-utangud/ Ldem-cv!a4uEf2FlcsDL53V9hFyQA/ (Accessed 2020-01-20) BOOKS
DeMarinis, Valerie. Postmodern ritualisering och gestaltning av symboliska och trygga platser. Rum för mening: om plats och ritual i det postmoderna samhäl-let, Christina Engfors (red.), 23-39. Stockholm: Arkitek-turmuseet, 2006.
Hertzell, Jacob. Det sekulära högtidsrummet. Rum för mening: om plats och ritual i det postmoderna samhäl-let, Christina Engfors (red.), 112-121. Stockholm: Arkitek-turmuseet, 2006.
Karlsmo, Emilie. Rum för avsked – begravningskapel-lets arkitektur och konstnärliga utsmyckning i 1900-ta-lets Sverige. Göteborg/Stockholm: Makadam förlag, 2005
Noréus, A, & I Rune, Ceremonier i livet : barnvälkom-nande, vigsel, begravning, vuxenblivande. Stockholm : Santérus, 2016: 119-133
Petterson, Thorleif. Sekularisering i Svanberg, Ingvar & Westerlund, David (red.) Religion i Sverige. Stockholm: Dialogos, 2008: 34
Thurfjell, D, Det gudlösa folket: de postkristna svenskarna och religionen. [Ny utg.]., Stockholm, Stockholm: Molin & Sorgenfrei, 2016:
REPORTS
Borgerlig begravning. Sveriges Begravningsbyråers Förbund 2018.
Mångkulturella begravningsskick. Sveriges Be-gravningsbyråers Förbund 2015.
Sträng, Maria. Begravnings- och krematoriekapell i Lunds stift. Rapport 2018:39. Kristianstad: Regionmu-seet Kristianstad / Landsantikvarien i Skåne, 2018 Svenska Kyrkan. 2018. Medlemsutveckling år 1972– 2018. https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/filer/Medlem-mar-Svenska-kyrkan-1972-2018.pdf (Accessed: 2019-10-08)
Willander, Erika. Sveriges religiösa landskap – sam-hörighet, tillhörighet och mångfald under 2000-talet. SST:s skriftserie, nr 8: 38. Stockholm: Myndigheten för stöd till trossamfund (SST), 2019
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30 Sacral neutral INTERNET
Fonus. Borgerlig begravning. 2020. https://www.fonus. se/planera-begravning/ceremonier-enligt-olika-trosin-riktningar/borgerlig-begravning/(Accesed 2020-01-20) Svenska Kyrkan. 2015. Döpta, konfirmerade, vigda och begravda enligt Svenska kyrkans ordning 1970–2015. https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/statistik (Accessed: 2019-10-20)
Svenska Kyrkan. 2018. Medlemsutveckling år 1972– 2018. https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/filer/Medlem-mar-Svenska-kyrkan-1972-2018.pdf (Accessed: 2019-10-08)
Svenska Kyrkan. 2018. In och utträden 1972–2018. https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/filer/In och utträden 1972-2018.pdf (Accessed: 2019-10-08)
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