2024
Taiwan Chinpaosan Necropolis welcomes all religions on a magnificent ocean-view site. The new arrival hall will contain a hotel, restaurant, chapel, auditorium and two small museums; the new pavilion will house 150,000 additional ashbox sites; and the new amphitheater will have seating for 5,000.
Architect Steven Holl took the I Ching as inspiration, wherein the earth is represented as a square and the heavens as circles. Intersecting spheres are embedded in a rectangular plan topped by a sheet of water, which brings the ocean into the composition while covering the photovoltaic cells that will provide 60% of the electricity for the buildings.
The lighting is inspired by a quote from Rumi: “This is how I would die into the love I have for you; as pieces of cloud dissolve in sunlight.” Light is bent, dispersed, reflected and amplified; we will see the light go through a process of heavenly transformation.
L’Observatoire International scope includes exterior lighting, lobbies and urn storage areas.
