Abstract
We present the design research for the adaptive reuse of the St. Odulphus church as a columbarium in the village of Booienhoven (BE). Surrounded by agriculture, the site is listed as a historic rural landscape. The small neoclassical church is no longer in use for traditional Catholic services and is abandoned. Positioned on an isolated “island”, it has the appropriate setting to become a place to remember and part from the dead. Instigated by the municipality, and taking into account the growing demand for cremation, we present topological research on three different liturgical and spatial levels: 1/the use of the church interior as a columbarium and for (funeral) celebration, 2/the transformation of the “island”, stressing the idea of “passage” and 3/the layering of the open landscape reactivating the well-spring and its spiritual origins. Based on the reform of the funeral rite after Vatican II, we propose a layered liturgy that can better suit the wide variety of funeral services in Flanders today, while at the same time respecting its Catholic roots. Rather than considering the reuse of the church a spiritual loss, we believe that it can offer the opportunity to reinforce and open up the traditional, symbolic and ritual meaning of the Christian liturgy to the larger community. As such, this case is an excellent example of how, in exploring new architectural and liturgical questions, religious sites can be transformed into contemporary places for spirituality.
Highlights
We will describe the recent changes of funeral rites in relation to the adaptive reuse project of the St
In the light of the need for new rituals concerning death and mourning, we take the opportunity to rethink and expand the Christian liturgy of burial to include a wide variety of funeral services
In 2013, the Belgian bishops added a statement in which they ended the practices of church ministers being mandated to preside the funeral rite in the crematoria, distancing themselves as such from an eclectic character of many funeral rituals, and refocusing on the church building as the sacred space for liturgy
Summary
We will describe the recent changes of funeral rites in relation to the adaptive reuse project of the St. Odulphus church in Booienhoven (Zoutleeuw), Flanders (see Figures 1 and 2). As a recently accepted practice (1963) in the Roman Catholic Church, it raises questions on the spiritual function and meaning of a Christian funeral service in contemporary. Using the exercise to central urn cemetery in Zoutleeuw as an example, we consider. Using the exercise to design a central urn cemetery in Zoutleeuw as an example, we consider the new sacred spaces and rituals that still connect to Christian tradition. We ask ourselves: what form can creation of of new new sacred sacred spaces spaces and and rituals rituals that that still still connect connect to to Christian tradition.
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