Programmatic Overlays: A Park/Cemetery in Jersey City, NJ

The development of sensory invitation and discovery will be the guiding premise infused within the architectural construct. Allowing one to recognize and identify with their emotions by establishing a heightened sense of ‘place’ and ‘time’ are steps towards realizing ones’ essence. Creating spaces that foster this awareness by using physical forms, textures, and colors that will aid in the manifestation of a building that engages, interacts and touches the soul. As cities expanded, cemeteries would typically be built alongside their development. Today space is limited for burial with the dense urban fabric of the 21st century. Thus, a proposal for a 21st interpretation of a final resting, one that infuses itself with a rich social landscape, is the primary component’s in the investigation of reclaiming essence. The existing site is an existing park known as Riverview Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. A large percentage of the site will remain open for public usage while working to achieve a level of homogeny with the cemetery’s programmatic elements, which include a small chapel, larger funerary commemoration space, and five burial chambers. The project manifests itself in such a way as to establish strong connections between past, present, and future. The program, itself, is a literal memorial to the lives of those who have pass but is infused with life in the form of visitation from the living. By giving the living spaces, both interior and exterior, to be alone with their thoughts a simultaneous fusion of the past mixed present and future will in a symbolic harmony occur within one’s self. These provoked thoughts, memories, and the conjured curiosity to discover are the catalysts of ‘place’ and propel the programmatic intent and function. In turn, the project demonstrates an enriched acceptance of a complete cycle of life, allowing the city of the dead to interact with that of the living