WEALDEN CREMATORIUM

A new crematorium designed by Clague Architects in the Wealden District near to the village of Horam

Wealden District Council commissioned Clague to design a new crematorium near to the village of Horam.

The brief was to provide a single chapel for 120 seated mourners, a waiting area, a book of remembrance, staff office and crematory spaces, service areas and car parking.

In the conceptual design it was apparent that albeit a sensitive and emotional subject, the design was going to be driven by processes, movement and experience.

The site is designed that one funeral cortege doesn’t cross the path of another. The only time they may meet is at the entrance and exit junction to the main road. In arriving in the carpark there are clear routes that radiate from the port cochere where the mourners waiting room which sits beneath as a stand-alone pavilion.

A new crematorium designed by Clague Architects in the Wealden District near to the village of Horam

The entrance to the chapel is a top lit drum with the doors cranked to allow easy access for the pallbearers from the rear of the hearse.

As you enter the chapel the ceiling is raised and slopes towards the catafalque and provides a natural focus on the reason you are in the chapel.

Not all mourners are at ease with looking at the coffin of someone they have lost, so the design incorporates a view into a rock garden on one side and a view out over the adjacent countryside on the other which incorporates an area of still water (reflection pond) against the chapel edge.

After the service is complete the mourners leave via a door at the opposite end of the chapel to access the flower court, gardens of remembrance and to the hearse which have relocated from under the port cochere. A path takes a circular route back to the main carpark for other mourners to re-join their cars. The book of remembrance is also accessed via the main carpark and projects through the port cochere identifying itself along the main radial path with a splayed glass lantern over.

New formal and informal landscaped gardens and woodlands formed part of the extensive transformation of the site to create a setting that the building settles into.

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Gravesend Grammar School

The Goods Shed

WEALDEN CREMATORIUM

WEALDEN CREMATORIUM

WEALDEN CREMATORIUM

Wealden District Council commissioned Clague to design a new crematorium near to the village of Horam.

The entrance to the chapel is a top lit drum with the doors cranked to allow easy access for the pallbearers from the rear of the hearse.

Clague Canterbury

Clague Harpenden

CLAGUE CANTERBURY

CLAGUE HARPENDEN