The Well of Memories
Name : Maria Georgiou
Nationality : Greek
Institution : École Nationale Supérieure d’ Architecture de Lyon (ENSAL)
THE WELL OF MEMORIES
What if water allowed souls to travel?
#water #journeyofthesouls #endlessramp #riveracheronmyth #wellofmemories
Confluence is the area where Rhône and Saône rivers meet, granting the place a mythical aspect. Inspired from the myth of river “Acheron” in Ancient Greece, I imagined the running water as the element that carries peoples’ souls to the Otherworld. Therefore, I visualized an introverted Cemetery that penetrates the earth, to find flowing water, and introduces a ritual, symbolising the journey of the souls.
The descent begins from an urban space, where short walls draw visitors deep into a protected area, while a glass floor reveals the underlying construction. A ramp guides you inside, creating complexity and multiple ways of observation, through its various typologies. More reserved spaces, tucked away from the atrium, hold the tombstones and the ashes of the dead, held in plastic spheres. In the last level, the grieving, access the central and most mystical space, the Well of Memories, a small lake, supplied with the rivers’ water. There, they can finally deposit the spheres and allow them to circulate together in the water.
Ultimately, this project underlines the symbolic nature of water as the element that allows human souls to travel, but at the same time as a soothing factor for the human grief.