Seattle-based architect Katrina Spade’s Urban Death Project aims to provide people with another option after death other than being buried or cremated. Her Urban Death Project plans to open a recomposition center in Seattle by 2023, which she hopes will be a spiritual place where families can have an alternative way in which to lay their loved ones to rest.
The architect describes the space as a funeral home, memorial, and public park combined. Designed in collaboration with soil scientists, the three story structure is filled with wood chips and topped with a room. “During memorial services, mourners carry the shrouded body up a ramp that winds around the core to this room.” says a Wired article. “Here, the family members lower the body onto a bed of wood chips inside an open door in the floor.”
It will take about four to six weeks for the body to decompose down the levels until it is fully composted. Researchers from Washington State University say that once the body reaches the bottom, it won’t be recognizable as human remains. The family also has the option to keep some of the soil after the body has gone through the natural process.