THE COLUMBARIUM LANDSCAPE : PUBLIC HOUSING FOR THE DEAD IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

In many societies, death remains an issue seldom discussed openly. The lack of open discussion means that implicit meanings embedded in landscapes of death often go unnoticed. Focusing primarily on the columbarium landscape in Singapore, the main challenge this thesis takes up is to analyze the way state ideologies are made manifest in deathscapes. This thesis looks at how the once strongly opposed option of cremation and housing of ashes in a columbarium seem to be the natural choice over burial today in Singapore. A broadly humanist tradition with a qualitative approach is adopted to find out how people's reactions towards the columbarium landscape have evolved the years. The columbarium landscape is analyzed to see how its modernist architecture goes beyond a functional purpose of merely storing ashes. State policies and strategies are explored to look at how aesthetics has been employed to create a landscape that is not only visually appealing, but also capable of negating the element of fear associated with such landscapes. Attention is also paid to how the general layout of the columbarium landscape is designed to meet the various social, economic and psychological needs of Singaporeans. The use of aesthetics not only makes the columbarium landscape more visually appealing, it also empowers the state with political power through ideological hegemony. This paves the way for the implementation of any potentially unpopular measures in the future. The landscape is examined from two angles ?how aesthetics applied on it can be used to make the undesirable appealing and how it can at the same time serve a social function to encourage cremation.