The concept behind our proposal for the 1916 Centenary Chapel at Glasnevin Cemetery is about defining a space to give mourners time to reflect, to journey through a landscape, suggesting the cyclical nature of life. A pool of water adjacent the chapel entrance affords a juncture along the journey for  reflection of ones thoughts, and memories. The timber framed views of the sky above, adds to a meditative flow of movement towards the chapel.

 

The mourner’s begin their journey on foot following the coffin lifted aloft the shoulders of family and friends under a timber framed structure. A horizon is framed between the grid on the ground and the timber structure above. The first step – ‘the horizon is something towards which we journey, but also something that journey along with us’, John O’Donouhe.

 

‘To acquire a horizon means that one learns to look beyond what is close at hand – not in order to look away from it but to see it better’ Hans-Georg Gadammer

 

Sitting between these two horizons, sits the chapel a place of shelter and reflection.