rammed earth makes up wrot studio memorial proposal for new york city public cemetery

"The Hart Island Tumulus is an architectural work of fiction by Wrot Studio that proposes a rammed-earth burial mound and to the lives lost in the pandemic in New York City's public cemetery on Hart Island. The project explores the concept of an architecture openly vulnerable to the elements, embracing the impact of time and change, while protecting the memory of those it is erected to honor."

"The primary material is rammed earth, found in two use cases: solid walls (interior) and brick/blocks (with grout). Varied amounts of cement added to the different typologies of rammed earth create a designed hierarchy of strength and longevity. Tension builds in the weak zones where surfaces meet, influencing paths for erosion. The opposing material is a thick gauge steel plate."

WROT Studio's Hart Island Tumulus proposes a rammed-earth burial mound placed above a mass plot for COVID victims in New York City's Hart Island public cemetery. Four large pillars rise beyond the shore and create four distinct passages that offer alternative routes through the tumulus. Two primary materials—rammed earth and thick gauge steel—compose the structure, with rammed earth used as solid interior walls and bricks, and varied cement amounts creating a hierarchy of durability. Steel plates corrode slowly and provide relative stasis contrasted with eroding rammed earth. The design embraces material vulnerability and temporal change while marking and honoring those entombed below.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine