Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Enlisted by The Hills Shire Council of Sydney, Welsh + Major along with Taylor Brammer Landscape Architects have designed and documented a series of upgrades to the 140-year-old Castle Hill Cemetery, located on the land of the Bidjigal people in Dharug country.
The initial brief was to respect and embrace the existing natural and commemorative character of this traditional bushland cemetery whilst creating a memorable and deferential cemetery landscape catering to the changing needs of the local community.
The Castle Hill Cemetery Upgrade project has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The design outcome was achieved by enhancing and engaging with the 8.2-hectare bushland setting through well-considered insertions.
The masterplan rejuvenated the existing cemetery with new landscape works, walking tracks, parking areas, a new public internment vault, a public crypt, columbarium walls, an office building, and a new centerpiece, known as the Sanctuary, a sheltered space for people to come together and celebrate the lives of their friends and family in comfort and dignity.
The centerpiece of this new masterplan conceived by Taylor Brammer – The Sanctuary – led Welsh & Major to explore the idea of commonalities shared in grieving and celebrating; quiet contemplation and public proclamation.
The building form of The Sanctuary grew from the discussions on how one could empathetically provide the essentials for a space that deals with emotions that travel with ceremony – contemplation, mourning, celebration, and loss.
Designing a space that engages sensitively with emotion drew us to explore how best to use light to define a place – a translucent roof hovers above contrasting ringed roof forms assembled from bead-blasted steel and polished chrome.
This creates a circle of light with an ethereal quality enhanced by the native bushland setting that surrounds it. The focal point of the space is the marble-topped mensa, which provides a metaphorical center to the space.
Flanked by precast concrete benches topped in Australian hardwood, the space is cradled by the precast columbarium walls that define the footprint of the structure.
Set at the center of the reimagined cemetery, The Sanctuary offers a destination within the grounds that provides community members of all faiths and denominations a place of generosity, dignity contemplation, and peace.
Project: Castle Hill Cemetery Upgrade
Architects: Welsh + Major
Landscape Architects: Taylor Brammer Landscape Architects Pty Ltd.
General Contractor: Hibernian Contracting Pty Ltd.
Client: The Hills Shire Council
Photographers: James Heron and Clinton Weaver
