A Place to Mourn

The culture of valediction in our society has become increasingly marginalised in everyday life. Over the years, the ritual of bidding the departed farewell has transformed. No longer in a wake at home, the deceased now lie in funeral chapels. Dying has become largely anonymous in today’s society. Structures recalling older customs have often disappeared from the rural and urban landscape. The architects Patrik Seiler and Søren Linhart (who have offices in Lucerne and Sarnen) intensively studied the typology and social backgrounds of this type of building in preparation for their design for the funeral chapel in Buochs. This publication is therefore not intended as a monograph of a building, but is instead aimed at inspiring in-depth investigation of the building task, the culture of valediction in our society, both yesterday and today, and the role that architecture can play in this respect. Thus the theme and the actual building are approached on the levels of the history of construction, cultural history and contemporary culture. The chapel’s description is woven into the context and supplemented by photo essays and a literary approach to dying and leave-taking.

Text in German, with an additional booklet with texts in English.