Office: Love Architecture | ArchDaily

Kezouin Fuchu-shi Cemetery / Love Architecture

Hana Abdel — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 01:00:00 +0000

As society changes, there is a growing demand for "Places for Memorial Services.” Due to the declining birthrate, aging population, and changing lifestyles, the average household size will decrease to 2.37 persons by 2021. The percentage of single-person households will increase to 29.5%, due to which family forms are diversifying in Japan. The focus of family consciousness is shifting from ancestor worship = the dead to marital and parent-child relationships to the living. The ancient custom of inscribing "XX family ancestral grave" and placing the remains in the grave is a form that has spread in less than 100 years since it became common as a result of legal reforms and national moral education since the modern era. We have chosen the form of memorial service according to the lifestyle of each era. In recent years, family-based graves based on vertical succession by lineage or blood have reached their limits, and various forms of graves have emerged, including joint graves with perpetual memorial services that do not require heirs, tree burial services, and single-life ossuaries. These forms respond to the weakening of ancestor worship and the shrinking size of families, but they are no more than a collection of individuals.

Extraordinary Ordinary House / Love Architecture

Hana Abdel — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 18:00:00 +0000

This residence in central Tokyo is the second of two houses located a minute’s walk from one another, both occupied on a routine basis by the client. The client’s sole request was that we create a modern space made up of elements lacking in the first house. This explains the rather unusual plan: a rec room and wine cave in the basement, a garage and lounge on the first floor, a space for entertaining on the second, and walk-in closets on the third.

Hasshoden-Charnel House in Ryusenji Temple / Love Architecture

Valentina Villa — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 22:00:00 +0000

Opens the temple to community as a place to interact with "life".
In recent years, the decay of local communities due to urbanization has changed the Japanese sense of religion including ancestor worship, weakening the "Jidan" (system where commoners had to register with a temple to prove their Buddhist faith) which is the financial basis of many temples in Japan. Charnel house, which is a new style of grave that appeared as though it responded to the trend of the contemporary times, is different from the graveyard passed down from generation to generation and does not follow the traditional Jidan system.