Steps in Life

AWARDED FOR DESIGN EXCELLENCE

Project Type: Cemetery Park Design

Location: Pioneer and Military Memorial Park, Phoenix, Az

Date: Spring 14

Instructor: Allyce Hargrove

Adobe Portfolio cemetery Phoenix ASU design Landscape Architecture Park pioneer and military memorial park arizona creative

ABOUT

Steps in Life is a project within the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park (PMMP) in Phoenix, Arizona. This project consists of a park and new burials for the PMMP. It is a simple, yet rich design carefully thought for all people to enjoy and experience the space. The design provides historical, cultural, natural, educational and recreational activities to the public.

Usually when people lose a loved one, they feel sad, lost, desperate or at least uncomfortable. Steps in Life provides a space where people can feel peace, happiness, and gratitude by experiencing the history of the park and celebrating their loved ones. This concept welcomes and addresses the needs not only of those who lost a loved one, but also those that are just visiting the park. The parti explores aspects of life such as forms, contrasts, integration, edges, boundaries, and consistency with the existing cemetery design. Since the client is the city of Phoenix, there is also a careful consideration budget wise to make the project simple, build-able, and functional. In order to address the history of the site, the main circulation path tells a story. The path of masonry bricks uses four slightly different colors of bricks to represent the life expectancy of the people buried there. It is also used to portray 30 years (showing years) of burials and information about some of the pioneers and military, so people can understand some history just by walking around the park. The history behind the park also includes the Hohokam village that lived in the area, and it is represented by the materials used (found locally). The circulation represents choices in life through the many different paths to take (some shorter, some longer) that will lead them to the same point (second entrance), It represents how people have goals in life and all the different ways they can take to get there. Contrasts are also present to represent life-and-death. Visitors are able to experience some contrasts by the different materials used on buildings (hard, heavy, predominant gray colors) and the park (vegetation, colors). Contrasts are used also with the plant palette. Integration is another strong aspect of the project to maintain a good flow and relationship throughout the park. For instance, it has been added Victorian landscape aspects to the site in order to address the Smurfwaite House. Besides that, I want visitors to have a closer connection with the ground/dead and, for that, I propose a 5 feet below grade reflection area where people’s eyes are at ground level. Thus, they can reflect by looking straight to the graves instead of looking down (how we usually do). Edges are created by geometry and grading in order to represent the boundaries between life and death. The use of terraces also emphasize steps in life. Last but not least, since consistency is very important for this project, I used the existing graves grid dimensions. The Steps in Life parti is to keep it simple, yet rich in details. In this journey, people matter and the design is made for them. The spaces within the site are carefully thought to attend people’s needs and allow them to experience different moments and emotions. All in all, the Steps in Life parti takes visitors through the paths (aspects) of life at the same time that exposes them to the history behind the site.

SITE PLAN