‘Afterglow’ was a speculative concept to reimagine mortuary infrastructures from a societal and spatial context by celebrating the deceased’s legacy through the regeneration of vitality.

As urban areas set to triple in the next 40 years, space for cemeteries is running out at a precipitous rate. With cremation becoming more common, toxic chemical emission from the practice continues to take a toll on the already polluted environment. Focusing on the need for environmentally friendly burial practices, ‘Afterglow’ explored the idea of burial processes and infrastructures as part of an ongoing regeneration process within a larger system while leaving behind an imprint. 

Challenging the finality notion of death, the idea of remembrance intertwined with vitality was explored. Set in an open space with infrastructures dedicated to process organic remains in a way that revitalised nature, growth of vegetation is catalysed, transforming the deceased into a new form of life and connecting back to nature. Imprints of legacy materialised through light and different colours powered by energy generated through the process of decomposition celebrate the vibrancy of life. Smaller private sheltered spaces allowing a private place for family and friends to grieve form a nested communal public area shared with other lifeforms in nature. 

‘Afterglow’ was developed over two days during our Design Across Biological Scales class, with a focus on the abstraction of biological strategies in nature. Inspirations were drawn from cicadas, Saprotrophs (fungi), and E-chromi (genetically engineered bacteria that secret coloured pigments).

• Cicadas: helps sustain the ecosystem by providing nutritious food sources for other organisms with the left behind exoskeletons.


• Saprotrophs: helps break down organic matter and releases vital nutrients facilitating the growth of other organisms


• E-chromi: brings colours to new forms of life by reacting with different natural chemicals and bacteria.