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The new Cemetery
at Newlands Cross will provide for the burial and cremation
requirements for west Dublin into the new millenium. The
new Cemetery forms part of an integrated open space development
comprising of 140 acres of parkland, playing pitches, an
ornamental lake, and wildflower meadows. The central theme
of the landscape composition is the integration of the functions
of the cemetery into the activities of the park and the
wider communityCemeteries have a long association with parks;
the first public parks were cemeteries, such as Mount Auburn
in Boston. This notion of the cemetery as part of the activities
of a community and society as a whole underpins the design.
In creating the landscape composition for the cemetery,
the concept of axiality and orientation were considered
in detail in relation to the new park. The traditional method
of village cemeteries is along an east-west axis, aligning
the body/soul with the setting and rising sun, is a central
ordering element of the design for the burial plots. This
concept of a connection to the processes of day & night,
light and shadow, pervades the design
Access to the new parkland area is from the existing roundabout
along the southern boundary off Belgard Road. This access
also serves as an entrance driveway into the cemetery for
arrival /set down and car parking. This car park can be
used for both park visitors and cemetery users. The car
park is off-set along a curving access drive, set in parkland,
flanked by weeping silver lime.
The approach to the cemetery buildings informs the driveway
with a sense of serenity and has a processional quality.
Around the set down area and adjacent to the administrative
buildings and chapel , there are garden areas which in time
will contain memorial areas for burial urns. These small
scale areas are closely related to the buildings and serve
as quiet, tranquil spaces for mourners attending funerals.
These spaces have been configured with broken circles, playing
against the strong lines of the buildings. The main access
into the cemetery is through these garden areas, and they
act as a transitional space between the parkland and the
building areas. The layout of the burial plots of the cemetery
follows a traditional east-west orientation. The individual
burial plots themselves are defined by single headstones
using Irish stone only- granite, limestone, sandstone etc.
set within a recessed plinth. The pedestrian circulation
pathways are constituted in a bonded, golden coloured gravel,
or "hoggin'. |
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