Oxted Crematorium

LA architects design for a new crematorium near Oxted in Surrey has been submitted for planning. It’s bespoke design emerged in response to the sites unique qualities, restrictive site constraints and rural setting. The site, while set within the green belt, is an ecologically poor, open grazing field, bound on all sides by highways. The proposals will transform the site to provide a high-quality facility, sensitive to visitor experience, promote sustainability and support wildlife and biodiversity.

The site strategy is to set the building within an enhanced landscape of woodland, meadows, memorial gardens and wetlands. This will provide privacy and intimacy to the building while allowing large parts of the site to re-wild with native flora and fauna.

The building takes the form of a small cluster of timber buildings connected by a series of extensive green roofs, reflecting the  typology of local farmsteads, and utilising natural, sustainable building materials which will allow the building to age and grow with landscape.

 

  • Client − Horizon Cremation
  • Planning Consultant − Mary Davidson Associates
  • Structural Engineer − Grossart Associates
  • Landscape − erz
  • Ecology − Ecology Solutions
  • Project Manager − Gordon Smith
  • Quantity Surveyor − Ailsa-TH

Site Plan. The site is heavily replanted and rewilded to support wildlife, while giving privacy to the building.

Building Diagram. The buildings are set out to provide a clear and choreographed route, with each space tailored to enhance visitor experience and the celebration of life.

Ground Floor Plan. Each of the 3 buildings house a different function, Welcome and waiting areas, celebration and ceremony, administration and back of house facilities.

Roof Plan. Green roofs provide separation between the 3 timber clad forms, reduce the perceived massing and provide opportunities for wildlife within the built form.

Building Elevations. The building appears as simple larch clad buildings, the forms derived to respond to each space requirements of celebration, intimacy or supporting function.

Building Elevations. Large picture windows puncture the timber buildings providing natural light and views to the landscape.

Cortege approach. The series of views shows the visitor route through the building. This view shows the first impressions visitors will get of the facility.

Welcome Hall and Courtyard. The point of entry, it is a simple space where the hall, facing south and filled with light, rises up and opens to welcome the visitor in.

Central Courtyard. An intimate and personal space linking the 2 visitor buildings, it is simple and peaceful, and where the cortege and coffin will arrive.

The Ceremony Hall. The form rises from a quiet entrance into a celebration of light and sky. It is a private view only to be experienced from the inside. The interior will be lined with acoustic timber, reflecting the exterior and providing a sense of unity to the entire architectural composition.

Service Yard and Offices. A view that will only be seen by staff and visitors making their arrangements. The building form is distinctly different to the main halls and reflects a rural architecture of farmhouses and respond to the spatial requirements of the Cremator Hall and Offices.