Ever since the emergence of modern science, we humans have been the subject of an uneasy paradox. From then on, our self-image has been almost entirely stripped of its divine gloss. Curiously, this modified self-image has had little influence on the rituals and usages we support ourselves with at times of birth and death. Fascinated by this, I looked for other points of application for infusing new significance into the beginning and the end of life within our society.
From this perspective, I hit upon the idea of designing a monument to tell the story of a life-form that has evolved through an endless sequence of births and deaths into today's social and sociable being. I went in search of the physical traces that this cultural Darwinism must have left. This brought me ultimately to 40 sites spread across the globe that constitute the key nodes in this history. The coordinates of these nodes together yielded a footprint for the monument. Fully in harmony with our present-day achievements in individual freedom and identity, the individual should, within this concept of collective reason, be able to give his or her own twist to this tale. Which is why funeral services should change from the familiar regimented affair into an exposition, compiled by the bereaved and lasting several hours, on the life of the deceased. Likewise, birth should be transformed from a sterile and clinical business into an intimate event taking place in a setting orchestrated by the parents themselves.
Rendered in material terms, this elicited an autonomous building sited above the North Sea, several 100 metres from the coast of The Hague. Its firm basis is a 'data matrix' of concrete floor slabs, whose slopes all refer to the afore-mentioned geographical points of application. Just as society moves within its own framework, so the visitor, guided by gravity, moves through this artificial rock landscape. This symbol for our shared cultural heritage is none other than the domain of the 'Rites de Passage'. Yet the individual is continually on his or her guard. Forms, like parasites, cling tenaciously with delicate claws to the data matrix, though they could let go at any time. Each of these machine-like creatures, supported by an autonomous steel structure and sheathed in a laminate of glass and stainless steel expanded metal, constitutes an intimate space for leave-taking and welcoming. Here, departing generations demonstrate their achievements and new generations present themselves. And of course it is the individual who dictates the conventions here, as much the internal ambience as the mode of engagement with others - exuberant or subdued, introverted or outgoing. The whole adds up to a monument that is to give fresh meaning to birth and death in a new self-image, where the individual, the collective, the temporary and the eternal are able to converge.

Place of education: TU Eindhoven
Specialization: architecture
Tutors: Hans Ruijssenaars, Ronald Knappers, Wim Huisman & Monique Bakker