Memento Mori: About memory and perishability for a new burial ritual in Thessaloniki

The nature of death has been a source of reflection from primitive societies until today, being a fact of human existence that regulates the very life and behavior of man. The purpose of this thesis is to redefine man's relationship with the issue of death, through highlighting the memory of previous and existing historical burial sites, as well as the creation of a new burial ritual that is introduced into the wider urban fabric of Evangelistria in Thessaloniki.More specifically, through an organized system of public spaces, the unification of the area of the Rotonda and the Old Philosophical School is achieved, in the place of which the Jewish Necropolis extended, with the wider area of the cemeteries of Evangelistria up to the gardens of Pasha. In addition, the reuse of the former Islakhane School of Arts and Crafts and the Hospital of Agios Dimitrios, combined with the design of two new units, a cremation and composting center, aim to create a holistic ritual process.The issue of burial is embedded in the urban fabric and the daily life of the inhabitants, making the specific spaces capable of functioning as multidimensional urban cells and as spatial carriers of meanings that raise multifaceted readings of the city and the place.