In traditional perception columbariums are often associated with sorrow and solemnity. Breaking away from convention, this project reimagines the Columbarium as a “library,” using knowledge and culture as mediums to dissolve the heaviness and endow the space with warmth and eternal vitality. Centered on the concept of “book as vessel + cultural narrative,” the design allows each life story to become a page in the long river of culture, creating a memorial hall that blends humanistic care with artistic beauty.

I. Design Concept: Transforming Physical Space into a Spiritual Realm

1. Spatial Narrative: Books as the “Second Casket” of Life
   Metaphor of the Library Form: The architecture centers around tiered bookshelf walls, with towering shelves extending to the limits of vision, symbolizing the boundlessness of knowledge and the continuity of life. Books serve not only as vessels for mementos but also as tangible expressions of “life biographies”—each “book” can store photographs, handwritten letters, and life records, preserving the stories of the departed in cultural form.
   Case Study: Inspired by Sichuan University’s “Learning Library,” which integrates red culture into physical space through books, exhibitions, and multimedia to create an immersive narrative. This project follows a similar logic, blending personal history with public culture, transforming visitors from “mourners” into “readers” who find emotional healing through browsing.

2. Color Philosophy: Dialogue Between Wood Grain and White
   Wood Grain (20%): Drawing from the warmth of nature, it symbolizes the warmth of life and the沉淀 of time. The shelves are finished in natural wood tones, offering a warm touch that eliminates coldness and fosters a sense of “home.”
   White (80%): Book spines and back panels are predominantly pure white, metaphorizing eternity and purity. White resembles paper, wood grain resembles ink—together they weave a poetic scene of “writing life.”
   Cultural Resonance: Like the white walls and dark tiles of Huizhou architecture that reflect “harmony between heaven and earth,” this design continues traditional color philosophy with wood and white, while integrating modern minimalist aesthetics to create cultural resonance across time and space.

3. Circulation Design: A Spiritual “Cultural Pilgrimage”
   Guided Flow: The entrance features a “prelude hall” with abstract sculptures or light installations to establish a solemn tone. Visitors proceed along the tiered shelves, naturally moving through the memento area and the Columbarium area, forming an emotional progression of “exploration–remembrance–elevation.”
   Circular Narrative: Borrowing from the “no turning back” principle of school history museums, the design avoids backtracking that may cause emotional disruption. Visitors follow a one-way route, completing the journey from “reading life stories” to “depositing personal memories,” and finalize their emotional reflection at the message wall or interactive installation in the concluding hall.

4. Light and Shadow Art: Writing the Poetry of Life with Light
   Soft Lighting: Hidden LED strips embedded within the shelves simulate natural light, creating a warm “embraced by knowledge” ambiance. Delicate shadows cast on the wood grain lend the space a breathing, living quality.
   Dramatic Contrast: The memento area uses focused lighting to highlight the uniqueness of each “book,” while the Columbarium area employs low-intensity lighting to cultivate tranquility—similar to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial’s use of light and shadow to guide emotions from grief to peace.

II. Cultural Core: Transforming Memory into Inheritable Civilization

1. Breaking Spatial Boundaries, Building a Cultural Community
   Balance of Public and Private: The book-shaped memento area serves as a public display space for life stories, while the columbarium area ensures privacy with semi-enclosed designs. Both are connected through the “book” vessels on the shelves, forming a two-way interaction between “personal memory” and “collective culture.”
   Case Reference: Drawing from the True Fire Library’s model of linking on- and off-campus resources through virtual space, this project can adopt a “physical + digital” approach, establishing online memorials for each family to achieve digital immortality of memories.

2. From Grief to Legacy: The Healing Function of Space
   Ritual of Books: Families can encapsulate keepsakes and letters of the departed within “books,” participating in workshops to “write life stories,” transforming grief into cultural creation.
   Interactive Experience: Multimedia query screens allow visitors to scan codes to read biographies of the departed or record voice messages, turning the space into a “living memory repository.”

This project centers on “empowering space with culture, transforming memory into civilization,” elevating the columbarium into a cultural venue for life education. Rejecting cold formalism, the design uses the warmth of books, the包容 of wood grain, and the poetry of light and shadow to make each life story a brilliant chapter in the long river of knowledge. We believe that true remembrance is not about farewell, but about allowing love and memory to live on eternally through culture.