Designs on Death

Introduction

Despite seven out of ten people in Scotland choosing cremation, in many ways crematoria are invisible buildings, visited only by necessity, and they have not received the attention they deserve. Crematoria present a real challenge for architects. They are paradoxical buildings: religious and secular, functional and symbolic, required to satisfy the practical and emotional needs of all faiths and none.

Architectural Biographies

This book provides architectural biographies of Scotland's thirty-one crematoria, explaining their increasing relevance in contemporary Scottish society and pointing to Scotland's distinctive contribution to the progress of cremation and the architecture of crematoria.

Notable Architects and Designs

Many leading architects and craftsmen, including Sir Robert Lorimer and Sir Basil Spence, produced designs of great architectural merit, and Scottish local authorities led the way in designing some of the most progressive crematoria in the UK.

Significance of Crematoria

These singular, often contested buildings, many in magnificent natural landscape settings, reveal a great deal about the complex, changing and distinctive attitudes to death and funeral rituals in Scotland.