Decomposing Bodies Power Ethereal Cemetery Lanterns

What happens to you after death? We expect that our loved ones will grieve, someone will say consoling words to our family and friends, and perhaps there will be a party with fond toasts to our memory. But what becomes of our remains? In most cases, bodies are either embalmed or cremated, buried or scattered in some meaningful location. But the Centre for Death and Society at England’s University of Bath held a competition in hopes of reimagining the future cemetery. They selected as their winner ‘Sylvan Constellation,’ a proposal that combines grieving with the latest in green technology to create a sustainable, peaceful space.

Sylvan Constellation envisions the cemetery as a series of woodland paths through clusters of ‘memorial vessels,’ some at the level of the path and some suspended on columns overhead. The vessels contain remains and microbial fuel cells that hasten decomposition. As the body breaks down, its energy is converted into electricity that causes the vessel to glow, lighting the nearby paths, creating beautiful surroundings while avoiding the environmental impacts of embalming or cremation. Centre director Dr. John Troyer said in a press release, “The proposal captured the Future Cemetery design competition’s larger themes by presenting a mix of different sustainable technologies.”

The proposal is the work of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. GSAPP will receive a prize of five thousand pounds and a month’s residency in Bath to research the nearby Arnos Vale Cemetery, where Sylvan Constellation will be constructed. GSAPP will collaborate with Arnos Vale and the Centre to bring the project to fruition. “By working together on this project, collaborators will establish networks for longer-term projects involving innovative, sustainable design around end-of-life planning,” said Troyer.

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Ghost Bikes

On a trip back home to visit my parents I was driving down a very familiar highway about to take my exit when I noticed to my right a white painted bicycle up on a chain link fence. My heart sunk a little when I made the connection to what had happened there. My mother had called me a few months earlier to tell me about a tragedy that occurred in our community. I am sure we have all seen a roadside memorial placed to commemorate a site where a person died suddenly and unexpectedly, but this one was different than anything I had seen before. This white painted bicycle represented the death of a cyclist who had been hit by an SUV that lost control while making a lane change, went off the road, up a grassy embankment and through a chain link fence before flipping over onto a group of riders.

I later learned that what I saw was a ghost bike; a bicycle set up as a roadside memorial in a place where a cyclist has been killed (usually by a motor vehicle) which also acts as a reminder to passing motorists to share the road. The first recorded ghost bike was in St. Louis Missouri, in 2003. After witnessing a motorist strike a bicyclist, Patrick Van Der Tuin placed a white-painted bicycle on the spot with a hand-painted note, "Cyclist Struck Here." It became a powerful reminder to the community about safety, and has become a way to commemorate the one lost.

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CRAIG MURPHEY (left)Ten Eyck Street and Union Avenue, Williamsburg.Early in the morning of October 18, 2007, Murphey was biking home from escorting his date to her South Williamsburg apartment. According to police reports, Murphey attempted to outrun a gas truck turning left on Ten Eyck Street. His pelvis shattered on impact, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. In his honor, over 40 friends have since received tattoos that read BE BETTER.

FRANK C. SIMPSONLinden Boulevard near 175th Street, St. Albans.Simpson, a janitor returning from the evening shift at a Con Edison facility, was hit by a Dodge Stratus on November 9, 2006.

ELIJAH ARMAND WRANCHER (left)Springfield Boulevard and 130th Avenue, Springfield Gardens.On August 28, 2007, 12-year-old Wrancher attempted to ride his bicycle while holding onto a moving truck. He lost his grip and fell under the truck’s rear wheel.

DAVID SMITHSixth Avenue and 36th Street.On December 5, 2007, Smith was biking up Sixth Avenue when the passenger-side door of a parked pickup truck opened unexpectedly. He was knocked into the path of an oncoming truck.