Lydía Hrönn Kristjánsdóttir

The Embrace of Sorrow

Death is a natural part of life, but the grief takes time and is both mentally and physically draining. It is, however, important for the mourner to let herself go through all the emotions of a loss, in order to be able to live with the grief. The society would benefit from a grief retreat, where the mourner has a safe environment to stay and gather energy to recover from  trauma or to allow herself to continue living. In Þyrilsnes, the architecture is built around the two different phases of grief: the shock and trauma phase on one hand, and the processing phase on the other. These two cores manage the needs of the mourner and lead her onwards in the process of grieving, along with a space for the emotions.