Photo: Austin Wilson

Recompose | Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Recompose | Seattle is the first facility in the world to provide a sustainable option for after‑death care. Designed in collaboration with founder and CEO Katrina Spade, the new facility offers a service called “natural organic reduction” which converts human remains into soil, helping nourish new life after death.

Design Principal
Alan Maskin

Adapting an Industrial Building

The Recompose facility is located in an industrial district within Seattle’s SODO neighborhood and is the first project of its kind to be successfully permitted in this urban jurisdiction. Inspired by the Recompose process and attention to natural cycles, the architectural approach deliberately preserves and celebrates the industrial heritage of the existing site and building. The design strategically uses low-cost materials to maximum effect, preserving the project budget for operational needs while creating a new expression that differentiates the facility from its neighbors. Repurposing an existing building lowers embodied carbon emissions compared to a new building by an estimated 50-75%.

A Positive, Sustainable Choice

As a third alternative to traditional burials and cremations, Recompose uses one-eighth the energy of cremation and saves over one metric ton of carbon dioxide per person. The composting cycle results in one cubic yard of healthy organic soil, which can be collected for personal use or donated to the 700-acre nonprofit land trust and sustainable forest at Bells Mountain.

Linking Design & Nature

Recompose’s flagship facility effectively turns the traditional funeral home inside out. Throughout the site and building, references to nature highlight the link between the Recompose process and natural cycles. An exterior mural, which features an array of plants against a background of dark, healthy compost, creates a signature arrival sequence in concert with an entry garden. Likewise, within the ceremony space, strips of inset green glass create a dappled effect, like light filtering through the forest canopy, and frame small views to the hive-like array of hexagonal vessels beyond.

Considering The Living & The Dead

Inside, the visitor pathway is transparent and intuitive, featuring warm wood flooring, earth-toned furnishings and a living green wall. The ceremony space avoids overt religious markers, instead creating a flexible and welcoming space deeply connected to nature. The transitional vessel used during ceremonies features a line of poetry inscribed within, acknowledging the experience of the dead as well as the living. Administrative and working spaces likewise prioritize the well-being of Recompose team members, providing access to fresh air and daylight as well as careful acoustic dampening.

Creative Exchange Residency at Olson Kundig

In 2016, Olson Kundig invited Recompose founder and CEO Katrina Spade, to participate in a Creative Exchange Residency at our office. During that residency, Katrina and her team of advisors and engineers designed the first prototype of the Recompose vessel, supported with visualizations and renderings by Olson Kundig. After the residency, Katrina continued to refine the Recompose process and make connections, ultimately leading to the governor of Washington signing human composting into law.

I’ve been fascinated with Katrina Spade’s alternative burial concept since she shared it with me years ago, and Olson Kundig is honored to work closely with her team on the design of the first Recompose in the world. Alan Maskin

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