Assessing the design of Funeral Homes and Facilities in Uganda.

Abstract

In Uganda currently, society appears to show a disconnection from existing funeral service providers because they do not seem to fulfill the needs of the mourners who seek solace in regard to coping with the death of their loved ones. The psychological impact of death is irrefutable therefore, the inability to honor a loved one with an appropriate burial and funeral can cause untold distress for the deceased´s family and community, thus affects the healing process. This research is aimed at understanding concepts on grieving, mourning, acceptance as well as socio affective relationships between funeral rituals and associated spaces and landscapes for the purpose of bereavement. Grief can obliterate a person’s perception of life so funerary architecture must seek the utility to positively transform the emotions and psychology of grief, rather than increase adverse intensity by forcing mourners to move on without closure. This research focuses on assessing the design of funeral homes and facilities in Uganda by reviewing available literature, and collecting data from case studies to analyze them and come up with recommendations. This study has the potential to provide understanding of how we can design funeral homes to better suite our communities in experiencing grief, consoling them and helping them find acceptance and closure. Through this study we may be able to engage community (friends and relatives of the mourners) to also help foster healing through social interactions. The research also meant finding out why the psychological wellbeing of the mourners is not looked at so much in existing funeral services offered in Uganda. The data collection tools used involved use of open-ended interviews, photography, making sketches, using case study approach and also document review. Some recommendations on what spaces should be designed for the comfort of the mourners were done. These proposals would in turn offer design guidelines for the professionals in the building industries.