Removable outdoor chapel for safe funerals

The project, called Andrum, is a collaboration between Nyréns Arkitektkontor and Lagunda Assembly outside Uppsala. Vinnova has provided funding for the project.

The building being developed is a lightweight and removable construction in wood without walls. An open architecture ensures a safe and secure burial, where guests can keep a distance from one another while meeting together to mourn. It is built in modules and can be expanded if needed.

Sofia Kanje at Nyréns Arkitektkontor is the project manager.

- One day when I was walking in the Sofia church, I thought about my dad who died seven years ago and what it would have been like to bury him without the people who wanted to be allowed to say hello. I thought it could be solved by setting up an outdoor chapel. I contacted the Lagunda congregation that I had worked with before and asked the priest Carin Åblad Lundström if there was a need and she was interested, she says.

The building can be used regardless of religion and placed at, for example, a church or synagogue. It can also be used for other than funerals, such as naming ceremonies or weddings.

- We have made a first outline and with the help of the financing from Vinnova we can now build a prototype that we can test in reality, we expect it to be completed by the middle of summer. We will see how we can simplify the solution and make it as cheap as possible to produce, while still maintaining a beautiful room that has a dignity.

The idea is that the building should be able to use and benefit even after the corona pandemic is over.

- There are other infectious diseases that are spreading in different parts of the world. If it becomes a finished product, we plan to collaborate with aid organizations, such as UNHSR. There may be a greater need in other countries where the population is more religious and where a lot is gathered in for example churches, says Sofia Kanje.