2004-09-16

Capsula Mundi, the biodegradable coffin

I've often thought that I do not want my body to be pumped with chemicals and sealed in a coffin before burial. Nor am i too fond of the idea of cremation. In fact, I've joked that I want to be tossed into the woods and left for the creatures. I find great comfort in the idea that my body would continue on in different form. I want to return to the cycle. With that said, this is beautiful: Capsula Mundi. A biodegradable, starch-based coffin that holds the deceased in a fetal position. Created by Italian designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel:

Capsula Mundi is planted in the earth like a seed. Above it, to signal the presence of occupied space, is a shallow concave circle dug out of the ground. In the center of which, a tree is planted, the essence of it chosen in life by the dead one, the care of this tree is the responsibility of everyone. The aim is ecological burial, literally a more natural way to decay. The cemetery will, then, acquire a new look. No longer the overpopulated urban environment with congested architecture, it will be a natural one in contact with the earth, enveloping expansive areas, entire hills consecrated to the cult of the dead. Summarizing, it is a different landscape devoted to the worship of our ancestry: a sacred forest.

Found via this post at Boing Boing.