VERTICAL CEMETERY

MAKING SPACE FOR LIFE – AN INVERTED AXIS IN MERTIM

Mertim, the ghost of Mersin, rises as a 52-story monument to metropolitan solitude. Once erected with grand ambitions, this now-abandoned structure has become its own gravestone. This project transforms death from a horizontal concept into a vertical one—constructing a metaphor that ascends into the sky. The skyscraper becomes an Axis Mundi, a conduit toward the divine, publicizing the repressed image of death through architecture.

While life continues on the lower levels, the upper floors gradually fill with graves. Life and death coexist within the same structure—not in opposition, but as complementary states. This vertical cemetery is not merely a physical proposal but a dualistic system, where municipal and burial programs are intertwined. This heterotopic coexistence generates new meaning within the spatial context.

Life begins at the ground level and ascends with the sloping topography. A green space that culminates in a rooftop urban park serves to soften the weight of the cemetery above. This elevated landscape, shaded by shallow-rooted Mediterranean flora, regenerates life in the face of death. Scattered greenery around Mertim is consolidated here. The removal of the concrete base is not a gesture of demolition, but one of making space—an act of spatial liberation.

Rather than sacrificing urban green spaces due to a shortage of burial grounds, this project elevates the cemetery to the rooftop—gathering all greenery above. It proposes a radical urban shift: death ascends vertically, life spreads horizontally.

The skyscraper’s facade becomes increasingly transparent in layers. This architectural gesture symbolizes the body's transition from materiality to abstraction, from presence to cosmic dissolution.

Now offering a sculptural silhouette through its transparent glass surfaces, the cemetery will gradually be filled with layers of graves. Eventually, it will return to its original state of raw concrete, transforming fully into a monumental gravestone. This is not merely an architectural reversal, but a reflection of the cyclical nature of death: we are born, we grow, we evolve, and we die—just like buildings.

As the soil rises, the architecture dematerializes. The dead, ascending toward the heavens, and the living, cooling in the shadows, come together in a topographic and existential contrast. Relocating the ground to the rooftop becomes not only a formal gesture, but a chaotic and contrasting architectural statement that challenges perception: "Where is the top, where is the bottom?"—a question that echoes throughout the entire design.

Ultimately, this project is more than a cemetery—it is a vertical archive of memory, a monumental repository of sociocultural collapse and lost utopias, rising within the psychological depths of the modern individual. The reimagined Mertim emerges as a nekrobiopolis—a city where the living and the dead coexist—becoming a passage between disappearance and rebirth, a memory structure, and a metaphysical threshold.

DESIGN MANIFESTO: THEORETICAL GROUNDING AND CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT

REJECTION OF POSTMODERNISM
In the 20th century, death was displaced from the home to hospitals and nursing facilities, further alienating it from daily life and rendering it a cultural taboo. Architecture mirrored this distancing by relegating cemeteries to urban voids. However, death is a natural and inevitable phenomenon and must be re-integrated into the flow of life through spatial and symbolic presence.

INDIVIDUALIZATION
Contemporary death rituals have shifted from collective norms to personal expressions. The modern individual, detached from institutional beliefs, seeks personal meaning. As such, cemeteries must become more flexible, customizable, and open to spiritual experiences. The vertical cemetery proposed in Mertim responds to this need by offering a spatial platform for individualized rituals.

VERTICAL CEMETERIES
Historically, the tallest structures ever built—such as pyramids—were tombs. While modern cities have rendered death invisible, the Mertim project reintroduces death into the urban fabric by elevating it skyward. Vertical cemeteries serve both as burial grounds and monumental public spaces embedded within the everyday life of the city. In doing so, death becomes a central part of both architecture and collective memory.

URBAN-SCALE CONTEXT AND CEMETERY CRISIS IN MERSIN
POPULATION GROWTH AND SPACE SHORTAGE
Mersin currently hosts an average of 25–30 burials per day. Existing cemeteries are insufficient to meet this growing demand. According to the Mersin Cemetery Directorate, many sites are now closed for new burials and are only open for visits.

EXPANSION ATTEMPTS IN GREEN ZONES
In response, Mersin Metropolitan Municipality is pursuing zoning permits to expand or create new cemeteries in green areas such as Güneykent, Huzurkent, and Davultepe. These efforts pose a threat to natural landscapes and urban greenery.

REDEFINING PUBLIC SPACES
Cemeteries should not be reserved solely for the dead. They are also cultural and spiritual environments for the living. As accessible and integrated public spaces, they can transform societal perceptions of death and offer new forms of communal experience.

WHY MERTIM? SITE STRATEGY & PROGRAMMATIC RESPONSE
This 52-story skyscraper—already standing as a symbolic “gravestone” on Mersin’s skyline—is currently unused. The idea of vertical cemeteries provides a radical and innovative solution to the city's burial needs.
In an era that prioritizes environmental sustainability, accommodating burial spaces vertically helps preserve vital green areas and forested landscapes.

Mertim offers a unique architectural opportunity: without destroying nature or consuming more land, it can meet burial demands while embedding symbolic and metaphorical layers into its structure. In this way, Mertim becomes both a practical and poetic response to the contemporary urban condition.

TOTAL CLOSED CONSTRUCTION AREA:
Minimum (Base Skyscraper): 21,860 square meters
Maximum (When Skyscraper and Graveyard Are Full): 31,100 square meters

Ground Floor Programs -0.00
Skyscraper
Burial Entrance - Reception - Burial Procedure Approval - Flower Sales Units - Administrative Unit - Security - Technical - Staff - Burial Waiting Area and Visitor / Burial Circulation - Information Boards - Wet Areas - Ventilation System and Drainage Pipes

Base
Main Entrance & Lobby - Social Aid and Support Services - Reception - Staff & Rest Areas - Technical - Wet Areas - Storage - Lobby & Waiting Areas - Social Aid and Consultation Office - Women’s Support Unit - Family Support Center - Child and Adult Psychologist & Psychiatrist - Funeral Vehicle Planning Unit - Driver Room - Mortuary Room - Application & Coordination - Death & Life Narrative Exhibition - Music Listening Area - Pharmacy - Infirmary - Imam Room

Public & Commercial Service Units
Cafeteria - Wet Areas - Technical - Storage

Cemetery Management and Burial Planning
Municipal Cemetery Affairs Directorate - Condolence Procedures Application Hall - Funeral Tracking and Appointment System - Death Notification and Registration Office - Grave Site Planning and Allocation - Disaster Mass Burial Preparation Office - Information Boards - Sarcophagus Exhibition - Waiting Areas

1st Floor Programs 4.45
Skyscraper ( 6.90)
Cemetery
Prayer Niches - Tombstones - Fountain Area - Visitor / Burial Circulation - Information Boards - Wet Areas - Ventilation System and Drainage Pipes

Base
Education & Culture and Civil Participation - Reception - Staff & Rest Areas - Technical - Wet Areas - Storage - Lobby & Waiting Areas - Open Library - Cafeteria - Open Office and Drawing Areas - Digital Presentation Area - Archive - Secretary - Accounting - Executive Office - Forum - Public Relations NGO Meeting Room - Women’s Solidarity Center - Retired / Elderly Unit

Innovation Strategy and Technical Areas
Promotion and Information - Staff Rest Area - Storage - Technical - Wet Areas - Sustainability Office - Strategy Unit - R&D Unit - Disaster and Emergency Center - Solar Systems Control Center - Energy Monitoring Center - Backup Server / Data Center - Participatory Democracy Center - Open Office Drawing Areas

2nd Floor Programs 7.45
Skyscraper ( 13.00)
Cemetery
Prayer Niches - Tombstones - Fountain Area - Visitor / Burial Circulation - Information Boards - Wet Areas - Ventilation System and Drainage Pipes

Base
Presidency & Council and Official Representation
Private Secretary
Mayor’s Office
Deputy Mayor’s Office
Council Conference Hall / Lobby
Protocol - Executive - Staff Rooms
Reception Room - Press Conference Room - Press and Publication Office
Archive - Committee Office - Committee Meeting Room
Internal Audit Bureau - Inspection Board Room - Legal Affairs Directorate
Storage - Technical - Wet Areas - Lobby - Directional Boards

Dining Hall / Kitchen
Dining Hall - Kitchen - Wet Areas - Storage - Baby Care Room

3rd Floor Programs 8.80
Skyscraper ( 19.10)
Cemetery
Prayer Niches - Tombstones - Fountain Area - Visitor / Burial Circulation - Information Boards - Wet Areas - Ventilation System and Drainage Pipes

Base
Zoning and Inspection Affairs
Open Office Drawing Area - Blueprint Printing Area - Digital Presentation Area
Municipal Police Zoning Officer - Zoning and Urban Planning Directorate
Map and Geographic Information System - Urban Transformation Branch
Building Inspection Branch - Coordination Hall
Architectural Project Approval Office - Structural / Construction Control Office
Permit Application Office - Fire Department / Fire Safety Approval Unit
Wet Areas - Technical - Public Additional Entrance

Open Air Theater - Digital Work Area - Library - Reading Room and Registration Office - Cafeteria - Wet Areas - Storage - Stationery / Photocopy

-2.70 Level Plan
Semi-Open Prayer Hall - 2230 sqm
Funeral Prayer Area - Ablution Area - Wet Areas - Seating Units

Skyscraper: 1156 sqm Lobby - Burial & Visitor Circulation - Wet Areas - Morgue - Mortuary

-3.45 Level Plan
Council Hall - 915 sqm

-5.60 / -8.20 / -10.45 Level Plan
Multi-Storey Parking: 3 x 2500 sqm

Material Decisions:

Curtain Wall Glass Facade
Translucent Concrete
Reinforced Concrete - Shear Concrete Walls & Core (Tube within Tube)

Beste Bozdogan (Designer)
Prof.Dr. Tutku Didem Altun (Instructor)
Prof.Dr. Ferhat Hacıalibeyoğlu (Instructor)
Prof.Dr. Deniz Güner (Instructor)