Resting Place: Tectonic integrity is one of the main reasons why this funerary complex has appropriate dignity and quietness. It adds to a distinguished northern European tradition of making buildings in which rites of passage can be observed.

The new cemetery complex for Riem is in the green country park, opposite the entrance to the old graveyard. It stands as an austere, almost medieval rectangle against the natural landscape. A perimeter wall of coursed rubble surrounds the whole and a concrete canopy floats serenely over the middle of the composition.

The wall contains three courtyards, of which the centre one is for the public. You are welcomed through the rough perimeter wall by a gate of rusted steel, a tree and by the portal of the canopy beyond. In the court, the chapel and the rooms for private mourning are to the right, and you are deflected to them by the canopy. The chapel grows out of the rough stone wall, and it is immediately apparent through a plane of glass. Above stone level, the chapel's concrete volume is lined with oak. Light pours down at the ceremonial end from an unseen clerestory set into the roof where it steps up to offer nobility. This luminance is complemented by light reflected upwards through a glass wall from the long pool that runs along the side of the enclosure. Mourners leaving the chapel are guided by pool and canopy to the ceremonial bell, where they turn to walk towards the large cross of the old cemetery along an austere gravel path.

All materials -- concrete, stone, rusting steel and timber -- are solid and untreated. The architects hope that their natural ageing and weathering will be a metaphor for 'the cycle of life'. The jury was impressed by the simplicity and calm of the place, the ingenuity of handling light, and the appropriate use of materials.