Elvira Björnerstedt Hoff

At Danderyd Cemetery, I propose a new memorial site—an open space for grief and memory, shaped by material cycles and time. My work explores how architecture can engage with the natural processes of decomposition and renewal rather than impose upon them. Through excavation, I investigate how space can be experienced as cyclical, mirroring the rhythms of mourning.

Walking into the memorial, the walls narrow, enclosing the visitor in soil, before opening up again on the way out, returning to the surface, to the sky. I approach architecture as intertwined with gardening, working with soil, wood, and tools of care.

My degree project extends to sculptural interventions, such as hand-carved railings from fallen elm branches, evoking both physical and emotional support. By engaging with slowness, tactility, and transformation, my work seeks to articulate the abstract yet deeply material nature of loss.