Monument

• Main Author: Tey, Warren
• Other Authors: Danne Ojeda Hernandez
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Architecture
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/63324
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

For a multi-ethnic society, Singapore’s funerary process and rituals differ in accordance to religion and beliefs. This has thus influenced the design and image of funerary homes. The Buddhist funerary homes are plastered with traditional calligraphic fonts and decked with motifs of deities and lotus. The Christians see a lot of blue and white, resembling the sky and heaven while the Muslims ones are usually informative because they only have a few hours to bid goodbye before the burial. Through these observations, it showed that the religion and culture-centric industry has portrayed itself the same for decades. Not much has been done to refresh the funerary industry. Such stagnancy in the industry failed to serve the needs and be relevant in the current times. In addition, I was interested to discover what could be the funerary procession of a non-religious person because that is almost unheard of. As a result, this paper seeks to discover and examine the needs of the funerary industry of our era through literary reviews and interviews conducted with Singaporeans of different age groups and religion. The analysed information will aid to propose a solution for the Singapore funerary industry’s needs. Disclaimer: This is by no means to undermine religion or devalue any long-standing traditions and rituals.