KARKASco is a city for fools and the dead. In this project, a new spatial model for the cemetery was developed as an alternative to the landfilling park cemeteries that seem to have patented this ritual of death. KARKASco brings together the rituals of burial and carnival under the structure of the Kennedy Bridge, in a tower for the dead and a tower for the living. KARKASco thus forms a new landmark for Maastricht, which reintroduces the historical affinity between the landmark and the ritual of burial in Maastricht. The new public space, which incidentally forms the transition zone between these two different rituals, connects the various existing and new public spaces in its environment. This project lifts the barrier that the infrastructure currently forms and ensures continuity between the center of Maastricht and the Maas bank. This project introduces a structure like a casco that allows change through time and program. This casco has the intention to reveal itself to its environment as a metaphorical image of a large carcass. In this way there will develope an unconscious habituation for the people of Maastricht to the theme of death, which is still one of the taboos of our society.
In a city where there is an ever-growing need for silence and spiritual contemplation, KARKASco leaves room for both stillness and contemplation at the center's edge. It becomes a place in the city where we can take our deepest thoughts about death, life, suffering and pleasure for a walk.