Earth and Spirit: Modernist burial sites on the northern fringes of Europe Part 1 Dissertation 2019 Augusta Grey University of Portsmouth | UK Architecture should ‘yearn for timelessness’, said Frank Gehry. However, timelessness as a concept has been superseded by a sense of time running out. This study establishes a parallel between the innovative drive of early twentieth century modernism and the revolutionary approaches to building that we must embrace to meet twenty-first century environmental challenges. It places this argument within an exploration of nature, materials, form, and human spirituality around burial and renewal.Two northern European burial sites are compared: Asplund’s Woodland Crematorium built in Stockholm in the 1930s and Bushey New Cemetery, completed in Watford in 2017. British and Scandinavian approaches to design, rooted in societal and geopolitical factors such as English cultural conservatism and the Swedish need for a defined national identity, are contrasted. In Scandinavia close identification with nature determines materials and forms; at Bushey the life cycle of materials embodies commitment to the radically new. Increasingly, decisions of architects play an essential part in redefining our relationship with the natural world. While this reforming impetus stems more from pragmatism than utopian visions, it remains a compelling philosophy. Have we moved beyond modernism? Debatably yes, but architects must still break with the past to fulfil future needs. Tutor(s) James Thompson