The Bestattungswald Alt Madlitz in eastern Brandenburg explores other forms of farewell beyond conventional cemetery rituals.
Two restrained interventions provide orientation without hierarchy—places for remembrance, rest, and letting go, attuned to the forest.
They sharpen perception of the forest floor, sky, and horizon, and leave space for personal appropriation.
The first intervention is a circular structure, 10 metres in diameter, composed of 28 modules filled with untreated regional sheep’s wool
and framed in Douglas fir from the site’s own forest. Two omitted modules form the entrance; the open top directs the gaze to the canopy
and shifting light. The raw wool dampens ambient noise and gathers natural sounds, regulates temperature, offers a clear tactile presence,
and makes care practices (maintenance, renewal) part of the concept.
The design is conceived as an open, didactic building manual in which making itself becomes part of designing. Repeatable modules with
standard dimensions, off-the-shelf sections, and exclusively screwed, visibly honest joints. A clear bill of materials with straightforward
cutting and assembly steps enables construction with a few tools by two to three people—so anyone can build, maintain, and fully dismantle
the structure. Tolerance-friendly detailing allows repair and replacement of individual elements. The construction is an invitation to make,
vary, and share—adaptable to other sites, radii, and material availability.
Constructively, the project relies on material honesty and reversibility: glue-free, mechanically fastened timber, fully demountable;
set on screw foundations driven 70 cm into the ground without sealing the soil. The materials age visibly—the timber silvers, the wool
bleaches or mosses over—and grow together with the site. In the end, the wool can decompose into humus, enriching the forest floor.
Inspired by artist Folke Köbberling’s long-standing engagement with local raw wool and the development of a wool-filled module, an
undervalued, crisis-stricken material is re-situated. Using unwashed wool outdoors eliminates long transport and washing chains and
keeps regional value creation on site. The result weaves together social, ecological, and design aims: primitive technologies, local
cycles, and a quiet, effective architecture that stages the forest rather than imposing upon it. For the Bestattungswald led by
Benedikt Bösel and Elsa Schwarz, the architecture aligns with the ethos of Gut & Bösel.