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Ruxandra-Elena Gologan

Ruxandra-Elena Gologan

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I am a creative and intellectually driven architecture graduate with a strong foundation in critical theory, visual culture, and spatial design. My work is grounded in a phenomenological approach that prioritises embodied spatial experience as a core architectural concern, rather than an aesthetic afterthought. I believe architectural production is incomplete if the question of spatial experience is not considered.

In response to an over-saturated, ethically performative industry, I advocate for an architecture that is honest: materially sensitive, contextually responsive, and rooted in both human and planetary well-being. This approach involves working with locally sourced, non-toxic materials, drawing on vernacular techniques where appropriate, and collaborating with local craftsmanship. It prioritises coherence between form and user needs and encourages direct engagement between architect and community—through a design process that values clarity, responsiveness, and embodied spatial experience.

My interests lie at the intersection of architecture, art, and philosophical enquiry. My practice often draws on research, writing, and interdisciplinary analysis, and I bring additional experience in editorial production, curatorial work, and public engagement.

I am a creative and intellectually driven architecture graduate with a strong foundation in criti...

How can architecture be designed as a threshold, liminal space, and labyrinth of time, constantly in flux? How can materiality become a tool for the phenomenological production of space?

Conceptually situated at the intersection of life and death, "Earth Rising" presents a crematorium and funerary chapel designed to make manifest the emotional progression of a funerary ritual. As visitors move through the building's programmatic layers, light-filled, timber-led spaces gradually give way to heavier interiors. Excavated soil is repurposed into a rammed earth envelope that rises and darkens as the ritual progresses—experientially mirroring the arc of burial through a symbolic descent into the ground. Through spatial sequence, materiality, and light the project embodies, in the words of Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, "an aesthetic not of a celebrant but of a mourner"

Final work

external visual of funerary chapel

Materiality and Atmosphere—Exterior Visual of Chapel Entrance

To design for death is to design for timelessness. The funerary chapel seeks an architecture of atemporality, one that resists classification within a single historical moment, instead appearing suspended in time: neither ancient nor contemporary, neither wholly of the past nor the present. This quality is achieved through the use of elemental forms and a material palette intended to age, weather, and transform over time. Solid, monolithic rammed earth walls are contrasted with a lightweight timber frame, while subtle openings allow light to gently filter through. The design embraces ambiguity, allowing visitors to experience architecture as something beyond a fixed state.

  • internal visual of the funerary chapel
  • concept diagram, highlighting the use of timber and rammed earth
  • photograph of the concept models
  • 1:200 ground floor plan of the funerary chapel building
  • 1:200 ground floor plan of the underground level
  • 1:200 ground floor plan of the crematorium building
1:200 setcions: longitudinal and transversal

The Void as Architectonic Object: Transversal Section (Above) + Longitudinal Section (Below)

In funerary architecture, absence can be as significant as presence. The void—whether a sunken space, an enclosed courtyard, or a volume carved from mass—becomes an architectural object in its own right. The sections above cut through both the building and the sunken garden, revealing how voids are used to define thresholds and intensify the relationship between light and shadow. Through spatial subtraction and the carving of the landscape, architecture emerges from what is removed—and absence becomes presence.

The sectional cuts also illustrate the project’s underlying spatial strategy: a clear separation between ritual and technical functions, placed on opposite sides of the site and linked below ground to enable discreet operational flow. This gesture draws from the layered historical, spatial, and temporal context of Abney Park Cemetery and reinforces the project's aim to integrate into its setting with awareness and sensitivity.

Research and process

  • site introduction
  • materiality overview
  • 1:20 technical section detail
  • sustainability summary board
  • structural overview
  • interior atmosphere, materiality, and structure overview

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Ruxandra-Elena Gologan

How can architecture be designed as a threshold, liminal space, and labyrinth of time, constantly in flux? How can materiality become a tool for the phenomenological production of space? Conceptually situated at the intersection of life and death, "Earth Rising...

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