The funeral back in the domestic realm of architecture in ”Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts

The installation proposed at the Seoul International Biennale on Architecture and Urbanism, called "Three Ordinary Funerals", was opened to the public on September 2. This project brings the material business of death closer to daily urban life and repositions death as a pragmatic tool for city building and the production of value.

Exterior view. "Three Ordinary Funerals" by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

The project, "Three Ordinary Funerals", carried out by Common Accounts, offers an urban space for a death-savvy city in a traditional Korean courtyard house. This project led by Princeton University graduates Igor Bragado (Spain) and Miles Gertler (Canada), offers infrastructures for liquid cremation, the virtual afterlife, and funeral ceremonies. Working with Seoul-based curator Jihoi Lee, the project is located in the Donuimun Museum Village near Seoul’s Seodaemun Station, the Biennale’s premiere venue for thematic exhibitions.

“Burial and cremation, as we know them, are dead,” said Miles Gertler, co-director of Common Accounts. “Today's city can no longer afford to keep the material business of death at arm's length, given diminishing land availability, environmental concerns, and the prospect of your digital afterlife.”

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Alkaline Hydrolysis Curtain. "Three Ordinary Funerals" by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

Ceremonial Spaceframe. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

Miles Gertler and Igor Bragado in front of Alkaline Hydrolysis Curtain. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

Alkaline Hydrolysis Fluid Cremation System from Supreme Thermal. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

Upload Portal. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

Closer Each Day Text. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

Screen Shot Virtual Aftelife Upload Portal. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

No Philias No Phobias. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

CCTV Camera and Planter Box drawing. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

Ceremonial Spaceframe drawing. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

STI Alkaline Hydrolysis Machine drawing. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

Funeral Director's Office Back of House. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

Construction Site. "Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts. Image courtesy of Common Accounts.

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Igor Bragado, Miles Gertler. COMMON ACCOUNTS

Common Accounts is an experimental design studio based in Madrid and Toronto directed by Igor Bragado (Gernika, Spain, 1985. Lives and works in Madrid, Spain) and Miles Gertler (Toronto, Canada, 1990. Lives and works in Toronto, Canada). They explore situations where design intelligence is abundant but under the radar. Trained in architecture but working fluidly between art and design, they channel cultural, technological, and historiographical material into radical architectural proposals, using speculative fiction and drawing upon social narratives and practices from the past to project alternative systems and futures. They shape environments and consult, teach, and inquire into the immediate future of architecture. The studio’s output often materializes in reports, narratives, building, image, installation, and video.

The work of Common Accounts has been recognized with The Architectural League Prize, The Rome Prize from Real Academia de España en Roma, in T Magazine Spain’s 2019 list of influential designers, and in Platform Architecture‘s 2022 round up of 40 under 40 European design practices. Recent exhibitions featuring the work of Common Accounts include Foodscapes, The Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2023); Greater Toronto Art 2021 at MOCA (Toronto); A Section of Now at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (Montreal, 2021); or (Re)Design Death at the Cube Museum (Kerkrade, NL, 2020). Miles Gertler is Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream at the University of Toronto, and Igor Bragado is Adjunct Professor of Design at IE University in Madrid.

Igor Bragado

Igor Bragado (Gernika, 1985) is a Spanish architect, designer, and writer recognized for his critical and experimental approach to contemporary architecture. He co-founded the Common Accounts studio with Miles Gertler in 2016. His work explores the intersection of body, technology, and space, addressing themes such as fitness culture, cosmetics, and funerary rituals.

He has been awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome (2019), the Writing Prize of the Design History Society (2017), and the Suzanne K. Underwood Prize from Princeton University (2016). His work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Korea, and the Azkuna Zentroa in Bilbao. He has also participated in biennials and triennials in Venice, Istanbul, Toronto, Madrid, and Seoul.

Bragado has published in academic journals such as METALOCUS, Perspecta (Yale), Room 1000 (UC Berkeley), and Cornell's Journal of Architecture, and has written articles for publications such as Babelia (El País) and NEO2. He currently resides in Madrid and is a professor at IE University.

Jihoi Lee

Jihoi Lee is an Architecture Curator at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. She was the Curator of Imagining New Eurasia Project at the Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, Deputy Curator and Managing Director for Crow’s Eye View: The Korean Peninsula, and exhibition for the Korean Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale, which received the Golden Lion. Lee was also the Associate Curator for Before/After: Mass Studies Does Architecture at the PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul. She is a graduate from Columbia University GSAPP.

Published on: October 17, 2017

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metalocus, IGNACIO PEINADO

"The funeral back in the domestic realm of architecture in ”Three Ordinary Funerals” by Common Accounts" METALOCUS. Accessed

<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/funeral-back-domestic-realm-architecture-three-ordinary-funerals-common-accounts> ISSN 1139-6415