From Architecture to Death Work: Designing Spaces for Life's Final Transition
Article from Texas Architect magazine, Vol. 75 Issue 5, Fall 2025, The Sanctuary Issue
When I tell people about my career path—architect → change manager → organizational development specialist → death doula—reactions vary. Some look puzzled. But increasingly, people pause and say: "That makes perfect sense."
Because it does. Each role shares the same foundation: observing environments, listening to people, identifying gaps, and improving the human experience.
What Is a Death Doula?
This week, I discovered the article Toward a Landscape of Presence by Leah Gundrum, a landscape architect and volunteer end-of-life doula, that perfectly captures this work:
"I have learned that my role is not to fix or to solve, but to create presence: to hold silence when words are not enough, to offer ritual when time feels fractured, and to remind families that grief is not an interruption of life, but part of it."
End-of-life planning isn't about solving death—it's about honoring the journey with intention and care.
Rethinking Cemeteries and Green Burial
Gundrum's article explores how we've distanced ourselves from death over the past century. What once happened at home with family support now typically occurs in hospitals. Similarly, cemeteries have been relocated from city centers to isolated spaces.
But this is changing. Recent Texas legislation now permits cemeteries within city limits again. Gundrum examines global examples where burial grounds "become vital spaces where memory, ecology, and renewal are held in balance, and where life is honored just as fully as loss."
The Ecology of Death
As designers committed to sustainable practices, we carefully consider our environmental impact during life. But have you thought about the ecology of your death?
Green burial and natural burial practices offer environmentally conscious alternatives that:
Reduce carbon footprint
Preserve natural landscapes
Create meaningful community spaces
Honor both life and loss
Building Community Around Our Shared Mortality
Death is the one experience that unites us all. What if we designed spaces and practices that brought communities together around this shared human experience rather than isolating it?
End-of-life doulas help families navigate this transition with presence, ritual, and dignity—just as thoughtful design shapes how we move through physical spaces.
What are your thoughts on integrating death awareness and sustainable burial practices into community planning? I'd love to hear your perspective.
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