Swan Point Cemetery:
Analysis + Reinterpretation + Democratization
Swan Point Cemetery is Providence's most significant example of the mid-19th century Rural Cemetery Movement, the city's largest green space, and the final resting place of many Rhode Island elite. Tasked with updating the rural cemetery for future use, this landscape architecture proposal increases access and sustainability in the cemetery by reprogramming its edge spaces for public use and introducing natural burial into the cemetery's last remaining free spaces. 
 Urban analysis demonstrated a huge diversity of uses of Providence's green belt along the Seekonk River (above). The cemetery was then divided up into three zones (outlined in yellow below): the forest edge (top left), the working cemetery (middle left), and the historic core (right).
The Forest Edge
Currently a dense forest, this area has the most potential for radical reuse of the cemetery. A new pedestrian entrance winds through the forest, using a combination of paved and raised wooden paths to welcome new and existing programs into the cemetery edge.
Path Programs 
The Working Cemetery
The modern portion of the cemetery - and the only area currently in use - is latticed by wide, paved roads that privilege cars over pedestrians. This proposal reclaims secondary paved roads as space for recreation.
The Historic Core
Closed to new burials, the historic core of the cemetery houses monumental statuary and burials dating back 150 years. Here, lit-up stations, new pedestrian paths, and historic plaques help to interpret this space for a public audience. 
Evening Experience - Use of Light
While the cemetery currently closes at dusk, the new public programs would continue into the night through a system of highly-calibrated lights that program spaces for most public and most private use. Below, coded public (bright light), semi-public (softer light), and private (dark) functions are accomplished by density in tree cover, while the same spaces are coded by artificial lights in the evening.