Lakewood Garden Mausoleum seeks to preserve the character of the historic landscape while creating dignified burial and commemoration space for as many as 10,000 people. With so much of the building program tucked into the hillside, considerable open space is conserved and visual impacts on the natural beauty of the surroundings were mitigated. Mature tree cover was preserved through air spading, root pruning and shoring with sheet piling. A new accessible green roof extends the open lawn of the surrounding cemetery with traditional benefits of carbon reduction, reduced cooling loads, generation of oxygen, heat-island reduction, and maximizing runoff infiltration. The building is oriented east-west to maximize solar exposure.
Innovative storm water strategies were implemented maximizing on-site infiltration. No impermeable parking areas were created as a result of this development reducing storm runoff volume and rates. All parking is accommodated on existing surrounding cemetery roads. An on-site well was preserved reducing potable water use for irrigation. Numerous large trees and shrub/groundcover areas were planted to increase shade thereby reducing loss of water due to transpiration and evapotranspiration, improving water use efficiency.
Locally-sourced granite with high albedo properties was used for the majority of landscape uses and on all paths in the lower garden. Site lighting was minimized to reduce light pollution.