Space Crunch Leads to Sky Towers for The Dead

When space is at a premium for the living, how do we accommodate our dead?

The answer lies in the same way we have solved the problem for the living - by building sky high towers or cemeteries. Many countries including Japan, Brazil, Norway and India already have towers to accommodate the dearly departed in the nether world. Israel is another nation trying this option to overcome the crunch in burial space.

After initial hesitations it seems the ultra-orthodox rabbis have also given in to the inevitable practical solution.

"The source of all this is that there is simply no room," said Tuvia Sagiv, an architect who specializes in dense burial design, reports the Associated Press. "It's unreasonable that we will live one on top of the other in tall apartment buildings and then die in villas. If we have already agreed to live one on top of the other, then we can die one on top of the other."

Sagiv is the architect behind 30 planned vertical structures, which will provide 250,000 more graves without taking any land space and also grant the region another 25 years of breathing room.

"It takes some getting used to," he admitted to the Associated Press.

Brazil's Memorial Necropole Ecumenica, is a 32-story high rise and the world's tallest tomb, which rents out space yearly and where private memorial rooms cost $105,000. The building also has a chapel, lagoon with gardens and a small restaurant, according to the weburbanist.com

New Orleans in the United States already has stacked cemeteries because the water table is too near the surface making it difficult for underground burials. Mumbai in India has a Moksha tower for burials. Hong Kong has built tiered cemeteries on its hillsides.

Paris and Mexico City are also considering this high rise option.