Can we design the End?

HIT’s Industrial Design Department, in collaboration with the "Aley Shalechet" ("falling leaves") Funeral Home, held a unique conference dedicated entirely to the design experience of the end of life.

The conference hall on campus was a-buzz with students, designers and creators, all wanting to participate in this fascinating event which focused on one of the most difficult, frightening and unsettling topics in the world - death. 
The conference "THE END – End-of-Life Experience Design" is the result of a collaboration between the two entities – the Industrial Design Department, and "Aley Shalechet". 

"Over the course of the year, students from the Design Faculty are invited to participate in an innovative and thought-provoking course called "Good End". The course presents them with the challenge of mediating the end-of-life experience through the design process, without fear of talking about it or turning it into a taboo " says Galina Arbely , a lecturer in the Faculty of Design and host of the "Sof Tov"( Good End) course.

End-of-life is not a subject dealt with much or the first topic to come up in conversation.  But it is one of the issues that we, as designers, are obliged to discuss, just as we touch on every other aspect of life," said Ofer Zick, head of the Industrial Design Department and added that “the tools acquired by students as part of this course can also help them in other stages in life and in dealing with issues that are difficult to put into words or writing".

The lecture series was opened by Mein Eben and Guy Weintraub, the creators of the successful musical "The End". The show deals with a scientist who wonders about the nature of Death and the need for it, and finally, closes a deal with it. "Through the humor in the musical, we were able to touch on the taboo topic of death.”  Weintraub and Eben say that the reactions they received after the play, from people who experienced grief in their immediate circle, was amazing and many of the viewers found that "a humorous approach to such a tragic issue is what makes it accessible."

Another lecture by the designer Limor Schnormacher reviewed the world of children's literature which relates to death and the end-of life.  She presented several examples of successful children's books that mediate the experience of the end-of-life for young readers.

In addition, during the conference, two graduates of the Industrial Design Department, Lior Bar and Gil Moscona, showcased their projects on the end-of-life experience. Bar presented his project called "Israel 2050", which simulates the future phase in which there is a shortage in land for construction, and cemeteries integrate into the landscape as green parks.