Imagine cemeteries becoming forests instead of fields of gravestones. That is the idea behind Capsula Mundi, an Italian design concept that reimagines burial using a biodegradable, egg-shaped pod placed beneath a tree.
The concept was created by Italian designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel. Instead of using a conventional coffin, the body would be placed in a fetal position inside a biodegradable capsule and buried in the soil. A tree would then be planted above it.
As decomposition takes place, nutrients from the body eventually return to the surrounding soil, where they can become part of the ecosystem supporting plants, fungi and microorganisms. In that sense, the idea isnโt that a person literally โturns into a tree,โ but that the materials that once made up the body return to nature and can become part of new life.
There is an important detail behind the viral images, though: the full-size human burial pod pictured here has largely been presented as a design concept/prototype, while Capsula Mundi has commercially offered smaller biodegradable urns designed for cremated ashes.
Still, the philosophy behind it is beautiful: instead of leaving behind a stone with your name on it, you could leave behind a living tree.
Source: Capsula Mundi / Anna Citelli & Raoul Bretzel.