Inversion of Time reimagines Liverpool Westfield, a bustling commercial zone, as a quiet, underground sanctuary where architecture becomes a medium for ritual and reflection. The design inverts the usual temporal experience: visitors arrive in daylight, descend into shadow, and gradually return to light. Inspired by Étienne-Louis Boullée’s Cenotaph for Newton (1784), the project relies on contrasts, silence, and the choreography of light to evoke a sense of stillness and emotional depth.

Set within an area already marked by sacred architecture, highlighted by the presence of several nearby churches, this project offers a secular yet spiritual alternative: a public sanctuary. Its functions include a funeral hall, exhibition gallery, workshop auditorium, and facilities for funeral management. Together, these spaces provide for individual contemplation as well as communal gathering, integrating memory, learning, and creative engagement.

At ground level, a landscaped park connects to Liverpool Westfield’s roads and integrates an underground passage from a nearby church. A new Memory Wall stretches along the Westfield façade, transforming an otherwise neutral boundary into a public space of remembrance and reflection.

Below ground, three distinct levels, dedicated to farewell, process, and remembrance, mirror the emotional stages of grief and renewal. The final ascent into the park above symbolizes continuity and life beyond loss. Through its use of light, silence, and spatial progression, Inversion of Time encourages visitors to slow down, feel the weight of time, and rediscover calm amid the city’s constant motion.