The notion of death gives us the shivers and thinking about what will happen to our body after we die makes us even more uncomfortable. Although in some countries burial methods are strictly determined by religious canons, some countries allow people to make the decision about the conduct of their funerals. How you ever thought over your funeral? Would you like to be buried or cremated?
One of the recent alternatives to conventional burials or cremation is the biodegradable urn with seed. According to this method developed by Bios Urn, ashes of the deceased are put in a biodegradable urn with a seed and buried in the ground. Thus, a tree grows up from the ashes of the deceased.
Designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel moved this idea one step further and developed the Capsula Mundi concept, which uses an egg-shaped biodegradable pod that contains the body in a fetal position. This pod is buried under the ground together with a tree planted over the top of it. The roots of the tree surround the decomposing body and use its nutrients to grow.
Although the Capsula Mundi is still a design concept, the creators hope that their project will replace stony cemeteries with lush, green gardens in future. They describe the process as follows:
“The tree is chosen when the person is alive, relatives and friends look after it when death occurs. A cemetery will no longer be full of tombstones and will become a sacred forest.” 
Photo credit: Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel / Capsula Mundi