Margam Crematorium

Margam Crematorium is a complex of modernist buildings constructed in the 20th century. The design is notable for its use of exposed concrete, the arrangement of geometric forms, and contrasting single-pitch roofs. The main buildings feature ribbed, rusticated concrete, while the connecting structures utilize irregular cast concrete surfaces.

The complex is organized around the main chapel building. A covered entrance is located on the northeast corner, with a covered waiting area to the side, providing shelter and privacy for mourners arriving from the crematorium car park to the east.

To the west of the main chapel is an office and support range, with an incinerator stack to the southwest. An enclosed courtyard is formed by the angle of the chapel and office range, and is screened to the south by a wall that connects to the smaller Chapel of Remembrance to the southeast. A covered walkway links the exit from the main chapel, in the northwest corner of the courtyard, with another covered walkway on the east side, leading to the Chapel of Remembrance and providing a return exit to the crematorium car park.

The main chapel, together with the incinerator stack, are the dominant features of the crematorium. The chapel has a dual-pitched roof, higher than the rest of the complex, steeply angled to the south and gently sloping to the north, terminating in a ramped pediment on the entrance side. A portico is attached to the northeast corner. The north wall features a band of windows, with four central horizontal windows and a block of three tall vertical windows to the right, and five irregularly arranged windows to the left.

A service wing, set back and lower, extends to the west, with an entrance on the north side and a long elevation of mainly tall vertical windows facing west, extending past the incinerator stack. A screen wall wraps around the southwest corner, enclosing the south side of the central courtyard and the Chapel of Remembrance at a higher level as a series of panels with breaks between them.

The Chapel of Remembrance echoes the design of the main chapel, with a steep monopitch roof angled to the south. Its south wall is entirely a dalle de verre panel (broken coloured glass). A long, plain, covered walkway encloses the east side. Inside the courtyard, the south wall of the Chapel of Remembrance, which features dalle de verre panels and angled clerestory lights, dominates the view.

Inside the main chapel, the sloping ceiling is dark timber boarding and the south wall is glazed. Angled clerestory lights are positioned above a plain band with dalle de verre panels below. The Chapel of Remembrance features a multi-coloured dalle de verre window, a polished floor, a narrow boarded sloping timber ceiling, and plain concrete walls.