What is it?
In Memoriam is a two-part home system designed by Ony Yan. Its purpose is to detect a death in a house where someone lives alone. Then it communicates it to the neighborhood through a lamp installed at the main entrance. The other part of the sensor, installed inside the house, detects odors that get released during the decomposition of a body. Once detected, the lamp at the entrance will light up and signal that someone inside the house has passed away.
Why is it created?
The anonymity in big cities leads increasingly to cases where deceased are not discovered for weeks.
The designer herself experienced a tragic case in her own neighborhood, where someone died and their body wasn’t discovered until much later when it had started to decay. She became familiar with other such cases of death which inspired the creation of In Memoriam.
This system prevents the traumatic experience of unexpectedly discovering a dead body. At the same time, it encourages the neighborhood to take social responsibility and see the death of a community member as a shared loss that should be treated with respect.
Ony Yan believes in the social nature of humans, which is why she is creating a scenario that would encourage a community to come together and independently work out how to help someone who has died rather than ignore the incident.
Why does it have future growth potential?
The discovery of a dead body often leads to trauma, especially when family or friends have found it. Yet, research in Germany estimates thousands of these death cases per year. That leads us to the question: What if we could be aware of these death cases sooner?
The smell detectors, designed by Ony Yan, analyze the organic compounds during possible decomposition and pass the signal for the community to be aware of a death case.
All around the world, we see light where there is grief. With In Memoriam, light can be the messenger.
“In Memoriam translates as ‘to remember someone’. At the moment when the signal lamp is lit, the light not only serves as a signal for the house’s community but also symbolically remembers the deceased person.”
Ony Yan
7 comments
Tender symbolic tool, Mihaela. But I don’t think many people will buy it and hang it on their walls. Just In Case.
Personally, I think that you are right as well as wrong. Right in the sense that it is better to just be in touch with each other in a community instead of just leaving people lonely. On the other hand, this device shows that we want to know how others are doing. Because it serves as a security tool. The installation gives the person who will die some rest: they know they will be discovered. The caretakers/community members do not have the traumatic experience of finding a dead person in a home. Then the light is a sort of communal grieving moment. How do you think about this?
This concept could work if the government forces it for elderly homes or something similar
I find it a good idea to know if someone died with the help of a home system but i think no one would buy this by themselves but maybe if it is done in a community
In my opinion, this product can be bought by community or welfare department of Government, as a social care for the elderly. Aslo, this product inspire me that the sensor can be improved to Infrared heat sensor , which can be more efficient / quickly to detect the situation of death than odors sensor. Anyway, it’s a good touch point to humantity.
This is so cool. It I like that it can be applied worldwide. We have similar cases in South Africa. I rate it would be more impactful if the alert went straight to hospital and authorities much like 911 calls go directly to the police. Once everyone is aware of this, there can be an immediate investigation upon sight as the body is being taken to the morg. This is next level!
I think initiatives like this one are interesting as they are about connection, shared loss and respect for people. I can see this popping up in lots of neighbourhoods in the future. Cool indeed