People are reluctant to talk about death. However, death is going to happen, so it is important to discuss the topic while people still can. Discussing death on a more regular basis is beneficial for all people involved. End-of-life conversations can be held to discuss wishes and decisions concerning death and dying. However young adults do not feel the urgency. They can discuss subjects in relation to the end of life. These conversations can help to reflect on life, help to learn to support each other when needed and are meaningful for all people involved. In short, it can improve the quality of life and the end of life. Therefore, it can as well be beneficial for young adults to talk about death.

The goal of this project is to discover what can be designed in the context of Museum Tot Zover, in order to stimulate young adults to talk about death more often. The following design goal is formulated for this project: “I want young adults to feel stimulated to engage in conversations with friends about death, by fantasizing about afterlife, learning that talking and thinking about death can be enjoyable.”

Literature reviews and a field study have been conducted to gain background knowledge on the topic, explore the context and understand the young adults, in order to design a concept that reaches the design goal. The field study consisted of a survey filled in by young adults. In addition, interviews were conducted in order to find deeper understanding behind the results from the survey. From the field study could be concluded that young adults associate death with negative emotions as sadness, loss, insecurity and fear. They fear the impact their death has on loved ones, are worried to suffer from mental illness or experience physical pain at the end of life. Moreover, they are not ready to die just yet. They are still young and therefore do not feel the urgency to talk about death in this stage of their lives. Conversations about death are perceived as difficult and uncomfortable.

On the base of the study an Immersive Experience is designed which aims to create a positive association with death in order to stimulate young adult friends to talk about death. The installation is called: The Space To All Places. When entering The Space To All Places, visitors make the transition from life to death, entering the surrealistic world of the dead, where they rise above the clouds and are stimulated to fantasize and talk about their vision on an afterlife. The concept is tested with young adults, who all reacted positive on the experience. It is a positive experience that sparks interest in the topic ‘death’ and in each other.

This concept is designed for Death ceremonial museum Tot Zover and hopefully and incentive for other researchers and designers to help change people’s attitude towards death.