Törnävä Funerary Chapel is based on the winning entry by Heikki Taskinen in an architectural competition held in 1972. The first stage of the graveyard and the service buildings were completed in 1974. The chapel was built in 1978­–79. The immediate surroundings and architectural background to the chapel consist of the old Törnävä graveyard, which was enlarged by building a new graveyard on a two-metre fill. There is an imposing tower church in the old graveyard area; the idea was to retain its dominating character and avoid building the chapel too close and also to avoid any features of form or material which might impair this character. The aim was a kind of “forest chapel”, though it is a fair-sized one.

In creating the form of the building, one aim was to arrange the volumes so as not to dominate the surrounding woods. On the other hand, as there are two chapels in the building, an attempt was made to give both the air of independent entities. This was achieved by placing the chapels on two sides of the oblong crematorium as if they were separate buildings.The building consists of two chapels, both with their own mortuary, and a crematorium which connects the chapels and has a closed reception-service yard with a bell-tower.

The choir and organ loft in the larger chapel are at the back, to provide the funeral service with the concentration and silence required.  There is space for 200 + 60 people in the larger chapel and 40 in the smaller one.

The bearing structures are reinforced concrete walls and pillars. The façades, partitions and cladding are smooth red brick. The floors are brick tiling. The ceilings are smoothed reinforced concrete, the windows and doors pine.

Source: Finnish Architectural Review 8/1980