The Best Columbarium Niche Size
Februrary 2011

When you purchase a columbarium, it needs to fit your requirements. With a columbarium niche, the primary requirement is usually to accommodate the cremains of one or, more commonly, two adults. There is also sometimes a derived requirement to conserve space.

A common size for a columbarium niche is 8x8x12 inch. This niche has the advantage of being compact. However, relative to its purpose of holding urns, it is less functional than larger niches. It will fit very few commercially available urns and even fewer for double inurnment.

A memorial garden can accept the limitation on urns or even require the use of a specific urn. It is important to communicate either approach to potential niche buyers. Some families may prefer a choice of urns. The memorial garden also will have the responsibility of ensuring availability of viable urns.

Toward the other end of the columbarium niche size spectrum, a 12x12x16 inch niche will accommodate the majority of commercially available urns. Based on Architarium’s survey of metal and stone urns, an urn’s height is the dimension that most impacts niche fit. The average height for a rectangular urn is between 7.5 and 8 inches. Round urns tend to be even taller, with an average height of 10.5 inches.

Of course, the 12x12x16 inch niche requires more space in all directions. A larger niche also requires more construction infrastructure. Although the relative increase in construction cost won’t be significant, it still exists. To its credit, this niche allows more text and larger text for visibility, given its larger face plate.

When deciding on columbarium niche size, it is useful to understand cremain volume. A rule of thumb is that 1 pound of human mass equates to 1 cubic inch of cremains (actually a little less). The majority of adult urns accept a volume in the vicinity of 220 cubic inches. However, it is possible that an individual be larger and require larger urn.

It is also useful to know a little about urns. Urns are made of different materials and shapes. Some materials are thicker, requiring more space. For example, given a stone urn and a metal urn with the same capacity, the stone urn will require more space. Some shapes make more efficient use of space than others. For example, rectangular urns are very efficient in this regard. However, round urn styles easily outnumber rectangular urn styles.

Architarium has full production capability and can manufacture whatever columbarium niche size you require, including 8x8x12 inch and 12x12x16 inch. You can even use a mix of niche sizes in your design for maximum flexibility.

Instead of trying to determine the columbarium industry’s niche standard or even a columbarium manufacturer’s columbarium standard, select the columbarium niche size that fits your needs.