Pale sandstone partitions carry a “heat and welcoming” really feel to this columbarium in a cemetery in Radom, Poland, which has been accomplished by native studio BDR Architekci.
Positioned within the centre of Radom Municipal Cemetery – one of many largest cemeteries in Poland – the columbarium has 2,000 storage niches for funeral urns, organised throughout six chambers that encompass a central open-air chapel.
The chambers are enclosed by sandstone-clad partitions of various heights and designed by BDR Architekci to supply area for “peaceable reflection” with out spiritual references.
“We tried to not check with symbolism or search for metaphors,” BDR Architekci co-founder Konrad Basan instructed Dezeen.
“We centered on the perform, the fabric, the proportions. We wished to construct a spot open to individuals, stuffed with greenery, with its personal construction and order,” Basan added.
The positioning is accessible from all instructions within the cemetery, with paved routes weaving between every of the chambers and round curved areas of planting.
In every of the open-topped chambers, 4 partitions stuffed with niches encompass a central area with timber and a bench. There’s additionally a gap resulting in the central chapel.
“Creating such a big columbarium required area organised in a transparent and welcoming approach,” stated Basan. “That is why we divided such a big burial space into six smaller chambers, giving it a way of intimacy.”
Constructed with a concrete construction, the pale sandstone cladding of the complicated was chosen on account of its locality to Radom and its use on the facades of many necessary buildings within the metropolis.
Alongside the brand new chambers, BDR Architekci additionally clad an current Eighties pre-burial home with matching sandstone to unify it with the remainder of the complicated.
“We wished it to be heat and welcoming, but in addition for the stonemasons’ craftsmanship to be evident in the way in which it was lower and laid,” defined Basan.
“Because of this, the columbarium clearly contrasts with polished black marble tombstones [in the surrounding cemetery],” he continued.
Within the open-air chapel, a wall encompasses a verse from The Laments by the Renaissance writer Jan Kochanowski who lived close by.
“The one component that was consciously designed to hold any particular message was using a quote from lament quantity eight,” explains Basan.
“It appears that evidently the columbarium is an acceptable background not just for it however notably for the course of a funeral,” he stated.
BDR Architekci was based in 2015 by Basan, Paweł Dadok and Maria Roj and is predicated in Warsaw.
Different cemetery initiatives featured on Dezeen embody a customer centre for the Netherlands American Cemetery by Kaan Architecten and a ceremonial corridor at Longshan Cemetery in China.
The pictures is by Jakub Certowicz.
Undertaking credit:
Architect: BDR Architekci
Crew: Konrad Basan, Paweł Dadok, Maria Roj, Michał Rogowski
Investor: Municipality of Radom
Structural engineer: TMJ Projekt
Companies engineer: Joanna Szczudlik
Electrical engineer: Jarosław Maleńczyk
Panorama architect: La.Wa Architektura Krajobrazu, Łukasz Kowalski
