Ortona Cemetery by Giovani Vaccarini
Here's our second project from new online architecture guide MIMOA: a cemetery overlooking the sea at Ortona in Italy by architect Giovanni Vaccarini.
The project was completed last year.
Below is text from the entry on MIMOA:
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This project envisaged the extension of an existing cemetery complex -built for the commemoration of World War I victims- by adding a final element, visible from both land and sea. The 280 new recesses are organized, like the old ones, in parallel lines. The funerary buildings are inserted between the lines in a comb pattern.
One line, perpendicular to the rest, marks the periphery of the complex on the sea side. In order to avoid a monolithic or monotonous look, the architect alternated the closed volumes with open spaces, which makes the complex considerably lighter. Social space is enclosed in volumes built in hard materials, circulation space in volumes plastered in an unusual pink colour for the stairs, and white for the corridors.
Every time the walls are interrupted by a path or empty space, it provides a scenic view towards the sea, inviting the visitor to pause. Ortona Cemetery is a 'sottovoce' in the loud choir of contemporary architecture.