German Design Award 2016

The enlargement of the Gubbio cemetery is the result of studies of a new model of public building. On the one hand, it has developed the latest phase of growth of the monumental cemetery in Gubbio, one of Italy’s most important medieval cities. On the other hand, it intends to redefine its meaning and centrality within the structure of the city.

The plan is in an urban structure consisting of linear stereometric blocks arranged in such a way as to reflect the rural layouts that characterize the surrounding landscape and the historic city.
This concept of urban settlement is emphasized by the inclusion of large square enclosures designed to be open spaces that provide the structure with spatial rhythm.
These spaces were inspired by James Turrell’s Skyspaces and are designed to be enjoyable public areas, independently from the cemetery, offering an opportunity to pause and reflect. These are cubic“squares of silence” having open ceilings that evoke windows open to the sky.
The sky thus framed opens the mind to the reign of the invisible, allowing sight and thought to abandon Mother Earth’s gravity and acquire a more aerial and spiritual dimension.

This relationship with the sky intends to define space that is also time, in such a way that you can find yourself again, a space that thrusts the horizon upwards like a metaphor of the boundaries of heaven, the last horizon of our life in a modern city. At the same time, opening to the sky, it re-interprets Leon Battista Alberti’s window, a window that is like a threshold, imagined by the great Renaissance architect as the only architectural artifice able to “instil the peacefulness” evoked by the celestial void that, descending from above, takes us back to the imperturbable state of the soul without which overcoming the adversities of life is impossible.

The atmosphere of these “Squares of silence” is made more suggestive by a series of permanent site-specific artistic installations that capture the changing effects of light and shadow from dawn to dusk. These installations were created by two important Italian artists (Sauro Cardinali and Nicola Renzi), with whom collaboration began during the initial stage of the project.
This contribution, strongly linked with architecture, helps to define a new space for silence and meditation within the city.






Credits

Project:
Andrea Dragoni,
with Francesco Pes

Collaborators:
Andrea Moscetti Castellani
Giorgio Bettelli
Michela Donini
Raul Cambiotti
Antonio Ragnacci
Cristian Cretaro
Matteo Scoccia

Client
Comune di Gubbio

Site-specific art work
Artists: Sauro Cardinali, Nicola Renzi

Structural design
Giuseppe Artegiani, Marco Bacchi

Plants Design
Italprogetti (Moreno Dorillo, Elvisio Regni)

Safety coordination:
Claudio Pannacci

Director of works
Francesco Pes, Paolo Bottegoni

Maquette:
Giuseppe Fioroni

Dati progetto
Surface area: 4035 mq
Construction area: 1800 mq
Overall volume: 6000 mc

Chronology
Design: 2004-2005
Execution: :2005-2011

Location
via del Crocifisso, Gubbio; 43°20’31,04” N, 12°35’46,08” E

Die Erweiterung des Friedhofs von Gubbio ist das Ergebnis einer neuen Modellstudie öffentlicher Gebäude. Der Entwurf wurde mit geometrischen Blöcken realisiert, die sich perfekt in die Umgebung einfügen und dabei den historischen Charakter der Altstadt widerspiegeln. Ähnlich einer Stadt gibt es auch hier öffentliche Plätze unter freiem Himmel. Diese von James Turrell inspirierten, kubischen Skyplaces bilden eine zusätzliche spirituelle Dimension. Ein schöner, Ruhe und Harmonie ausstrahlender Ort, der das Thema Friedhof neu interpretiert.