HOUSE OF SORROW BREZNO | n/a bradnansky halada

HOUSE OF SORROW BREZNO

CONTEXT

 Our competition proposal for a new House of Sorrow and cemetery extension is based on the local context of cemetery areas. The Old cemetery has a characteristic wall on the east, which separates it from the surrounding world. This element is also present in the new cemetery. In the wall of the Old cemetery there are four gates, entrances to various confessions. Some are just gates; others are almost houses. The New cemetery works with a similar motif, the entrance is a covered agora lined with two buildings that are part of the cemetery wall.

WALL - GATE - HOUSE

We propose high distinctive WALL as a clear delimitation and a GATE to the cemetery through a HOUSE. These are the attributes that we transmit as a specific code of the place and history of the town Brezno and we develop them through a contemporary architectural language, needs and demands.

We separate the eastern edge of the cemetery from the surrounding civil space by a WALL. It is, similarly to historical cemeteries, formed by an uninterrupted continuous solid wall that delimitates the burial field. The proposed WALL is set back from the road to the west to create sufficient traffic space and distinct parking and entry zones covered with trees and paved with stone.

There is a GATE in the WALL that becomes a HOUSE. Linking the world of living with the world of the dead. The gate is a partially covered atrium where you can decide on the directions of your journey. Either visit the burial fields behind the wall or enter the House of Sorrow between the walls.

The movement in the HOUSE is a procession, a journey from the entrance light of the GATE / courtyard to the lights of the atrium/hall - small or large. The HOUSE allows several types of ceremonies – exterior one (in the covered courtyard in the GATE) and interior ones (in a small hall with various intimate layouts for a small mourning group or in a large hall for larger ceremonies). In addition to the atrium, the halls also have the spatial attributes of an upper skylight and a soft roof. The large hall is vaulted with a series of compressed barrel vaults and the small hall has a quarter-circle skylight. In addition to the interior spatial and light effects, these elements are also exterior features indicating that the WALL is also something more.

The walls of the HOUSE are designed not only as a simple envelope, but with their materiality they create the character and aesthetics of the house. The walls are designed as either rammed earth structures or as monolithic concrete sandwiches cast into molds with soft unperfect walls. The molds are corrugated to create markedly textured and pigmented surfaces. Coarse structures and non-orthogonal surfaces have the task of softening the light and acoustics of the room.

LANDSCAPE - A PLACE OF ETERNITY

We perceive the environment of the cemetery as a place of eternity, where we who live, constantly return to honor the memory of our ancestors, and loved ones. In this context, the material environment is especially important for us the living, the descendants, and relatives. However, it also includes the perception of the material atmosphere and the transfer to the intangible space of memories and meditations.

We divide the landscape of the new cemetery and the House of Sorrow into two basic principles. The spaces, atriums, and yards within the WALL and the concept of burial fields.

The House of Sorrow contains two atriums, a grassland and a columbarium. The small atrium is dedicated to overexposed planting, which is supposed to the intensity emotions. The great atrium is airier and reflects a shift to reconcile yourself with the situation and the mourning. There is a meadow field for scattering the ashes that is designed as an abstract shaded area of ​​the living and the dead, which consists of growing trees and dead tree torsos. The columbarium, on the other hand, is a sunlight flooded space with a centrally placed significantly flowering element.

We define the burial fields our intention to acknowledge the graves. We try to open a discussion about the volumetric presence of the tombstones. How to get to balance between the privateness of the grave and its relevance to an overall calm atmosphere of the cemetery. This approach creates space for the establishment of a layer of solitary trees, which will create the atmosphere of a "park" in the future. At the same time, they function as a background with a bench, a water source and flowering plantings for meditation and maintenance of the grave site.

In the Slovak context, this is a challenge, so we are looking for tools to keep our innate individuality at a healthy level.