mjl
22-06-2006, 22:39
Designed and constructed between 1969 and 1978, the Brion Monumental Tomb in San Vito d'Altivole near Treviso as described by the architect, Carlo Scarpa:
"A person had died, in Italy, and his family wished to commemorate the life of a man who had made his way up from the street, or as we say, from the 'mess-kit', meaning, from the ranks; a man who had become important through his work. [...]
I would have been completely satisfied with a hundred square meters to work in, but instead there were twenty-two hundred square meters. The owner certainly had to build an enclosure wall! [...] So I built what you have seen.
I decided to put the tomb here, the sarcophagi, one might say. For the tomb, a place in the glorious sunlight, and here: panoramic vision. The deceased had asked to be near the earth, because he had been born in this place. And so I decided to build a little arch, which I shall call the 'arcosolium' ('arcosolium' is a Latin term used by the early Christians). In the catacombs, important personages or martyrs were buried in a more expensive manner, which was referred to as the 'arcosolium': it was nothing more than a simple arch, like this. It is lovely than two people who loved each other during their lives on earth should bend one toward the other to exchange greetings in death. They could not have been erect because that is the position of soldiers. This became an arch, a bridge: a bridge made of reinforced concrete, an arch made of reinforced concrete would have remained a bridge; in order to eliminate this sensation of a bridge, it was necessary to decorate it, to paint the vault. Instead I used mosaic, which is in the Venetian tradition, interpreted in my own manner, which is a different manner.
The great lane of cypress of trees which leads to the cemetery is in the Italian tradition: it is a journey of course. Architects are full of journeys. This course is called 'propylaeum;' it means door in Greek, entrance, this is the portico. One begins from here: these two eyes are the vision. [...]
In order to justify the enormous space, I thought that it might be useful to have a little temple to make it more funereal, funeral is such a horrible word! Still too big; so then we raised the terrain so that I could see out. From here I can see out and from outside no one can see in.
And so: tomb, family members, relatives, little temple, altar. [...] Here a private lane leading to a pavilion on the water, the only private object: this in brief, is all.
The place of the dead has the feeling of a garden.[...] I wanted, however, to render the natural sense of the concept of water and field, water and earth: water is the source of life."
(From P. Duboy, "Scarpa/Matisse:cruciverba," in F. Dal Co, G. Mazzariol (eds.), Carlo Scarpa: Opera Completa, Milan, Electa, 1984, pgg. 170-171).
This must be a difficult translation; however, it does effectively capture an idiosyncratic method of describing architecture--not far from the architects's colored pencil drawings. (See Carlo Scarpa a Castelvecchio (http://www.archiviocarloscarpa.it/web/disegni.php?lingua=e))
Getting there: I cannot help you with this as I do not remember how I found my way there; these numbers were found on the internet, I am not sure if they are reliable.
Cemetary Attendant: Marcolin Giuseppe Tel. 0423 564200 Mobil +39 340 2332716, Via Lovigioni, 30 - 31030 San Vito d'Altivole (TV) Opening times: 8 - 20 from 1 April to 30 September and 8 - 17.30 from 1 October to 31 March
The following photos were taken with a Canon RebelXT. I am not an architect and perhaps looking for different objects than you in built work; forgive me if I do not move through the building as an architect. If you have any questions about the work please do not hesitate to ask.
This will mark my first post on PPB, though I have been reading most parts of the forum for about a year; to those in charge, and those who contribute, congratulations on a remarkable achievement.
M
Just to complement your post, here is the .kmz location, unfortunantely low -res but with the street names (turn "streets" on).
It is located in a small town called San Vito d'Altivole , about 30 km to the north west of Treviso, on the 30 of Via Lovigioni, a 1km street.
PRIMO
"A person had died, in Italy, and his family wished to commemorate the life of a man who had made his way up from the street, or as we say, from the 'mess-kit', meaning, from the ranks; a man who had become important through his work. [...]
I would have been completely satisfied with a hundred square meters to work in, but instead there were twenty-two hundred square meters. The owner certainly had to build an enclosure wall! [...] So I built what you have seen.
I decided to put the tomb here, the sarcophagi, one might say. For the tomb, a place in the glorious sunlight, and here: panoramic vision. The deceased had asked to be near the earth, because he had been born in this place. And so I decided to build a little arch, which I shall call the 'arcosolium' ('arcosolium' is a Latin term used by the early Christians). In the catacombs, important personages or martyrs were buried in a more expensive manner, which was referred to as the 'arcosolium': it was nothing more than a simple arch, like this. It is lovely than two people who loved each other during their lives on earth should bend one toward the other to exchange greetings in death. They could not have been erect because that is the position of soldiers. This became an arch, a bridge: a bridge made of reinforced concrete, an arch made of reinforced concrete would have remained a bridge; in order to eliminate this sensation of a bridge, it was necessary to decorate it, to paint the vault. Instead I used mosaic, which is in the Venetian tradition, interpreted in my own manner, which is a different manner.
The great lane of cypress of trees which leads to the cemetery is in the Italian tradition: it is a journey of course. Architects are full of journeys. This course is called 'propylaeum;' it means door in Greek, entrance, this is the portico. One begins from here: these two eyes are the vision. [...]
In order to justify the enormous space, I thought that it might be useful to have a little temple to make it more funereal, funeral is such a horrible word! Still too big; so then we raised the terrain so that I could see out. From here I can see out and from outside no one can see in.
And so: tomb, family members, relatives, little temple, altar. [...] Here a private lane leading to a pavilion on the water, the only private object: this in brief, is all.
The place of the dead has the feeling of a garden.[...] I wanted, however, to render the natural sense of the concept of water and field, water and earth: water is the source of life."
(From P. Duboy, "Scarpa/Matisse:cruciverba," in F. Dal Co, G. Mazzariol (eds.), Carlo Scarpa: Opera Completa, Milan, Electa, 1984, pgg. 170-171).
This must be a difficult translation; however, it does effectively capture an idiosyncratic method of describing architecture--not far from the architects's colored pencil drawings. (See Carlo Scarpa a Castelvecchio (http://www.archiviocarloscarpa.it/web/disegni.php?lingua=e))
Getting there: I cannot help you with this as I do not remember how I found my way there; these numbers were found on the internet, I am not sure if they are reliable.
Cemetary Attendant: Marcolin Giuseppe Tel. 0423 564200 Mobil +39 340 2332716, Via Lovigioni, 30 - 31030 San Vito d'Altivole (TV) Opening times: 8 - 20 from 1 April to 30 September and 8 - 17.30 from 1 October to 31 March
The following photos were taken with a Canon RebelXT. I am not an architect and perhaps looking for different objects than you in built work; forgive me if I do not move through the building as an architect. If you have any questions about the work please do not hesitate to ask.
This will mark my first post on PPB, though I have been reading most parts of the forum for about a year; to those in charge, and those who contribute, congratulations on a remarkable achievement.
M
Just to complement your post, here is the .kmz location, unfortunantely low -res but with the street names (turn "streets" on).
It is located in a small town called San Vito d'Altivole , about 30 km to the north west of Treviso, on the 30 of Via Lovigioni, a 1km street.
PRIMO