New access and columbarium in Robregordo
The project located in Robregordo´s cemetery, in Madrid´s mountain range, satisfies the need of the cemetery enlargement.
The access to the cemetery, since its last intervention, does not have any cover place to wait for the arrival of the coffin and the ashes. The preexisting access consists in three main elements: the gate of entrance, the perimetral wall made of irregular granite blocks as a limit between outside and inside, and two cypresses symmetrically placed in the entrance to the cemetery. The aim of this proposal is not only to enlarge the cemetery with a strict budget by placing twenty-one new columbaria, but also to offer a covered entrance for the users to give them refuge against the inclemency of the weather. The project is solved with a volume of white concrete formworked with wood boards, flying over the old granite stoned wall as a pergola , containing the first row of seven columbaria. A beams system supports the pergola and creates a light and shadow play over the old wall during the day. The concrete volume is separated from the wall, allowing a horizontal separation lighting up the access during the night. On the other side of the door remains one of the cypresses, as a mourning symbol. The verticality of this cypress against the horizontal character of the pergola enhances the tension between this two elements in both sides of the entrance.
This new volume not only generates the main access but also establishes a dialogue with the traditional access on the other side of the cemetery through the roof composition and the tension between the supports of the two elements, new and old, offering a new reading of the original entrance. From this concrete volume hangs a corten-steel box containing two rows with seven columbaria each one. It is separated not only from the old stoned wall but also from the concrete slab, enhancing the tension between the elements made of different materials. The three rows of columbaria have the same geometry, despite the different material used in each one. The surface that encloses the columbarium is set back from its façade allowing a window box with enough space to place flowerplots, not only for small plants, but for all kind of flowers. The width of the concrete beams are used, in the corten steel box, as metal lockers allowing the storage of cleaning utensils and the water for the flowers and plants placed in the columbarium. The tape has a mailbox-shaped lock for its conservation. The last intervention in the site consists in two benches placed in both sides of the wall, allowing the users to rest while gazing at the surrounding landscape. The new columbarium establishes a new landmark in the surroundings as it satisfies the need of enlargement the cemetery.
