Chia Ching Mausoleum
Álvaro Siza Vieira and Carlos Castanheira have designed a mausoleum as part of Chin Pao San Cemetery in Taiwan.
Silence
We climb a gentle path to get there.
We are absorbed by silence as we contemplate this endless and ethereal space.
Again, here function determines the space. Open and endless.
At the centre, the family gathers around the memory of their loved ones.
The space is formed by a ceiling that hangs from columns on which a low dome sits, asserting hierarchy and tradition.
Timeless, in the contemporary reading of a place of respect, memory and gratitude.
The massiveness of the exposed concrete and the stone create space and function and open these to the landscape and to infinity.
Silence tells stories and evokes Life as it advances through the finiteness of time and space.
Everything else is intimacy.
Carlos Castanheira
