A Place of Memory
In small village settings, always burdened by budget constraints, the most frequent choice is the positioning of blocks of aggregate niches (commonly called columbaria). This action is emergency and therefore almost never planned.
Lack of planning creates random choices, which alter spatial perception and create proportions similar to those present in city structures in which the visitor wanders through narrow streets and tall “buildings” that do not reflect the soul and usual proportions of small Sardinian centers.
The cemetery is the place of memory where our loved ones rest and it is for this reason that both its design and organization must be based on respect for the life of the deceased to whom homage is paid.
Following this logic, the creation of a space that is both monumental and intimate,
scenographic and intimate at the same time, was favored.
This result will be achieved by placing the columbaria close to the walls to obtain a central area dedicated to ground burials (divided as per the provisions of the law between the deceased belonging to religions other than Catholicism).
Perceptually, this area will represent a void, a visually free area in which the green essences will recreate the natural environment.
In this way, from every position, it will be possible to enjoy the entire structure, collected and enclosed by the protection of the courtyard walls.
The cemetery is located a short distance from a busy provincial road, a source of pollution, especially noise.
This aspect, considered inconsistent with the place itself, was the generating element of the design of the expansion of the cemetery: a place "protected" from the road by a wall, an acoustic barrier that protects from the noise of the nearby infrastructure and which also constitutes the main entrance (parallel to the road itself): crossing it you immerse yourself in another place, another reality.
Through the openings, gates and fences placed along the sacred perimeter, you can see the place to which the cemetery itself belongs: the town (Pauli Arbarei), the jars of Gesturi and Siddi, the Tradula stream.
After passing the entrance you can immerse yourself in the silence and peace that the commemoration of memory requires.
The architectural layout is that of a courtyard house: at the ends the long rows of burial niches that close the enclosure, in the center the areas dedicated to various burials on the ground.
The enclosure is therefore nothing other than the succession of C-shaped blocks within which the niches will be placed. For the construction of the enclosure, a split architectural block was used with an exposed face that amplifies its monumental effect.
A cross was carved on the wall - entrance partition, plastered and chromatically different from the blocks.
