The IAA Academician Alberto Campo Baeza has made the design for a new tomb on a small plot within the Capoluogo Cemetery in S. Doná di Piave in Venice.
The project called “il cielo in terra”, a piece of heaven on Earth, is a reinforced concrete cube of 3x3x3 m, empty and full of shadow, with six strategically oriented apertures allowing solid rays of shifting sunlight. Piercing each face of the cube, the light transforms the interior into a luminous atmosphere. The opening through the roof is oriented toward the sun, interrupting the shadow and penetrating the volume along the diagonal of the cube.
The openings will let in light and air, as well as wind, rain and snow, the stars and even birds. With the holes set at the corners, two of its sides are in continuity with the adjoining walls. The other two sides show the strong thickness of the concrete.
The cube will be supported on a podium in the same concrete that will be flush with the podiums of the adjacent constructions, but the inside floor of the cube and that of the outside will be on different planes.
In the geometric center of the shady cubic space, supported by four fine steel cables, hangs a bright white marble 60x60x60 cm cubic urn. Its face expresses an engraved cross filled with gold and serves to hold ashes like a roman cinerary urn.
On the main facade closest to the access path, the creators open a concrete door which, when closed, maintains the integrity of the coplanar surface. The adjacent corresponding aperture maintains a consistent view toward the floating marble white cube to the interior.
https://www.designboom.com/architecture/alberto-campo-baeza-cielo-terra-venice-tomb-11-03-19/
https://www.campobaeza.com/2019-il-cielo-in-terra/