Park Cemetery and Crematorium Temple Chiesanuova

Prato, Itália 2012 (Competition)

The Design Competition for the Park Cemetery and Crematorium for the new Temple of Chiesanuova, (2012), commissioned by Commune di Prato, Italy, intended a project in which existing structures, the redevelopment within the perimeter of the cemetery, the surrounding areas and new buildings are integrated and constitute an organic system of architecture and landscape.
The landscape architecture proposal consisted on designing a park (3.7ha) structured from the rhythm of the clerestory which allows the entrance of sky and light in the Crematorium temple, project of Architect Jorge Mealha. The trees are major elements of this project, while defining spaces and allowing symbolisms – link between life and death, regeneration, ephemerality, strength.
A network of trees alignments is created, broken by perpendicular paths out of alignment, generating different areas to serve the various functions. Although without the rigidity of the existing cemetery, it is also possible to read a grid, closer to the scale of the surrounding agricultural fields.
Protecting the Park from the road, there’s an edge of trees and shrubs, along which a path, when needed, extends to create staying areas, from which emerge perpendicular paths, allowing people to walk, contemplate and access the different areas of the Park.
The project of the park included the establishment of altimetric dimensions, definition of paving and street furniture materials, stereotomy and construction details and definition of plantation plan (species and distribution).