Nora Ames
Case Studies in 20th Century America
Heather Woofter
December 6, 2004
Igualada Cemetery
Enric Miralles
At the Igualada Cemetery in Barcelona, Spain, Catalonian architect Enric Miralles
achieves a design that recognizes the historic topography of the site and integrates man-made
structures in a manner that not only is consistent with the historic topography but also
accentuates and provides contrasts to the strongest structural elements of that topography. The
result is a new topography which consists of natural and man-made elements linking program to
place and creating an experience for people. The works of Japanese architect Tadao Ando and
Italian artist and sculptor Alberto Burri also create unique experiences for people by emphasizing
the relationship between landscape and man-made elements.
Miralles marries a site’s topographical information with the program to form a union
between the existing and the newly constructed. This process creates an experiential place
which enhances the human connection to nature. Recognizing the site and the context, whether
urban or non-urban, is dominant in Miralles’s designs, “Therefore the site, be it natural landscape
or urban grid, in the open air or part of an existing building, retains its original quality throughout
the design” (Zabalbeascoa, 11). The program, represented by man-made structures, is
integrated with the natural environment and enhancements of that natural environment. A
relationship between the natural and the man-made occurs, “Linking the program with a sense of
place, time and presence” (Zabalbeascoa, 13). The site and the structures control and enrich
one another, and this interplay can be experienced in the completed design. A similar approach
is taken by Tadao Ando and Alberto Burri in their responses to site and context, but the
connection to the site and experiential qualities differ in their works.
The design of the Igualada Cemetery demonstrates that Miralles understands the
importance of careful study of the existing topography and the historical and cultural context of
the site as necessary prologue to design. Miralles’ approach reflects the statement by David
Thoreau that “there is a subtile [sic] magneticism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it,
will direct us aright” (Thoreau, 1). The site of the Cemetery is the outskirts of an industrial area in
Barcelona. Before the development of the Cemetery, the land was untouched by man and only
the dramatic elevation changes in the topography spoke of the land’s previous use as a river
valley. The history of the site is important to Miralles in the design of the landscape and the manmade structures for all of his sites, including the site of the Cemetery, “Indeed Miralles defines the
history of the buildings not just as the history of their own construction, but as the history of their
sites” (Zabalbeascoa, 10). The geology of the land holds the memories of the forces and the
events that created a landscape with powerful topographical variation set within a back drop of
mountains. The past is critical to discerning the future design, “a new building should relate to the
memory of the land” (Zabalbeascoa, 10). Miralles considers the natural gesture created in the
land as he excavates the existing topography for the purpose of accentuating the natural features
and integrating the man-made structures.
The programmatic elements at Igualada Cemetery are minimal, yet each element
contains significance for both the living and the dead. The site contains a chapel, mausoleum
and burial niches connected by a pathway with trees and other natural vegetation. Miralles did
not want to create a memorial for the dead, but rather a park where the living can journey among
the dead.
The natural landscape of the site and the programmatic elements of the Cemetery come
together in Miralles’ design of Igualada Cemetery. Miralles’ approach is to create a conversation
between the existing environment and the constructed environment, “It brings into play both
definitions of man-made and natural. . . . His architecture can thus be considered architecture of
the land that involves humanization of the program and appreciation of the topography”
(Zabalbeascoa, 9). The relationship allows for both the topography and the man-made structures
to be enhanced by one another for the creation of a human experience.
The site and the man-made elements converge in the sinking of the structures of the
Cemetery into the topography. The submergence of the ground gives the entire site the feeling of
being untouched while also maintaining the significant ideas of the program. The importance of
the pathway, referred to as the valley of death, becomes apparent as the structures become part
of the landscape, “Here, open spaces are confronted with closure, as the living are with the dead”
(Zabalbeascoa, 18). The valley begins at ground level and descends below ground level. The
carving gesture corresponds to the remains of the river bed, bringing the valley to life again.
Miralles’s vision of the living journeying among the dead also is achieved by a design which
causes visitors to pass the burial niches as they down move along the pathways, “The
‘necropolis’ has been transformed from a city of the dead into a park where the living can stay
awhile and walk alongside the place of rest of their deceased loved ones” (Zabalbeascoa, 18).
The pathway plays a dominant role in bringing the living to the dead, as well as evoking the
memory of flowing water. (Zabalbeascoa, 18). A visitor descends into a place in which the living,
humans and plants converge with the nonliving. The dead who are buried in the Cemetery also
become part of the memory of the land.
Miralles further integrates the site and the structures by incorporating the surrounding
environment in the overall experience of the Cemetery. The mountain scenery visible from the
site is brought into the architectural composition created in the valley, “Miralles has integrated
architecture and background” (Zabalbeascoa, 11). Incorporating a distant scene into the
composition of a garden is a Japanese landscape technique known as shakkei (“borrowed
scenery”).
The existing landscape is redefined at the Igualada Cemetery by elements of the
structures that contrast with the site, as well as elements of the structures that correspond to the
site. In conflict with the natural topographical lines, Miralles inserts strong linear lines containing
the burial niches; these lines cut through the site and constitute forms that both oppose and
reinforce that which is naturally occurring, “At the Igualada Cemetery the existing topographical
order was framed and enhanced by the use of angular lines and trenches” (Zabalbeascoa, 11).
The design of the burial niches, canopies and retaining walls, however, relate to the environment
into which they have been imposed, providing the perception that the forms have always existed
in the landscape. Miralles’ design also remains true to the curvature of the natural topography as
enhanced by his excavation. He mimics these curves on a large scale as demonstrated by the
“overall sinuous layout of the project” (Zabalbeascoa, 21).
Miralles achieves coexistence
between harsh contrasts to the natural topography and a winding gesture that more closely
corresponds to the historical geology.
The materials used in the structures of the Cemetery also connect the structures to the
natural environment of the site and its surroundings. The defining properties of concrete create a
contrast between the site and designed structures. Soil, rocks and green vegetation have
opposing properties to concrete, yet the monolithic qualities of the concrete enhance what is
already present in the land. The concrete does not try to blend in with the earth, but the material
generates engaging forms and merges into the landscape in an unobtrusive manner. Miralles
also uses metal throughout the Cemetery, a material that corresponds to the natural environment
of the site as it ages. The metal used on the lamps, plaques and mausoleum doors will rust over
time. The continual changing of the qualities of the materials reflects the cycle of life, a concept
that is also present in the regrowth of trees and other vegetation, “The transformation of materials
is at the very heart of the meaning imbued in the cemetery, implying that this place for the dead is
in fact a living place, which is developing and changing…” (Zabalbeascoa, 20). As time passes,
the connection between the structures and the site will become stronger because of the materials
used and the interaction between nature and the structures.
At the Igualada Cemetery, the strong relationship between the historical landscape and
the newly created landscape and structures allows humans to be encompassed so that the
connection between humans and nature occurs. The man-made structures insinuate themselves
into the natural environment, and the design-directed movement through the Cemetery creates
opportunities for humans to not just come into contact with nature but actually be subsumed by it
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as they walk through it. The created environment takes on the attributes of the natural
environment in evoking human emotion, much as David Thoreau felt the connection between
nature and personal calmness, “In wilderness, he believed, we can find not only serenity, but
sanity” (Stabb, 1). In his essays on walking, Thoreau showed his understanding of how
movement through the natural environment can evoke emotion and encourage self-reflection and
thought. This perception of the effect of nature as enhanced by the physical act of walking
provides another way of understanding the Igualada Cemetery.
Miralles’s uses the connection of structure and site to enhance the experience of visitors
while walking among the dead. Instead of an abrupt shift from being in a space for the living to
being in a space of the dead, Miralles uses the pathway as a slow transition, allowing the living to
walk among the dead (Zabalbeasco, 17). In Miralles’ approach, a continual decent past the burial
niches to the mausoleum occurs, controlled and directed by the pathway and the aging of the
site, “This humanizing, and to some extent anti-idealist, quality in such a highly symbolic space
was achieved by the architecture activity working with the environment, creating a setting in which
movement is constantly evoked” (Zabalbeascoa, 21). The descent is from ground level into the
sub-terrain where the human is subsumed in the environment as well as being surrounded by the
dead.
The integration of site into the meaning and experience of a program incorporating both
the living and the dead is present in the work of Tadao Ando and Alberto Burri. The ChikatsuAsuka Historical Museum designed by Ando and the series of works by Burri at Cretto present
parallels to the concepts evidenced in Miralles’s work. Each of Ando and Burri obtains an
understanding of the history and cultural context of the site before engaging the program into the
site. The integration of the existing and the newly created occurs, but the human experience
formed by each man through the connection to the land is different.
At the Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum in Japan, Tadao Ando illustrates a
consideration of the topography and the human experience in relation to the site’s history and
program. The rich history and cultural significance of the Kufun Burial mounds of ancient Japan
dating from the 5th and 6th century are preserved and highlighted through Ando’s structure. The
structure serves as a plaza and viewing area on the roof and a museum and exhibition space in
the interior. The enclosed museum mimics the actual burial mounds. The structure grows from
the hillside, responding to the topography of the land, as well as respecting the ancient tombs,
“…my proposal was to create an environmental museum that incorporates not only the tumuli
scattered around the site but the natural environment of the burial mounds” (Ando, 1). The roof
becomes a pathway to view the burial mounds. The pathway Ando has created ascends up and
out of the natural ground. Ando controls the pace at which the visitor experiences the
surroundings through the stepped surface, forcing people to move rhythmically up each step
(Appendix A).
Alberto Burri transforms the ruins of an old town into a work which respects both the
historical context and the ability for visitors to experience the former place of the town of
Gibellina, Spain, destroyed by an earthquake in the Belice river valley in 1968. As an artist and
sculptor, Burri had produced a series of works titled Cretti in which paste was set to dry, creating
cracks and narrow openings; the natural splitting of the paste occurred independently of any
further act by the artist. This concept was proposed on a larger scale on the destroyed Gibellina
through the use of concrete to provide a means to remember the town, “The concrete masses
solidify a moment in time when the old town existed” (Hill, 1). The Cretto (named for ceramic
craquelure) responds to the existing site, the town in the form in which it existed after its
destruction by the earthquake. The ruins of the buildings are encased in concrete, leaving the
streets as paths “it still seems to evoke the life that every day took place there” (Cupua, 1). The
visitors experience the ruins by walking within them. The history of the place is integrated with the
man-made structures that surround the visitors as they walk (Appendix B).
Miralles’ approach to the integration of site and program are illustrated in a basic way in
the representations. In the first representation of the Igualada Cemetery, the emphasis is placed
on the strong linear lines that cut through the site in contrast to natural curving topography and
the valley of death descending into the earth. The diagonal lines highlight the notion of
enhancing the natural topography. The form and the man-made properties of the linear lines
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contrast with the natural forms of the excavated path, “His excavation of the valley location of the
Igualada Cemetery creates, then, a kind of threshold between the newly created and the existing
landscapes” (Zabalbeascoa, 11).
The contrast between the site and the structure are
represented through use of different materials.
A second element incorporated in the representation of the Cemetery is Miralles’ concept
of the relationship between the living and the dead. The pathway, serving as a means for visitors
to walk among the dead, extends back. The back of the representation is meant to be viewed
along with the front, illustrating Miralles’ concept of the “interplay between the living and the dead”
(Zabalbeascoa, 17).
The final representation explores the naturally-existing site, the man-made elements, and
their relationship to one another at the Igualada Cemetery. The layered material in the
representation makes a connection to the many layers of the topography surrounding the
Cemetery. The separation of each layer in the representation emphasizes the importance of each
elevation change in conceiving the entire site, especially the cutting away of land to produce the
descending valley. The layers are also symbolic of the layering of time into the landscape before
the introduction of the Cemetery, as well as the regrowth of the natural environment as time
passes.
The path and the linear lines represent two of the man-made intrusions into the
landscape. The central pathway is produced by the gradual cutting away of the area on each
layer, so that when all the planes are laid on top of each other, the pathway appears to have been
excavated from the land (Appendix C). The site of the Igualada Cemetery is a dried up river valley
and, by carving the pathway into the ground, Miralles brings the valley to life once again as
visitors descend into the ground. The gradual recession of material in the model represents the
descent, an emphasis on a natural removal of land, “Miralles himself recalls trying to imagine the
trace of a giant’s fingers along the land in an attempt to visualize how the site might be
excavated. . . .” (Zabalbeascoa, 21).
The linear lines contain most of the programmatic elements of the Cemetery. The
gesture appears to be subsumed within the layers of the ground. The linear lines become a part
of the existing site by cutting through each layer of the topography. The layers of the model are
held together by the lines and the lines are held in place by the layers (Appendix D). A
relationship has been formed similar to the way in which the natural topography is enhanced by
the use of linear lines of structure at the Igualada Cemetery. The way in which the structure is
integrated gives the appearance that it has been a part of the topography since the beginning,
“While the forms Miralles has incised into the natural landscape can be powerful, severe even,
they nevertheless respond to the topography, existing within a scheme of things, which allow
them to appear as if they had always existed in their respective locations” (Zabalbeascoa, 11).
The linear lines and the excavated pathway of the model represent how the newly created is
integrated into the already existing site.
At the Igualada Cemetery, Enric Miralles achieves a union between the naturally existing
and the newly created through the use of natural characteristics of the site, structural forms,
borrowing of surrounding landscape and use of materials. The importance of the Igualada
Cemetery, however, rests on three central elements. First, human experience is integral to the
design. The designed environment—including both the natural and man-made components—
draws visitors down the path and into engagement not only with the designed environment but
also with the dead. In this manner, the Igualada Cemetery fulfills its purpose of providing a place
in which the dead are remembered and the living find a peaceful place. The second element is
the balance that Miralles creates between conflicts with and convergence of natural topography
and man-made alterations and structures. Tadao Ando stated that “The aim or architecture is
always the creation of an environment where the logic of nature and the logic of architecture are
in fierce conflict yet coexist” (Ando, 460). As depicted in the representation, the pathway is
carved into the earth, emphasizing the convergence with the natural topography. The linear
structures are in opposition to and conflict with the natural curvatures of the site, but they appear
as if they have always existed on the site because they are submerged into the layers of the site
and the representation and become the unifying element of both. Finally, the Igualada Cemetery
shows Miralles’ understanding of the historic nature of the site and the integration of that
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understanding into the design. The importance of this understanding is described by Ando,
“Architecture delivers a place’s memory to the present and transmits it to the future. . . .
Architecture differentiates nature, and also integrates nature. Through architecture, nature is
reduced to its elements and then drawn into unity. Thus nature is architecturalized, and man’s
confrontation with nature is defined” (Ando, 460). At the Igualada Cemetery, nature is truly
integrated into the design, so that the memory of the place and the memory of the dead are
experienced by the living.
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Appendix
Appendix A
Appendix B
6
Appendix C
Appendix D
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Works Cited:
Anatxu, Zabalbeascoa. Igualada Cemetery Enric Miralles and Carme Pinos. Phaiden Press Limited.
London 1996.
Ando, Tadao. “Nature and Architecture.” Afterword. Dal Co, Francesco. Tadao Ando Complete Works.
Phaiden Press Limited. London 1995.
Di Cupua, Maria. “The Cretto by Burri” Sicilia Indettaglio It.
<http://sicilia.indettaglio.it/eng/comuni/tp/gibellina/turismo/turismo.html>
Hill, John. “Cretto.” A Weekly Dose of Architecture. 29 November 2004.
http://www.archidose.org/Apr00/041700.html.
Stabb, Mark. “Simply Walking.” The Thoreau Reader. 31 August 2004.
http://eserver.org/thoreau/simply.html
“Tadao Ando Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum.” Arcspace.com. 12 May 2003.
< http://www.arcspace.com/architects/ando/chikatsu_asuka.htm>.
Thoreau,
Henry
David.
“Walking.”
The
<http://eserver.org/thoreau/walking2.html>
8
Thoreau
Reader.
31
August
2004.