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Detail of funerary niches and elevated walkways. "The Cemetery of San Cataldo was a turning point in the life and work of Aldo Rossi," said Portuguese architect Diogo Lopes, author of the recently published Aldo Rossi monograph Melancholy and Architecture. His appropriation of elements from this preceding architectural style coupled with the adoption of a muted blue and terracotta colour palette is distinctly Postmodern in its approach. View from within the column-lined walkway. The design, which took place in two phases between 1971-8, draws on the detailing of the adjacent Neoclassical cemetery in a way that Modernism would have rejected. While Rossi had previously completed several Modernist-influenced projects in the 1960s including a housing scheme in Milan, the cemetery is his first project to reflect Postmodern aesthetics and values. Photograph by Maria Lucia Lusetti and Paolo Tedeschi Regimented openings puncture the walls of the ossuary cube. He hoped to put into practice the urban theories he had laid out in his 1966 text Architecture of the City, in which he stated that architecture should be embedded within the existing fabric of the city. Rossi had actually set his sights on another project and had been working on his entry for the 1971 Centre George Pompidou competition, which was eventually won by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, but a serious car accident just weeks before the deadline hospitalised Rossi and scuppered his bid for the Parisian arts centre.ĭuring his recuperation Rossi refocussed his attention on a competition for the expansion of the Neoclassic San Cataldo Cemetery in Modena. Terracotta-coloured rendering covers the walls of the ossuary cube. He later became the first Italian recipient of the Pritzker Prize in 1990. It was Rossi's first major public appointment and was to bring him fame outside Italy for the first time in his career, opening doors to projects in America, Japan and in other parts of Europe. The architect formulated his initial designs for the expansion of the cemetery with his colleague Gianni Braghieri. Related story The Dezeen guide to Postmodern architecture and design While he is better known for his built works, Rossi wrote for Italian architecture magazine Casabella throughout the later part of the 1950s and published texts on urban theory in the 1960s and 1990s. Rossi was born in Milan in 1931 and studied architecture at the city's polytechnic university, graduating in 1959. Buildings with steel blue roofs enclose the cemetery. Set within a courtyard on the outskirts of Modena, the ossuary is covered in terracotta-coloured render, while the perimeter buildings that enclose the courtyard feature steely blue roofs. Photograph by Diego TernaĪmerican architecture critic Charles Jencks, who defined the movement in his 1977 book The Language of Post-Modern Architecture, viewed Rossi as one of the leading Postmodernists and regarded the cemetery as the Italian architect's most important project.Īt the centre of Rossi's design is a cube-shaped ossuary for housing remains and a conical tower that marks a communal grave. Ossuary cube viewed from the cemetery courtyard. Rossi once declared that "I cannot be Postmodern, as I have never been Modern," yet his cemetery for Modena displays the strong colouring, bold form and historically referential detailing that became synonymous with the movement. Postmodern architecture: San Cataldo Cemetery by Aldo Rossi Buildings with steel blue roofs enclose the cemetery.The warm-toned facade of the ossuary contrasts the cool blue roofs of the surrounding buildings.Benches are positioned around the base of the cemetery walls.Concrete trusses are left exposed across the roof structure for the pitched-roof buildings that enclose the courtyard.View from within the column-lined walkway.Regimented openings puncture the walls of the ossuary cube.
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Ossuary cube viewed from the cemetery courtyard.Terracotta-coloured rendering covers the walls of the ossuary cube.