City Cemetery St. Martin

Linz, Austria

Photo © Josef Pausch

Architects: Heidl Architekten

Location: Wiener Bundesstraße 101, 4050 Linz, Austria
Year: 2008

The redesign of the funeral chapel and service areas of the St. Martin City Cemetery in Linz demonstrates Heidl’s ability to not only ensure functional order in a spatially differentiated structure, but also his skill at creating great atmospheric density despite the reduction to just a few carefully selected elements, materials and colours. The architect uses thresholds to convey that one is entering a place of tranquillity, having visitors cross through a birch grove to give them time to adjust to the new surroundings. He generates different zones and moods by setting an open area in front of the ceremonial hall where people can gather before the burial ceremony, making this zone seem somehow lighter by distancing it from the organic terrain and the main building. The interior radiates a sense of peace and serenity with its uniform surfaces and modulated light and colours. If there is a symbolic meaning behind this, it is one that is open for different interpretations. Karin Tschavgova: »Zwischen hier und dort«, Die Presse, 5 November 2011 (excerpt)