European Landscape Architecture: Best Practice in Detailing

Detailed description
The special atmosphere of the cemetery is distin-
guished by the construction details and materials.
These are best described by taking a virtual walk
through the site, beginning with the old cemetery
exit in the south-east and going northwards across
the four burial islands.

The new funeral hall and its entrance area, designed
by the architects Andreas Meck and Stefan Köppel,
form the link between the old cemetery and the
new one. The new funeral hall’s entrance court lies
directly – but not exactly centrally – in the main
visual and functional axis of the old cemetery.

The hall has a strong design relationship with the
cemetery, but neither element is weakened by the
other.^22 The three essential construction materials
which give the cemetery its character and colour
are introduced here: concrete, gneiss from Stainz
in Austria (a natural stone which changes from
grey-brown to rusty brown through its iron-oxide
content) and corten steel, which has a protective
layer of rust and harmonises perfectly with the
gneiss stone. In a few individual situations, oak
becomes the fourth material. The rust-brown tones
of the natural stone and the steel provide a lovely
complementary colour contrast to the vegetation.
Red colours dominate around the funeral hall, green
in the cemetery.

The gneiss is found in layered masonry walls and

as polygonal pavers in the ground. The surrounding

walls of the funeral hall’s court take on the material-

ity of the building: to the outside, a masonry wall;

to the inside, the quiet surface of a poured concrete

wall, which is also characteristic of the bell tower.

The heavy, honourable-looking gates are made of

corten steel and are meant to remind one of the

heavy cast-iron gates of old village cemeteries.^23

A linear gravel pathway leads from the funeral hall,

directly to the first grave island. In the centre of the

island, the path bends northwards leading to the

second and third island. The gates of each island

can be locked.

In the centre of the first island there is a cross

sculpture by the Munich artist, Hermann Biglmayr.

Four oak trunks carry a mighty gneiss stone plate

and define a cruciform open space below.^24 The

different confessions, for which the cemetery is

intended, are hereby respected.^25

Each grave island presents itself outwardly with

colourful and blooming sloped areas. To the inside

and to the grave areas, the islands show the closed

surfaces of the layered masonry walls. These appear

comfortably dimensioned so that one can see over

the walls into the surrounding landscape.^26 The

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The most important material: Austrian gneiss, here

combined with oak

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The ‘double-faced’ surrounding wall

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The quiet concrete surface of the bell towers

The New Cemetery, Riem