One of Carlo Scarpa's most iconic and seminal built works (and a project so close to his heart that a space in it was saved for his own use) was the Brion family cemetery.
Scarpa (1906-1978) designed the Brion-Vega in San Vito d'Altivole, near Italy's Treviso, as an extension to the family's existing cemetery. The architect developed the geometrical concrete composition over a 10-year period, with works finally reaching completion in 1978.
The L-shaped plot includes a complex of five buildings; a small chapel, the entrance hall, a small steel-and-wood pavilion on an island in the site's water pond, the main tomb, and an open-air structure covering the graves.
Behind the scenes for W*114, August 2008
Aiming to create a poetic resting place as much as a sculptural memorial in a green, calming garden, Scarpa used well-thought-out design features; for example, the cemetery walls are not higher than the surrounding field's plants, discreetly merging the structure into the landscape.
Within the site, there is also a small island with no apparent access for visitors, which perhaps works as a metaphor for the afterlife.
The architect himself rests, vertically, in the cemetery walls, after passing away in 1978 during a trip to Japan – the same year that his last masterpiece was finished.
Carlo Scarpa’s Brion-Vega cemetery, San Vito d’Altivole, Italy
Scarpa also designed a pond for the L-shaped site
The open-air structure that covers the graves
Reflection of the main tomb in the cemetery’s pond
Detail of the geometric concrete masonry
Detail of the geometric concrete masonry
Detail of the geometric concrete masonry
The architect himself is buried within his masterpiece
The main tomb
Inside the small chapel
Behind the scenes of our W*114 fashion shoot in Scarpa’s Brion-Vega cemetery
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