Detail of the project ed. 2016

chapel-of-rest / HOFRICHTER-RIT­TER Architects

Design­er  Ger­not Rit­ter, Veroni­ka Hofrichter-Ritter
Loca­tion  Graz
Design Team  

Ger­not Ritter
Veroni­ka Hofrichter-Ritter
Mar­tin Ritter
Franz Stiegler
Year  2011
Pho­to credits  

Karl Heinz Putz

Pho­to external

Project descrip­tion

“Father, into your hands I com­mend my spir­it” (Luke 23:46)
The chapel of rest for the Ste­in­feld ceme­tery is designed in the form of two curv­ing form­work ele­ments made of rein­forced con­crete and appear­ing as two care­ful­ly recep­tive hands. It is the cen­tre­piece of the redesigned Ceme­tery Cen­tre which was begun by the munic­i­pal parish of Graz under epis­co­pal vic­ar Dr Hein­rich Schnud­erl, con­tin­ued by Chris­t­ian Leib­nitz, the new munic­i­pal parish provost, and final­ly built to a design by Hofrichter-Rit­ter Archi­tects in 2011.
From the per­spec­tive of urban devel­op­ment the build­ing site had become a periph­er­al loca­tion due to the con­struc­tion of the new, exclu­sive­ly pedes­tri­an tun­nel under­neath the rail­way line. Upgrad­ing the site and, as a result, the Ste­in­feld ceme­tery was a mat­ter of impor­tance for Graz’s urban plan­ners. Con­se­quent­ly, the ceme­tery has regained its sig­nif­i­cance as a pub­lic space and park.
A new con­cept for tak­ing final leave of deceased loved ones has been devel­oped in dig­ni­fied and pleas­ant surroundings:
1. The chapel of rest serves as a chapel of rest and place of final bless­ing in one.
2. After the farewell cer­e­mo­ny the deceased is accom­pa­nied in a funer­al pro­ces­sion through a sep­a­rate entrance out of the build­ing to the bur­ial ground.
3. Due to increased demand on the part of the bereaved mem­bers of the fam­i­ly, tech­ni­cal mul­ti­me­dia facil­i­ties enable the farewell cer­e­mo­ny to be arranged in a high­ly indi­vid­ual way, if so required.
Depend­ing on the par­tic­u­lar choice of seat­ing arrange­ment, the chapel of rest can accom­mo­date up to about 100 peo­ple. In spe­cial cas­es larg­er funer­als can also be held by open­ing up the north­ern glass wall and by using the spa­cious dimen­sions of the open forecourt.

Illus­tra­tive project report
Down­load report

Pho­to internal

Tech­ni­cal drawings

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