Detail of the project ed. 2024

luther­an-mor­­tu­ary-chapel / Romania

Design­er Gábor Tóth­falusi
Loca­tion Ház­songárd Ceme­tery, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Nation Roma­nia
Design Team

Archi­tec­ture: TEK­TUM ARHI­TEC­TURĂ & ARTĂ
Lead archi­tect: Gábor TÓTHFALUSI
Archi­tect: István Lev­ente SZÖCS
Year 2023
Pho­to credits

Pho­to 1 Exter­nal, Pho­to 2 Exter­nal, Pho­to 3 Exter­nal, Pho­to 4 Exter­nal, Pho­to 5 Exter­nal, Pho­to 1 Inter­nal, Pho­to 2 Inter­nal, Pho­to 3 Inter­nal, Pho­to 4 Inter­nal, Pho­to 5 Inter­nal: Alexan­dru Fleșeriu

Pho­to external

Project descrip­tion

Sit­u­at­ed in the Luther­an part of Ház­songárd, a his­tor­i­cal ceme­tery estab­lished in the 16th Cen­tu­ry, in Cluj, the build­ing has been com­mis­sioned by the church to func­tion as its mor­tu­ary chapel and to host the offices for the Ház­songárd Asso­ci­a­tion, a small NGO focus­ing on the preser­va­tion of the cemetery’s built heritage.
Since the late 19th-Cen­­tu­ry build­ing part­ly occu­py­ing the site, in state of dis­re­pair, could not accom­mo­date a broad­er range of func­tions, the deci­sion was tak­en to have it replaced. While the façade had to be pre­served, at the request of the Mon­u­ments Com­mis­sion, the prox­im­i­ty of the tombs, paired with the need for cre­at­ing an out­door gath­er­ing space, allowed for the built area to be extend­ed with no more than an irreg­u­lar stretch along the prop­er­ty boundary.
Thus, as site con­straints shape the vol­ume, the build­ing emerges as a stone cleaved by cut­ting planes, an arche­typ­al image of the 19th-cen­­tu­ry mon­u­men­tal tomb. With the bel­fry unfold­ing over the orig­i­nal gabled wall, the roof dra­mat­i­cal­ly descends towards the oppo­site end, leav­ing just enough room for the stair­case to the base­ment columbarium.
Behind the dark grey mica-schist paint­ed façade, which par­al­lels the shim­mer­ing black mar­ble of the sur­round­ing tomb­stones, mat­te red brick envelops walls and roof­ing. The uni­form tex­ture of the facades, sparse­ly inter­twined with the oak of the entrance open­ings and the cor-ten of the main entrance can­tilever, pro­vides col­or and tex­ture, rein­forc­ing the building’s mon­u­men­tal­i­ty, while at the same time con­trast­ing with the sober, exposed con­crete cas­ing inside.
As the gran­ite cob­ble­stones of the front patio extend into the refec­to­ry, the inte­ri­or-exte­ri­or bound­ary fades when the mas­sive steel door slides open, expand­ing the cer­e­mo­ni­al space. The east-west ori­en­ta­tion of the plan allows the light to pen­e­trate through the upper glaz­ing of the tow­er, allow­ing the sun­beams to fall once more on the cof­fin dur­ing the funer­al mass.

Explana­to­ry report of the project
Down­load report

Pho­to internal

Tech­ni­cal drawings

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