Joseph Barnes

Project Description

The Topography of Memories builds on the tradition of burial grounds placed outside, but in proximity to, the fortified settlement. Rather than acting as a place of physical internment set into consecrated ground, this proposal seeks to offer dignity and ritual to a secular form of remembrance.

Caught in the visual field of the city gate of Puerta de San Vincente to the west and Hermitage of Humilladero to the east, The Topography of Memories ritualises, through discrete optical moves, a sectional connection between the intimate examination of artefacts of deceased friends and relations placed relic-like within a subterranean columbarium and the expansive, aerial views back to the city of their past life.

The columbarium cuts down to the lower ground and bedrock upon which the adjacent Basílica de San Vicente is founded and revealed within its crypt. Above, at the level of the plaza, a series of spaces arrange the programmes of eulogy, registration, archive and wake. At this level, there is a loggia-like veil of transparency where visual connections are formed between spaces – acknowledging but not disturbing the activities within. A raised deck reimagines the public space of the plaza and looks back towards the city gate. From here, a belvedere emerges as a counterpoint to the campanario of both hermitage and basilica and gazes back to the city. Cut into the deck are deep camera-like wells of light that illuminate the granite memorial topography below.

This project was completed in part collaboration with Maria Tan and Carl Harris