Tempio crematorio

Prato, Italy - 2012

"Atomo irrisorio, sperduto nel cosmo inerte e sconfinato, l’uomo sa che la sua febbrile attività è soltanto un piccolo fenomeno locale, effimero, senza significato e senza scopo. Sa che i suoi valori valgono soltanto per lui e che, dal punto di vista siderale, la caduta di un impero o la rovina di un ideale equivalgono alla distruzione di un formicaio sotto il piede di un passante distratto" (J. Rostand, L’Homme, 1962 )

The complex of the new crematory temple is configured as a plot of pure, white parallelepiped volumes gently resting on the lawn and arranged in a hemicycle around an internal garden dedicated to the extreme greeting. In this space of reflection is placed the sculptural work of the artist Tomaino, the House of All, a bronze fusion that embodies the infinitesimal particle from which the human being starts and returns in its existence. The work, an archetypal form, preciously kept in the walled garden, is configured as the master volume of the entire architectural complex. The contrast between the pure forms of the crematorium and the jagged lines of the hills in the distance, the visual glimpses that from the interior spaces project towards the patio and, beyond the wall, towards the distant landscape aim to stimulate, in a circular path of distance and return to oneself, an emotional dialogue between man and nature.