BENT Architecture designed the Gallery of the Saints Mausoleum extension to form a site-specific, engaging, and respectful memorial structure where space, culture, and belief are formative in the experience of emotional healing.
The BENT Architecture design approach draws on the experiences of the preceding mausoleum stages at Keilor.
The BENT design offers an innovative, first-principles interpretation of site and program in order to create a purposeful, contemporary mausoleum of the highest quality.
In a break from the formality of the existing mausoleum, the new structure was envisaged by the BENT design team as a mausoleum in a garden.
It is a covered, unenclosed building that takes its cues from nature.
Crypt cores are laid organically across the site and a new design language is established; one of permeability and choice.
The edge condition of the existing building is dissolved in the new mausoleum to welcome visitors through multiple circulation paths which are punctuated by the landscape.
An organic arrangement of crypts provides a number of diverse spatial experiences that result in mini-communities co-existing within the mausoleum.
Tandem double, side-by-side double, and single crypt arrangements are interspersed throughout the mausoleum, offering further flexibility.
The materiality of the mausoleum extension is embedded firmly to place.
Inspired by the basalt plains upon which the cemetery sits, bluestone cladding, a material synonymous with the cultural and civic heritage of Melbourne, affords the mausoleum extension with a sense of both familiarity and monumentality.
Marble crypt shutters provide a subtle contrast to the materiality of the bluestone crypt cores; they assist with reflecting natural light within the mausoleum galleries.
Shifting setbacks along the southern edge of the structure create an engaging interface with the in-ground burial plots to the south.
They allow cemetery landscape and program (seats, water tap, and the like) to permeate the mausoleum site, creating a reciprocal relationship between the new extension and its broader context, and adding much-needed greenery in an otherwise sparse setting.
Landscape plays a significant role in the spatial experience of the mausoleum, with planting designed to ground the structure and connect it to surrounding gardens.
A river of mainly low, softly coloured plants run along the base of the facility to the south, with bridging points allowing planting to cross into the interior of the mausoleum, permeating crypt galleries.
Plants have been chosen for colour harmony, form, and resilience.
Many are deliberately familiar, often found in the gardens of loved ones, offering a subtle sense of home.
The roof over the extension was conceived as a continuation of the existing mausoleum.
The roof structure is metaphorically revealed in strategic locations to create a lightness in the form and to allow daylight to penetrate the ‘interior’ of the mausoleum, animating interior spaces and providing an uplifting, spiritual quality without the reliance on religious iconography.
A connection to the sky, the sun, and the earth become unifying features that establish a series of sacred spaces where the permanence of death is balanced with the living, transient elements of the natural world.
Project Details
Project Size – 785 m2
Site Area – 1,500 m2
Completion Date – 2021
Building Levels – 1
Project Team
Architecture
BENT Architecture
BENT Architecture is an innovative design practice based in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Brunswick.
The practice is led by Directors Paul and Merran Porjazoski.
Construction
2construct
2Construct is a Melbourne-based building contractor offering integrated building, civic, and civil construction services.
Structural and Civil Engineering
Clive Steele Partners
Clive Steele Partners is a specialist firm of Consulting Structural and Civil Engineers based in Melbourne with representation in both Sydney and Brisbane.
Services Engineering
BRT Consulting Engineers
BRT provides expertise in a full range of building services including Mechanical, Electrical, Hydraulic, Fire, Transport, and ESD consulting.
Horticulture Consultant
Infinite Landscape
Infinite Landscape has long been involved in the design and construction of domestic and commercial gardens throughout Melbourne, the Dandenong Ranges, and the Mornington Peninsula.
Photography
Tom Roe
Tom is an internationally awarded photographer from the Isle of Wight now based in Melbourne.
Photo Gallery
Click on a thumbnail image to enlarge.
Design © 2022 BENT Architecture. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2022 Tom Roe. All Rights Reserved.
The Builtworks Quest
At Builtworks, we’re on a multi-year quest to document, showcase, and spotlight the best of Australia’s built environment.
That’s why we’re creating this comprehensive online archive and educational resource that showcases a diverse and eclectic range of project types and scales.
Together with showcasing older exemplars of enduring merit, we spotlight and celebrate new and recent additions to Australia’s built environment.