The Death and the Tomb of the Architect

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to discuss the funerary architecture of the body of the architect in its moment of transition between the space of the living to the space of the dead and in its more or less eternal final destination. The encompassing cemetery of those who design cemeteries for everybody else is fragmented in a myriad of differences and loci. Yet this space has its symbols and its imaginary. Who is the architect who designs the cemetery for all the others, and how does she/he see her/his own death and tomb? The ambition of this paper is to violate the intimate space of the “last desires” of the architect. Are there some expectations, some commonplaces, some appropriate or shared intents that might give to the architect a specific dignity in relation to the dignity we imagine for the death of the others?