The Vault
( Abraham’s Tomb )
PROGRAM
TYPOLOGY
SIZE
Cemetery
Urban Design
1650 SQ.FT
TIMELINE
STATUS
LOCATION
2021
Completed
Chennai, India
Concept
The Vault is heavily inspired from Tadao Ando’s ‘Church of Light’. Being a master of light and form, he was able to create an experiential display of the conventional cross using negative space and light. The Vault uses the same principle in a much smaller scale to emphasize the head stone of the tomb. The southern light creates a negative silhouette of the cross on the highly reflective surface of the tomb
Material
All the materials for the tomb were meticulously chosen to elevate the impact of the design - A tall headstone with deep cuts to create an impactful cross (negative), a slightly rough textured and less reflective headstone to emphasize the shadows falling on the tomb and finally cladding all the horizontal surfaces of the tomb with polished granite to ensure a highly reflective surface
