small building huge responsibility
Literally wedged into a triangular area in a corner of the existing Wyndham Cemetery, the Mausoleum is a small scale building with huge responsibilities – to provide a Chapel for private contemplation, to be a respectful and dignified resting place for, and monument to, those loved ones who have gone on to become something even more remarkable.
small building big symbols
Referring to both local classical funereal architectural icons (The Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne by Hudson and Wardrop 1934CE, which itself refers to the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus by Satyros and Pythius, circa 350 BCE) and international public building gestures of the modern masters (the Portico of the Palace of Assembly In Chandrigah by Le Corbusier, circa 1950CE) the Chapel Crypt and Crypt Portico take on an importance far exceeding their relatively small scale.
small buildings, honest materials, fine details
Formally stable but surprising, the Classical Chapel Crypt building is the first stage of a forced perspective building more consistent with contemporary art concerns of cubism or the art of Stephen Bram.
Finely detailed high quality and raw materials, and a minimal but powerful use of colour, gives this building a humility with quiet conviction – a timelessness, most suitable for a monument to those that won’t grow old.