Il disegno come ricerca delle corrispondenze. Una cappella di Sigurd Lewerentz

The Chapel of the Resurrection built by Sigurd Lewerentz in 1921-25 in the Southern Cemetery of Stockholm has been considered of key importance for the interpretation of the recovery of the classical language that took place in Sweden during the first two decades of the 1900s, known under the term of Nordic classicism. On closer analysis, however, the Chapel of the Resurrection demonstrates that the classicism that governs its design is the result of deep reflection on the problem of language in relation to the theme the building is required to address and the design of the place where it is located. This classicism raises questions and the architecture to which it gives form is tense, restless and enigmatic. It is starting with this premise that this architectural work is studied by means of a compositional analysis. The investigation developed through the examination of the original drawings, the elaboration of interpretative re-drawings, models and graphic scheme highlights the design process: the experimentation of Lewerentz approaches the problem of character as a central node for the definition of works of architecture and their positioning in a larger design, like characters in a narrative sequence that orders the construction of the landscape. The composition is governed by an iconic formalization that chooses the classical language as a means of expression and is combined - in a paratactic procedure - with an abstract, mute backdrop. The analytic drawings reconstruct the plot line of several correspondences between the architectural and the natural elements, deeply linked by the symbolic dimension.