Launch of the book ‘Chacarita Moderna
The brutalist necropolis of Buenos Aires’

  • In 1949, at a time when Argentina was one of the most powerful countries in the world, the city of Buenos Aires launched the construction of the Sexto Panteón, an underground necropolis containing 150,000 burial plots. This monumental Brutalist-style cemetery is the first and largest experimentation of modern architecture applied to the funerary field, and yet remains unknown.

    Ítala Fulvia Villa (1913-1991), the project’s forgotten architect, was one of Argentina's first female architects and urban planners. As a pioneer of South American modernism, she contributed to Le Corbusier's master plan for Buenos Aires.

    Sixty years later, the French architect Léa Namer discovers the Sexto Panteón and resurrects the name of its creator, carrying out an in-depth investigation of this unique modern cemetery. This book is a thoughtful and engaging reflection on the legacy of a modern utopia, as well as a feminist re-reading of history.

    With texts by Léa Namer and Ana Maria León
    Photos by Federico Cairoli

  • Softcover
    21,5×28,5 cm
    224 pages
    Languages FR / EN

    Published by Building Books
    Designed by Image Format
    Printed by PBTisk

    Supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in Fine Arts