Funeral hall to Roudnice nad Labem - 2nd prize

Before describing (proposing) the specific form of the mourning hall, it is necessary – more than for any other building – to define the general requirements and establish the basic goals that the proposal should achieve. It is essential to establish rules on how to "give cult its form, its external expression" (E. Wiesner, 1928). The building for "departure to eternity" should not be subject to the times. One of the fundamental parts of the concept must be the will to construct an entity independent of temporary (albeit contemporary) modern trends (in a better scenario) or fashion waves (in a worse scenario). When designing such an independent and timeless building, one must avoid currently "trendy" materials, forms, or mere mannerisms. Instead, it is necessary to utilize materials and forms that are appropriate, especially when it concerns a building funded by public financial resources. In designing the mourning hall, there must be no room for experimentation with materials or exhibitionism of the architect; the building of the mourning hall should not be misused for self-centered advertising of architecture. The building should not surprise or shock those who arrive but encourage a pause for reflection.
Urbanistic Solution
The existing character of the locality is quite exceptional due to its rational arrangement. The cemetery avenue, which defines both the main axis of the existing arrangement as well as the possibilities and principles of further development, is undoubtedly fundamental and determining for the context of the site. The key unifying role of the avenue is also evidenced by the existing form of the locality – the different layers (stages of construction, parts of cemeteries) create a simple (one-minded) whole thanks to the avenue, despite the incompleteness of this structure. The existing "genetic information" of the territory can be deciphered as a sequence of different layers arranged along the avenue, utilizing the depth of the land. By preserving the avenue, these layers can be modified, supplemented with others, combined, or divided.
The urbanistic solution is based on a rational and appropriate supplementation of the existing structure so that simplicity of the whole is further preserved. The existing sequence of layers is supplemented with additional, new layers. The mourning hall is located on the designated plot, logically opposite the new Jewish cemetery. The building is oriented towards the cemetery avenue with an appropriate setback for a public space that corresponds to the character of the building. The building is placed deeper into the land, and in this logic, a proposed reserve for a new columbarium also follows. Between the columbarium and the mourning hall, a new entrance to the cemetery complex is proposed, in the extension of the main transverse axis of the existing cemetery. The existing park "layer" of the cemetery with a scattering meadow is extended up to the new building of the mourning hall and columbarium, while partially preserving the existing hedge.
Transport Solution
The fundamental principle of the transport solution and the design of parking areas is the preservation of the avenue as a crucial urban element. The avenue must not be misused by transport solutions; it must not be transformed into a roadway, parking lot, or bus turnaround – these engineering structures are proposed outside the area of the avenue, logically as another of many layers aligned along the avenue. The transport solution is designed on the scheme of a backbone communication perpendicular to the avenue. This communication addresses the individual parts of the transport service of the building – a public parking lot with a total capacity of 49 spaces, access for funeral service vehicles, bus stop and boarding area, operation of technical maintenance and waste collection vehicles, as well as bus turning proposed at the end of the communication. The backbone communication serves the entire depth of the plot and allows potential connection to the existing Terezín communication to the north. The capacity and location of the public parking lot is also supported by the newly designed entrance between the columbarium and the mourning hall, in the hypothetical extension of the geometry of the cemetery.
The proposed urbanistic and transport solution supports the existing structure of the complex, but above all allows for further local development based on previously accepted and proven rules - the "DNA code" is carried forward.
Architectural Solution The concept of the building is determined by the context of the site – the horizontal landscape of Polabí with prominent peaks of the Czech Central Highlands (faintly visible in the distance on the horizon), the vast – indefinite – character of the fields with a clearly readable line of the avenue, the planar structure of the cemeteries, defined by sharp contours of cemetery walls. These "measured" phenomena of the site have become the cornerstones of the building. Based on these "measured" values, the design is not conceived on a conventional scheme of the building (i.e., on the definition of external volume, vertical division of plinth-corporeal-cornice, typology of facades, etc.), but on the use of the phenomena of the site described above. The free building site defined for the mourning hall is further detailed and defined by individual walls and volumes, free spaces. Above this structure of walls and spaces is freely placed a common horizontal roof surface, with a significant raised mass of the skylight of the hall. Vertical linear elements – walls, columns – are designed from hard, dark materials. The wall cladding is designed from tephrite stone, the columns are of black cast iron. The horizontal roof surface is designed with traditional light plaster, the raised cubus of the hall is designed completely without further architectural elements and markings – for the building of the mourning hall, any formal solution of this part seems excessive, inappropriate. The architectural solution of the building is modest, simple, and civil, without exaggerated pathos. Because of this, the building is immune to fashionable trends, durable not only in material but also in idea.
The operational and technical concept of the building thoroughly follows economic management of available financial resources. The design of the building is thus not based on eye-catching materials, sophisticated technologies, or views over the water surface of an artificial pond, whose operation and realization make the building more expensive. Instead, a clear and rational operational solution is fundamental to the design, the economy of which is confirmed by the use of conventional construction technologies and materials.
The main entrance for mourning guests is oriented via a forecourt to the cemetery avenue. The public space is defined by a grid of cast iron columns (dead), in some places this grid is replaced by trees in the pavement (alive). Access to the building is introduced by one of the stone walls perpendicular to the avenue. The entrance for mourning guests is also designed from the side of the backbone communication, near the bus boarding area. All entry and exit spaces of the building are covered by an overhanging common roof, as well as the longitudinal bus boarding area.
The foyer of the mourning hall is designed with two glazed sides into the covered entry forecourts. The front wall of the foyer defines the entrance portal to the mourning hall, composed of oak doors with a deep reveal, set into a dark stone cladding. The mourning hall is designed with a central raised part across the entire length of the floor plan. The proportions of the raised part and the hall as a whole balance between conventional hall space and skylight typology; this uncertain position between both extremes brings a certain tension and an unanswered question into the space.
The entrance to the hall is visually lowered by a choir for audio/video technology, or choir. However, due to the conditions of the project (answer to question No. 31), the presence of the choir (musicians) will be only exceptional, and the choir will primarily serve as a place for lighting and sound projection technology. Given this functional use and in light of the spatial solution for the entrance, occasional access to the choir is designed with a folding staircase.
The end of the mourning hall is defined by a suspended wall in the raised part – it divides the hall into a space for the catafalque and a space for mourning guests, allowing the desired projection during the mourning ceremony. Above all, this wall defines the lighting of the hall – it separates the otherwise common upper lighting of the catafalque and the hall space, covering the ending of the ceiling - the glass illuminated ceiling seemingly endlessly disappears "somewhere in the space of the dead." In the portal space, a dimensionally identical, yet vertically sliding wall is designed – at the end of the ceremony, this wall closes the space for the catafalque, replacing the illuminated niche with the catafalque with an unlit wall surface. After the end of the ceremony, the end of the hall is illuminated only by the infinite glass ceiling and a narrow band of light falling between the fixed and sliding walls.
The departure of mourning guests and relatives is designed through the outgoing hall to the "mourning" atrium – an intimate space for returning to the real world. The main foyer and the outgoing hall are operationally connected, also sharing the social facilities of the visitors. The operation of the mourning hall allows for the desired projection and the removal of the coffin as part of the ceremony, both towards the cemetery avenue and directly into the existing cemetery through the "mourning" atrium. At the interface between the operations of the background and the public, a coffin exhibition with intimate upper lighting and a room for closest relatives, oriented towards the garden part of the cemetery, is placed. The material solution of the interior differs in the space of the hall and other parts for the public. The mourning hall is designed with light plaster walls, opaque glass ceilings, and wall cladding, black cast terrazzo on the floor of the hall. Other public spaces are characterized by light ceilings, bright terrazzo floors, and dark stone wall cladding.
The operation of the background of the hall is designed to be clear and rational, minimizing the pathways for transferring the coffin. A clear and simple operational scheme is based on a central communication that connects the various parts of operations – from office and staff operations to the actual preparation and operation of the ceremony. Unloading of funeral service vehicles is proposed in a closed courtyard; through the handling space, the coffin is moved directly into the refrigerated storage or preparation area, which is designed in close proximity to the hall and the coffin exhibition.
Staff entrance is designed completely separately from the operation of mourning guests, from the north side of the building. In the office operation, the design also anticipates meetings with clients and orders for funerals, so the entrance to the operational part is thus designed with a sufficient and dignified forecourt, partially covered by a roof, along with a new entrance to the cemetery complex.
Structural Solution
The structural solution is designed in conventional materials and technologies. The foundation of the building is assumed on a monolithic reinforced concrete slab. Vertical structures are proposed as masonry, locally reinforced concrete. The load-bearing structure of the roof consists of a monolithic reinforced concrete slab, the perimeter walls of the raised cubus are designed as monolithic reinforced concrete beams for the full height, allowing for spanning large distances without supports and suspending the wall at the end of the hall. The modifications of the outer surfaces consist of light plaster from an insulation system on the reinforced concrete roof structure, stone cladding of sandwich masonry on the vertical structures. The roof is designed as a single-shell with a vapor barrier on the inner face and a stabilizing visible layer of gravel.