South of Prague, the Sedlčany Community Centre by architects A8000 s.r.o. consists of two buildings that create a natural transition between the town’s urban fabric and less densely developed area that surrounds. The first building is an apartment block that terminates the street. The second is a prayer house, rotated towards the town’s centre. While the apartment building is more traditionally conceived in expression and composition, the prayer house is more contemporary with its material expression and crystalline form.
The prayer house comprises three concrete slabs leaning against each other. Clad with an expanded sheet of metal, a red foil is placed beneath the sheets to create the final colour effect, which changes during the day depending on the intensity and direction of sunlight. The colour also varies depending on view angle and distance. When close to the building, the red colour is more starkly apparent. From a distance, the silver becomes more dominant.
Internally, the prayer house is divided by four vertical walls running longitudinally with lateral walls inclining. The main hall comes to a peak above the most crucial liturgic element being the baptisery, the heart of the house of prayer. Sculptor Jaroslava Kadlecová approached the shape of the baptisery as a transcription of the liturgic act of baptism.
Selected materials in the space emphasize the atmosphere of the house of prayer. The combination of white areas on the floors, walls and the ceiling, and the light wood in the interior contrasts with the outer appearance. The interior use of perforated wood provides for good acoustics with soundwave-absorbing layers behind. Ventilation and cooling technology are also placed below the acoustic cladding.
