Mourning Hall in Roudnice nad Labem

The closed shape of the internal area of the mourning hall is inspired by the idea of Charon’s boat, which is to provide the possibility of meditation to the bereaved. Ideally, it is thus a kind of journey with the deceased to the ‘other shore’. The building of the new mourning hall complements the existing urban-planning conception of the complex of the cemetery. Through its placement on the axis of the designated area, perpendicular to the main path of the cemetery, it forms a natural counterbalance to the New Jewish Cemetery. The oblong shape of the delimited area represents a route beginning with the entrance with a pine grove, pavilion and ending with a large water area with islands and water lilies, from which Charon’s boat sails on another journey. The whole building of the mourning hall is designed of fair-face concrete, while the external walls will be engrained with black aggregate and pigment so that the building would differ more from its surroundings and remind people of a funeral barque. In terms of operation, the building is divided into two parts, where the aboveground is a mourning hall and the underground part comprises predominantly the operational facilities. Structurally, it is a reinforced-concrete shell. Thanks to the lower part of the body being set off from upper roofing, the space acquires a specific luminous atmosphere, which is one of the basic motifs of the entire solution. The interior closed from the outside world and only softly lit allows the individual to sink deeper into their own thoughts and hence enables a more intensive experience of the obsequies.