Church of St. Wenceslas by Atelier Štěpán

The Atelier Štěpán  completed the Church of St. Wenceslas project with the idea to build the church in Sazovice occur before the Second World War.

Architect: Atelier Štěpán
Location: Sazovice
Proposal: 2012 - 2015
Realization: 2015 - 2017
Cooperation: František Brychta, Jan Vodička, Vanda Štěpánová, Jan Martínek, Tomáš Jurák, Hana Myšková
Photo: Boys plays nice, archive of atelier

Project's description: Three years ago, the idea returned and poeple from Sazovice founded the Association for the construction of the church.

Outside: I wanted to dematerialize the building. It looks like something light, abstract, bright and natural. It evokes more paper than brick. It's like a ring of paper with cutting you push or pull to get more light inside. Visitors don't perceive the thickness of the walls, because they taper from half meter to centimeter. The light coming through the cuts illuminate the space. It glides along the walls and shape the form. Penetration of light into the building are twofold - wall bends outwards or inwards - that can be understood as reflecting the male and female principle.

Light becomes a factor which creates a lack of interface between what is verifiable by the senses, and what is beyond material world. The scale is based on Prague's chapel, the perimeter of the church is circumscribed the square of Prague's chapel. Its cylindrical mass refers to the time of St. Wenceslas, when rotundas were built.

Inside: The interior is simple and clean to bring a sense of quietness and peace. Older churches are full of visual information - the entire story is written in paintings, sculptures, in the decoration. For exemple interior in Baroque church was completely descriptive to give people an idea about Jesus life. People today are overload with information, the church should perceive only the purity of space and peace and realize your inner self. There is a space without personal identification visual smog - a simple, focused, and pure recollection.

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