Location: Brno - Lesná, ulice Nezvalova
Author: Marek Jan Štěpán
Cooperation: Vanda Štěpánová, František Brychta, Jan Vodička, Marin Kopecký
Fasade drawings: Petr Kvíčala
Client: Římskokatolická farnost Brno-Lesná
Proposal: 1991-93, 2013-17
Realization: 2017-20
Capacity: 400 poeple
built-up area: 1220m2
Photo: archive of atelier, boysplaysnice
She didn't fear because she had foundation on the rock. ( Marie Restituta)
The proposal was made for Roman Catholic church Brno - Lesná. It is the result of many years of efforts of the parish community. In demanding architectural competition there were 36 proposals of church. Brno Bishopric with the recommendations of the International Commission has chosen this. Part of the architectural work was to check mass, dimension and layout options structures within the urban situation. The real outlines became thanks to generosity of the parish and believers from across the country.
Some dimensions:
church – diameter 25 m, height 18,5 m
tower – 5,7 x 5,7 m, height 31 m
asymmetric dome - diameter 23 m, cant dome 3,5 m
rainbow ring window – length 80m, height 4m, 120 glasses
On the rectangular plateau, which defines the sacred district, stands three basic forms - the church, the tower and the spiritual centre. The church is built on the ground plan of a circle, an ancient symbol of heaven and eternity. The shape of fullness, the dot in the space of the settlement, its spiritual vanishing point, place to rest or gathering. In its form anticipates the inner silence of the entering person. The interior of the church creates the inner universe, the space for communication with God, simple, focused, pure recollection. It evokes a safe feeling, serenity, undisturbed by the outside world, evokes feeling like in the mother's womb. The soft and austere curves of the building create a dematerialized interior space further formed by light from the upper annular window encircling the church under the roof. This 80-meter-long window depicts a rainbow as a symbol of God's people's covenant with the Lord. The rainbow ring window is hidden behind a deep ledge, which thus obscures the light source. The incident diffused light is the most fundamental symbol and has almost a supernatural character. Consciously and unconsciously, the light in the church depicts the existence of the world beyond the material reality and the existence of God. The asymmetrical dome is cast into plank landscapes, the matrix of which resembles a fingerprint, God's finger symbolizing God's touch. The sky retroactively reflects in the rainbow coloured window and it can be said that a circle floats over Lesná. In the metaphorical spiritual sense, the heaven floats above Lesná. The tower with its floor plan of an equilateral rightangled triangle standsapart from the church and is unlike historic towers pointing only like a rocket to the heavens both vertical and horizontal and newly defines the archetype of the contemporary church tower.
