Clear orientation and unification of the space. Two fundamental moments symbolizing our existence have been designed – the upper window above the catafalque bringing light, which refers to life, and the softly shaped ceiling in a green tone, a ceremonial accompaniment during departure, death, which ultimately also leads towards the light.
The original historicizing structure of the gate of the Zábřeh cemetery was expanded in the second half of the 20th century with two asymmetrical masonry volumes for the morgue and the cemetery caretaker's spaces. A new entrance was created from the south with a loggia (in the location of the original exit from the gate), and a mourning hall was insensitively inserted across the layout.
The design preserves the original architecture of the gate structure and highlights it, while also clarifying it to the necessary extent. After the removal of the secondarily added loggia on the cemetery façade, the southern elevation is newly composed into the form of a kind of temple. The existing service spaces at the southern façade have become a generous entrance hall, and the recessed niches in the centers of the lateral risalits create a composition of a classical high order.
In the dramatically altered interior, emphasis is placed on a clear orientation of the space, which is currently unclear due to the multitude of architectural elements dividing the main nave into subordinate spaces with an unreadable hierarchy. The space now culminates under the dome rather than above the catafalque. Two fundamental elements are designed within the interior, symbolizing the basic themes of our existence, namely life and death. Upper lighting achieved through a skylight above the catafalque—representing life, from which everything begins—and a new curved heavy ceiling above the ceremony hall, entering into a dialogue with the softly curved wall behind the catafalque—both executed with a stucco lustro finish in a dark green color with a hint of exclusivity and solemnity, which everyone deserves to be remembered with, at least at their final farewell—namely death, from which even the deceased ultimately returns to the light—Life.
The shell is shaped like a drooping sail asymmetrically curved under the central dome, rising towards the edges of the building with varying intensity; on the side with the catafalque, it rises more prominently towards the skylight, and on the chancel side, it gently fades into its shadow. This motif is overall conceived as support for the longitudinal space flowing perpendicularly to the axis of the former passage of the historic building and is artistically enhanced by visual lightness through a recessed border. The central space under the dome is deliberately suppressed in the new interior since it has no connection to the specific operation and atmosphere of the transversely oriented mourning hall. Its presence is only suggested by the rounded corners of the ceiling, which softly encircle the pendentives supporting the tambour. The effect of the dome in the design is limited to elevating the urbanistic dominant in connection with the mass of the building and its entrances.
Artistically, the interior of the hall is conceived as a balance between the contrast of a sculpted heavy and exclusive trace and the very light gray remainder of the interior modeled by light, including the concrete floor and acoustically absorbent panels. This concept is then complemented by elements tuned to warm shades; specifically, this involves wooden plywood furnishings with exposed textures of hardwood, a metalwork catafalque with a delicate geometric motif, an authorial "stained glass" in the central window of the former passage, and suspended glass tubes of custom light fixtures showcasing their technological content.