Czech Republic studio Atelier ?t?pán has built a circular church in a housing estate in Brno that is topped with a panoramic, rainbow-hued window.
Dedicated to nurse Maria Restituta Kafka, who was born around 600 metres from where the building now stands, the Church of Beatified Restituta completes the Brno-Lesná housing estate that was designed by Czech architects Franti?ek Zounek and Viktor Rudi? in the 1960s.
Atelier ?t?pán designed a circular church in Brno
The circular church and its adjoining triangular tower were built alongside an existing spiritual centre designed by Zden?k Bure?.
Atelier ?t?pán designed the concrete church to be a place of contemplation away from the bustle of modern life.
"I wanted to make a church for the people of today," said Atelier ?t?pán co-founder Marek ?t?pán. "The question of the perception of a church is a question of the contemporary perception of the world." The church's dome is illuminated by light coming through a rainbow stained-glass window
The church's walls have been left bare with the only decoration being the light that comes through an 80-metre-long, rainbow-coloured stained-glass window that wraps around the top of the concrete drum.
Light coming through these windows illuminates the concrete dome with various patterns depending on the time of day.
The church has two curved balconies
"In the baroque period, the church interior was completely covered with religious depictions," said ?t?...