The Prague Conservatoire, founded in 1808 for the purpose of education of orchestral musicians, belongs to the most oldest schools of such a type in Europe. The school year was commenced in 1811 according to the curriculum by first director Bedřich D. Weber and the institution acquired its first place in the Dominican monastery of St. Giles. The school moved into the just completed Rudolfinum in 1884, where began its “golden era” (the director of the school was Antonín Dvořák between  1901-1904, who educated  an array of important composers). The school was nationalized and lost its place in Rudolfinum, because the Czechoslovakian state decided to convert it into the Chamber of Deputies. The school was residing in a Benedictine monastery, later in the former chemistry institute in Trojanova Street and after that moved into the school building Na Rejdišti, opposite to Rudolfinum. Meanwhile the Conservatoire’s curriculum was enlarged with new fields of study: singing, dancing and acting.

The newly built concert hall and theatre of the Prague Conservatoire is located in the historic building N. 77 in Na Rejdišti Street in the Old Town. The municipality had here the Imperial and Royal High School be constructed between 1901-1902. The municipal technical office designed a two-storey building of an irregular plan with three wings. The designs are signed by the employee of the Imperial and Royal Main Engineer of  that time Anton Rosenberg (1833-1907), a graduate of the   Vienna University of Technology and designer of an array of Prague school buildings. The construction was carried out by the building firm of Václav Nekvasil. It is apparent from the historical designs of this school (1900) that  the present day theatre hall in the ground floor of the east wing was originally a school gym. After the establishment of the new state, the building became possession of the new state, which decided to use it for clubs and committees of the Chamber of Deputies (that was located in the nearby Rudolfinum) of the National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic. The building  was renovated by builders Josef Poskočil, Jaroslav Benedikt, František Strnad and  Emil Tomášek in 1922-1923. The former school building was heightened by one floor, was given a new facade, the gym started to serve for meetings of the budget committee and architect Václav Roštlapil, who was carrying out the reconstruction of the Rudolfinum, connected the building with an enclosed bridge to the Rudolfinum.  

Na Rejdišti became a seat of a school again after 1945 – the State Conservatoire at that time – and the former gym was converted into an orchestra hall. Students of the drama used the Theatre Studio of the State Conservatoire DISK in Karlova Street for practical lessons. A change in the lack of its own space for lessons occurred not before 2005, when a process took place for obtaining a permit for a new concert hall in the location of the hitherto yard. Due to the location of the structure in a memorial centre in Prague, the reconstruction commenced not before 2009 according to the design by architect Karel  Sehyl. The concert hall is inserted into the yard – its semicircle layout is attached to the rear sector of the main wing and to the shorter east sector, where the theatre hall is located. Architect added glass foyers to the external volume of the sandstone facade, hereby the theatre and concert halls acquired an individual entrance. Promenade  stalls came into existence in the arched space of the central corridor in the 1^st basement floor being adjoined to both the entrance foyers. The concert hall of a circular sector spreads over 1^st basement and ground floor, a joint backstage for both the hall is located in the underground section. The volume of the concert hall is projected by 5 meters above the yard level for acquiring an optimal acoustical quality  and with a regard to the height of a planned insertion of an organ. The supporting structure of the concerted hall is designed with a regard for a plan of later, already authorised realization of other above ground floors.

Until the extension is executed, the roof of the concert hall with six large-area roof windows for daylight can be used as a relaxation garden.  The auditorium of the concert hall has eight convex rows on levels for 226 spectators, other 107 seats is located on the balcony. The flat of the concert podium is 122 m², width 19, 5 m and depth 7,7 – 4, 5 m. The hall can be used as a recording studio for its acoustic qualities (acoustics: Ing. Tomáš Hrádek, SONING Prague). Architect Karel Sehyl in the collaboration with Ing. Josef Novák (Akustika Praha) designed the interior and created a representative space that is dominated by a contrast of materials from timer and glass. The entire hall is covered by oak veneer, for discharging of this structure, the walls are covered with cast glass blocks from crystal, which symbolize the nearby  Vltava by their organic forms. Glass blocks are lit by LED lights in the RGB colour range and thus underscore the ceremonial atmosphere of the concerts. The elegance of the space is supplemented by a suspended acoustic ceiling made of wood in the pearl-white colour. The segmental soffit is so corrugated to form an acoustical canopy.

The theatre hall is located in the ground floor of the east wing. The layout of the theatre is arranged as a black box. The floor of the entire hall is flat, the stage and auditorium as well is built of rostrums according to the actual needs and requirements. The space can be adjusted for needs of a proscenium theatre layout, for which a curtain track and manual control curtain is installed here. A new structure has enlarged the theatre with a representative entrance foyer with a small cloak room. The actor’s background is in the area of the ground floor and further in the basement interconnected with the stage through a staircase. The Na rejdišti theatre is dedicated to staging of students from 5^th and 6^th years. The students’ productions are created in cooperation with professional directors, designers, choreographers, composers and others. The theatre of the Conservatoire so occupies an important position during completion of the studies at musical-drama department that the results of the work are not isolated within the school walls, but are offered to public.

Sources and literature:

A: Stavební archiv Mě části Praha 1

L: Ondřej Novotný, Stručná historie Divadla Pražské konzervatoře a co bylo před ním.

Karel Sehyl, Nový koncertní sál Pražské konzervatoře, Stavebnictví 2008, č. 12, s. 44-49.

Karel Sehyl, Nový koncertní sál Pražské konzervatoře Stavitel 2012, č. 5, s. 32-34.

http://www.archiweb.cz/buildings.php?&action=show&id=2942

Tags: Neo-Renaissance, terraced house, theatre hall, yard extension

Author: Markéta Svobodová

Translator: Jan Purkert