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In 1988, architect Alois Hloušek converted a 17th-century church in České Budějovice, Czech Republic, into a home for the South Bohemian Philharmonic. This year, the 172-seat hall received a long-overdue renovation—necessitated by its poor acoustics and climate control—by Czech firm A8000. Aiming to return the space to the simplicity of the original spiritual building, the studio took a minimalist approach to the project, emphasizing its lines with a limited palette of materials and colors. A dark wood ceiling was replaced with white acoustical canopies, made from wool-lined MDF boards, while a bulky balcony and tiered boxes were scrapped in favor of smooth, white walls and a slender, bridgelike seating structure that spans the back of the hall. Light-wood slatting on the bridge and rear wall further refine the room’s acoustics and mirror the vertical pipes of the striking modern organ that sits behind the orchestra.

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The renovation incorporated cloud-like acoustic panels (1) and a suspended balcony (2) that frames the original stained glass window at the rear of the hall. Photos © Ondrej Bouska