The architecture of the House of Culture in Humenné far exceeds the usual level of similar centres from the socialist period. It was built on the main axis of the historical core of the town. Its mass encloses the oblong square that leads to a chateau and at the same time borders the adjacent park with the amphitheatre.
The purpose of the house was to combine two dominant volumes under one roof - a variety hall with a capacity of 600 people and a cinema hall with 500 seats in a stepped auditorium. The remaining spaces are filled with associated functions such as a buffet, a restaurant, offices for the administration of the centre and club spaces with their own side entrance. The author paid special attention to halls and also came up with several original solutions. While the foyer of the variety hall is illuminated by the inner atrium, the hall itself is visually connected to the exterior through a zig zag glass wall towards the east. Thanks to the stage with a 15-metre-wide portal, the cinema also enables theatrical performances. At the time of its creation, the hall combined interior qualities with excellent technical equipment and acoustics. The walls of the cinema hall, as in the variety hall, are cladded with a distinctive wooden panelling, which complements the white plastic ceiling.
The facades of the building are designed surprisingly equally, each following its own principle. The main entrance is accentuated in the form of a full wall inserted into the glass facade. The glazing also reveals the dominant element of the entrance foyer - two mirror arms of the staircase leading to the upper floor. This level of the foyer is decorated in the interior with a monumental wall by the academic painter Mikuláš Klimčák. The glazed surfaces of the southern facade were originally shaded by external vertical slats. During the reconstruction of the building, the shading slats were removed and the original window frames were replaced with more robust ones with a slightly modified division. Although this work has never been in the centre of attention of the professional public, its architectural qualities are indisputable. The building is still fully functional and its premises serve the city's cultural centre.
Bibliography:
Kohlmayer, V.: Kultúrny dom v Humennom. Výsledok nad očakávanie. Projekt 18, 1976, č. 3, s. 29 - 31.
MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta - SZALAY, Peter. Domy kultúry na Slovensku: Vzostup a pád jedného typologického druhu. In Osvěta, kultura, zábava: kultúrní domy v Československu,Michaela Janečková, Irena Lehkoživoá (eds.) 2024, VI PER: Praha, 601 s.
