The new Parish Centre supplements the outbuildings surrounding the old wooden church at Pihtipudas. The architecture of the new building frames the landscape and is a matter of scale, atmosphere, materials and hierarchy.
The back wall of the parish centre is curved giving direction to the internal spaces and bringing together the outbuildings around the church. The ends of the building are narrow, while the long sides differ from each other in their height and articulation.
The cladding is in thick, fine-sawn spruce boarding. In places, the tarred cladding is given a more subtle character by the use of battens and louvers. The internal surfaces in the hall are finished in planed 27 mm spruce boards and the floor is in birch. The internal surfaces are oiled and waxed.
The laminated timber columns and trusses divide up the internal space. The structure was assembled on site using steel sections and bolts. The aim was that the structure should remain slender.
Acoustically, the hall is suitable for speech and chamber music. The intention was that the hall should work well for music, which means that it has to have sufficient volume and thick internal cladding. The structural solution is good from the acoustics point of view, as the trusses and the columns set into the walls reflect the sound.
Inside the hall there is a moveable stage and a lectern. The altarpiece on the east wall is a triptych, with a sculpture in birch-wood surrounded by a birch-wood frame. The timber for the building was donated by the parishioners and processed by the local sawmill.