Parish Center of Saint Luke the Evangelist in Travno

AUTHORS: Roman Vukoja, M.Arch., Robert Križnjak, M.Arch.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ivica Bralić

CONCEPT DESIGN: 2001 (Architectural and urban planning competition - 1st prize)
COMPLETED: 2007

The layout of the building's body is generated by the lines of force arising from the context of the regular urban matrix of the settlement. The building is positioned on the western edge of the central green area of the settlement in the interspace between the "Mamutica" megastructure and the green void of the central part of the settlement, and continues the urban sequence of grouping the settlement's public facilities in the peripheral zones around the park (school, kindergarten, community center, church). The building is composed of two basic volumes. The dominant volume containing the main church hall, or worship space, is conceived as a central building in accordance with the reform of the Second Vatican Council, and the spatial concept is dominated by the idea of a living community - the faithful surround the altar. Below the worship space, on the basement level, are the church's service and auxiliary spaces. There are halls for film screenings, seminars, lectures, etc., as well as the Internet club for young parishioners, as well as storage and restrooms for the faithful.

On the west side, directly next to the body of the church, there is an annex of the rectory with facilities related to the social life of the community. The rectory building includes the religious education hall, the Caritas office, the parish office on the ground floor, and a residential area with apartments for the pastor and chaplain, as well as a large dining room and kitchen on the first floor. Both parts of the building are connected by a bridge on the first floor, which provides direct communication between the worship space and the residential areas of the rectory. The volumes of the rectory and the church form a square plateau in front of the church entrance on the south entrance side. The entrance square plateau is slightly elevated in relation to the surrounding terrain.

In the design process, special attention was paid to the treatment of light as an architectural medium. An important feature of the church interior is the penetration of light (a cross carved into the wall surface, domes, a transom above the sanctuary, the Stations of the Cross, the tabernacle, etc.) through which the architectural idea is highlighted in the play of light and shadow and emphasizes the sacredness of the space. The building substance of the architecture (wall, column, ceiling) in the interrelationships of light brings the architecture to life.