The Croatian branch of the Catholic organization Opus Dei, often perceived in public as a secretive sect within the Church with the unique status of a personal prelature of the Holy Father, will build a student dormitory with cultural-religious facilities at the intersection of Vukovar City Avenue and Marina Držić Avenue in Zagreb, writes Jutarnji.hr.
The project will be financed by the Dignity and Hope Foundation, whose president is Dr. Vuko Brigljević, a scientist from the Ruđer Bošković Institute and one of the leading figures of Opus Dei in Croatia. The Zagreb Society of Architects is organizing and conducting the competition, which will remain open until the beginning of September. On a plot of 565 square meters at the northeastern corner of Vukovar and Držić Avenues, a five-story building with a total gross area of 1450 square meters is expected to rise, where 12 exclusively male students and four collaborators will live, one of whom will be a priest, and another will be responsible for organizing education and managing the dormitory. The dormitory will be divided into three zones: an educational center, bedrooms, and household areas. Architects responding to the competition are expected to design a building that will function as a family house with a modern but unobtrusive facade, without experimenting with new materials and without large glass surfaces, especially in the chapel area. The design solution should create an impression of a family atmosphere, as the goal is, as stated by the Foundation, coexistence and mutual assistance, rather than living in isolation in a student room. On the plot where the dormitory will be built, at Marina Držić Avenue 27, there is currently a building that will need to be demolished. (www.jutarnji.hr)
