A Few Square Metres of Absolute Light

architect Robert Somek
project Chapel of Light in the Children's Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia
written by Marijana Kasun

 

Entering the paediatric hospital in Klaićeva ulica, the visitor is overwhelmed and encouraged by the warm and gentle light, by the extraordinary experience of the soft hues of blue and green permeating the winding corridors of Vladimir Turina’s “edifice of light”.

 

Light is the key to understanding another work, a piece of miniature architecture inside this building, that is, the “place to regain composure” by Robert Somek or the small chapel, as people call it.

 

Somek turned a balcony into an anteroom enveloped in glass brick and the lift shaft into a sacral area. This space is meant for everyone who seeks consolation and hope.