VILNIUS

VILNIUS, 2008

The brief of this design competition asked for a new town centre with landmark qualities.
After analysing the site we found a significant lack of public green in the adjoining area. We decided to combine both needs (new centre and park) into one overall design, and the idea to create the identity of the new development by the means of landscaping and not by the means of its architectural appearance excited us. What followed was the proposition to place an extraordinary hill in the heart of the development.
This seemed a quite radical idea at first sight, but was in fact the outcome of some economical research. The size of the hill resembles exactly the amount of soil that would have to be removed from site in order to build the requested amount of underground parking. Piled up as a hill it can function as a park, an overview point, a playground and an iconic landmark at the same time.
In addition to that, the overall identity of the new centre, created through such a strong landscape intervention, can sustain programmatic changes that are likely to occur in a long term development.