Courtesy of Ventura Trindade Architects

The winning project proposal of Hotel Liesma by Ventura Trindade Architects recovers the concept of old ‘estrãdês’, simple outdoor structures formed by a stage with an acoustic shell and a flat audience, in front.The building acts like a system of visual and functional relation with the theme of the music box (resonance box), with visual resonance in the collective memory of the guests and general population. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

© Carlos Lobão + ARQX

The musical theme is present in the project proposal by ARQX Arquitectos, therefore in a very metaphorical way, avoiding a mimetic decoration or spatial-appropriation to music reported items. They try not to just show musical objects, but to compose as a musician, to flow in nature and in space, contemplating and feeling. This idea of contemplation is seen in the rhythm of the volumes, as well as the allowance to go to the exterior, to feel weather contingency, to hear the sound of the sea and of the the wind in the trees constitutes the basic experience they feel a guest should have while staying at Liesma. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Capella Garcia Arquitectura

The proposal by Capella Garcia Arquitectura is designed for a music-themed upscale Hotel Competition in Jurmala. The resort town, located on the Latvian coast of the Baltic Sea, in the Gulf of Riga, can be described as a polycentric, linear city between the Gulf of Riga and river Lielupe, formed of several historical fishing villages. From the 19th century onwards, the city has transformed into seaside resorts, but Jurmala is also well known for its musical heritage, so they believed the surrounding environment must not be ignored.

Jurmala’s main focus nowadays is on leisure and its related programs and the greatest environmental advantage is the proximity to the Baltic sea. What do music and the sea have in common? How can it be related to architecture? How can the new building fit in Jurmala’s cityscape? Their concept was guided by these questions. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Visual Workshop

Visual Workshop shared with us their proposal for the Hotel Liesma competition. The aim of their concept is to make a new landmark of the surrounding neighborhood as a contemporary, sustainable and functional hotel. More images and brief description after the break. read more »

© INDEX Architecture

Australian studio INDEX Architecture has completed a proposal for a new hotel on the beach side of a resort in Jurmala, Latvia. The design is located a short walk from the beachfront and includes 130 rooms, a restaurant, conference and health club facilities. The brief called for a design based around the theme of music that reused an existing tower on the site. The ground floor is to be constructed from a curved timber LVL framed roof structure, which was drawn from the waveforms of Handel’s ‘Water Music.’ The tower reuses the existing concrete structure with a new curtain wall featuring a white ceramic interlayer pattern. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Jevgenijs Busins & Liva Banka

The proposal for Hotel Liesma, by Jevgenijs Busins & Liva Banka, is designed for a music-themed upscale Hotel Competition in Jurmala, Latvia. It is the meeting point of waves and coast, wind and pine-trees, ideas and people, various music rhythms and audition. The architecture of the building is characterized by calisthenics of facades. The basic construction has remained untouched but facade has been changed completely. The facade has a wavy shape with vertical wooden constructions. Hence the classical traditions of architecture of Jurmala have been honored. Wooden materials in various tones and factures are used as the predominant materials in the design. The rhythm of vertical lines of glued pine wood gives the building an appeal as it associates with boles of the wood and embraces the building in the landscape of Jurmala. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

competition board 01

In the international design idea competition to find the best design solution for a music themed upscale hotel in Jurmala, Latvia, the proposal by Nobutaka Ashihara Architect (NAA), which won the third prize, transforms the existing, implements a new linear sinuous curve circulation spine to which the public elements are attached, and reinforces the predominant east-west circulation of Pumpuri. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of PRAUD

The main concept of the proposal for the Hotel Liesma by PRAUD is to elevate the new hotel mass from the ground level. There are two major purposes of this approach; to have a widely open public park on the ground level and to provide better views to the Baltic sea from hotel rooms. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

© Arnis Kleinbergs

Architects: ARHIS Architects
Project Architect: Arnis Kleinbergs
Location: Jurmala, Latvia
Client: Jurmala City council
Project team: Ieva Stale, Andrejs Gorodnicijs
Structural Engineer: Grigorijs Kameneckis
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Arnis Kleinbergs

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Courtesy of International Design Idea Competition

All interested architects are invited to partake in an open international competition for a new 4 star hotel in Jurmala, Latvia. The resort city, located on the coast of the Baltic Sea, is well known for its musical heritage, and the hotel will express elements related to music in its design concept.

The history of Jurmala has long been tied together with the musical character of the Baltic Sea – the sound of waves crashing on the beach, the whistling of old pine trees in the wind, the shrieking seagulls in the sky, the shifting sand under your feet, and even the distant chime of the leaving train – all of this and more creates a whole symphony in the memories of everyone who has ever been here. More competition information after the break. read more »

When the Jurmala City Council asked Substance to build a sports venue for the popular Latvian sea resort, the firm designed a structure that could be open all year long in any weather.  Inspired by the amber – crystallised resin of pine typically washed up on the Baltic coast, the venue’s form incorporates translucent polycarbonate cladding inside a structural framework to accentuate the building’s varying height.

More about the sports venue after the break. read more »