Riga Passenger Terminal Winning Proposal / NRJA
With the existing Riga Passenger Terminal now outdated and situated in an exclusive location – adjacent to the very center of Riga, the infrastructure needed a new identity and urban response. Therefore, the first prize winning proposal by NRJA envisions the development of the territory and port as a high quality urban environment which offers not only maritime transport, leisure, shopping and business experience but also public space connection to the city. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Holiday Home at Aluksnes Lake / AB3D Ltd.
Architects: AB3D Ltd.
Location: Alūksne District, Latvia
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 386 sqm
Photographs: Māris Lapiņš, Edgars Gribusts, AB3D
Tervete National Park Information Center / Sampling Architects
The main goal of Sampling Architects for designing the interactive forest information center was to create a generic contemporary addition for the nationally famous National Park of Tervete. They believed the project should allow the discovery of the delight of ‘life of the forest’ through an educational center, but more importantly, creating a space for exchange of know-how of forest science between professionals, students and the general public. More images and architects’ description after the break.
University of Latvia Academic Center of Natural Sciences / Sestais Stils Architects
The aim of the proposal for the University of Latvia Academic Center of Natural Sciences by Sestais Stils Architects is to create a comfortable, functional and sustainable environment for studies and work. They wanted a space for students and other interested persons to research and acquire contemporary knowledge and technologies. They also wanted to create a unit of urban structure where all functions necessary for optimal study and research process are provided at one place but at the same time the structure interacts with ‘outside world’ as well. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Riga International Airport Winning Proposal / Haptic Architects
Haptic Architects, in collaboration with Narud Stokke Wiig Architects & Planners, and Griff Arkitektur recently won the open international competition for the new airbaltic terminal at Riga International Airport in Latvia. Selected from 125 entries from 70 different countries, their design features a roof for the airbaltic terminal that is influenced by the gently undulating forms of the latvian landscape, with peaks and troughs responding to the structure’s internal configuration and passenger flows. More images and project description after the break.
Reconstruction of Former Police Station to Apartment Building / NRJA
NRJA shared with us their proposal for the reconstruction of a former police station to an apartment building in Riga, Latvia. Their design concept respects the architectural heritage, partly renovating the existing volume and adding a new modern architecture. Reinhold Schmaeling buildings, especially schools, hospitals and public buildings created in early 20th century are very unique architectural works and important part of the rich and diverse heritage of Riga. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Hotel Liesma Proposal / BNKR Arquitectura
The hotel proposal by BNKR Arquitectura aims to reproduce in material form the ephemeral process of the diffusion of sound. This is a process of vibrant outward expression and subsequent decay. It is a narrative of the loss of integrity and dematerialization in space. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Hotel Liesma Winning Proposal / 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.
Hotel Liesma Proposal / ARQX Arquitectos + Carlos Lobão
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.
Hotel Liesma Proposal / 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.
Hotel Liesma Proposal / 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.
Hotel Liesma Proposal / 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.
Hotel Liesma Proposal / 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.
Hotel Liesma Proposal / Nobutaka Ashihara Architect
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.
Hotel Liesma Proposal / 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.
Observation Tower / ARHIS
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
Put Vejini Concert Garden Proposal / Jevgenijs Busins, Anton Gonda & Ivo Dzenis
As one of the winners for an open competition, the concept of the Put Vejini concert stage, by Jevgenijs Busins, Anton Gonda, and Ivo Dzenis, is based on the acoustic possibilities of building. The goal was to achieve maximum acoustic potential using a minimal amount of materials and to get an aesthetically appealing image of a concert hall. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Music-Themed Upscale Hotel 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.
Kindergarten Competition Proposal / ARHIS
The aim of ARHIS for the kindergarten competition proposal in Riga, Latvia is to create a new type of kindergarten, where children can easily learn to incorporate with each other, the urban environment, and with society. The project solution is a public building with a three-dimensional park integrated in the urban structure and to become a part of the city public space and greenery system, which is a part of the Riga development plan. More images and architects’ description after the break.
