Latvian Architecture

The Latvian city of Riga, the largest between the three Baltic states, is undergoing a cultural and urban renaissance. The city's pedestrian-only Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with several museums, cultural centers, and restaurants, attracting thousands of new visitors every year.

"Sounding Forest” is a finalist proposal for the Latvian Pavilion in Expo Dubai 2020, designed by Malitis Architects. The project was granted the 1st prize in the first phase of a national competition in Latvia. The interactive installation puts in place an artificial forest made of piano strings, generating a playful dialogue between the installation and the visitors.

Bee Breeders has announced the winners of the Teamakers Guest House competition, calling for design proposals for an eco-friendly, cost-effective accommodation to house visitors to the Ozolini teamakers retreat, situated in a forest 100 kilometers southeast of the Latvian capital of Riga.

Bee Breeders has revealed the winners of the Gauja National Park Footbridge competition. The Nature Conservation Agency of Latvia paired up with Bee Breeders to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Latvia's largest national park. Teams were asked to create a footbridge marking the park's entry to serve as an architectural landmark that adds to the park's existing collection of 500 cultural and historical monuments, including medieval castles and towns.

Bee Breeders has revealed the winners of the 2019 Pāvilosta Poet Huts Competition. The project brief asked designers to submit proposals for a writers community in the small coastal fishing village of Pāvilosta, Latvia. The small writers retreat needed to accommodate selected poets with free board visiting for short periods to produce their work. The submissions included a range of building typologies, from isolated cabins scattered across the site, to single buildings focused on community experience, to towers offering views to across Pāvilosta.

As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage, we present the completed Latvian Pavilion. To read the initial proposal, refer to our previously published post, "Latvian Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale to Highlight Turning Points in 20th Century Apartment Block Design.”

Danish firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has been selected to design the redevelopment of Kimmel Quarter, a historic district in the heart of the Latvian capital of Riga, after an international competition. The 19th-century Kimmel Brewery complex, now mostly abandoned, will be transformed into a mixed-use center featuring a new office building, hotel, and an array of public facilities. Schmidt Hammer Lassen was one of eleven participants, with firms such as Henning Larsen and Zaha Hadid invited to the open competition.

Bee Breeders have announced the winners of the Amber Road Trekking Cabins competition for the Latvian Baltic Coast. The competition sought proposals for low impact, transient and inhabitable infrastructure to support a planned hiking network along vast topographies of the Latvian Baltic Coast. The winning projects considered the various landscape elements of the site including pine trees, dunes, and white sand beaches while responding to programmatic requirements - economy, constructability, environmental sensitivity and utilitarian function.

Bee Breeders have selected the winners for the Pape Bird Observation Tower competition, which saw participants submitting designs for a new bird observation station located in the Nica and Rucava Municipalities in the South Western region of Latvia. The competition is the first in a series organized by Bee Breeders in collaboration with Pasaules Dabas Fonds, Latvia's leading nature conservation fund. The competition asked for proposals for a tower that would replace a previous tower that was struck by lightening.

Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-born architect and educator, passed away on August 15, 2017, at the age of 92. A passionate advocate of a creative process he called "organic synthesis," he leaves behind dozens of built works over three continents and influenced hundreds of architectural students and colleagues through his inquiry-based process and dynamic interactions. Eric Hill and John Gallagher, in their AIA Guide to Detroit, said of Birkerts’ architecture: