Vilnius in the old town The luxury real estate developer Unique Properties, which is developing the multi-apartment and administrative project "Vilniaus Džiazas", presented an architectural solution that will create more space for all road users on Drujas Street and at the same time allow maintaining an integral complex of interwar buildings.
The "Vilnius Dziazo" project will consist of the new construction of two buildings apartment building, cultural heritage object being reconstructed - 1936 construction of the former Vilnius headquarters of the Polish consumer cooperative - and its annex (warehouse).
It was this warehouse that lost its status as a cultural heritage object a dozen years ago during the construction of the southern bypass of the old town, and it was planned to be demolished, which is still foreseen in the detailed plan. However, after the municipality disagreed with the previous owners of the property, the building remains well known to drivers. Currently, the abandoned warehouse on the street does not occupy a traffic lane, but it is extremely close to the carriageway, restricts pedestrian and cyclist traffic and poses a danger to all road users.
So, after discussions with representatives of heritage conservationists, architects, city administration, drivers and resident communities, the project developer created a compromise solution for the warehouse that "cuts off" the part of the building that obstructs traffic. As a result, the one-story building with a mansard will have a transparent south facade, a cut that opens up the interior structure of the building. The rest of the reconstructed part of the warehouse will not change in principle and will preserve the historical memory of the building.
According to Gediminas Tursa, manager of Unique Properties, the plots and buildings will be sold in 2021. the acquiring company had all legal options to simply demolish the warehouse, and this scenario was supported by some interested parties. Another option was to rehabilitate the warehouse without changing its volume, but this would maintain its current position, which would hamper vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Therefore, a compromise scenario was eventually created.
"While delving into the history of the entire interwar complex, we realized that the warehouse is ideologically inseparable from the elegant headquarters of the consumer cooperative. Wagons arrived at the warehouse, goods were unloaded here, and bills of lading were transferred through the warehouse window to the accounting office of the main building. I think it was a bit hasty to remove this warehouse from the cultural heritage list when building the bypass, but the traffic problem was still not solved. As a developer, I'm always in favor of preserving heritage, but I've also heard from those who have been hit by this bottleneck. I think that in the end we managed to create not only a very different interests, but also an extraordinary and high-quality architectural solution, which will be appreciated by both the users of the "Vilniaus Dziazo" complex and all the citizens", says G. Tursa.
After implementing the decision, Drujos g. on the north side, there will be space for pedestrians and cyclists (as foreseen in the detailed plan), and the street itself will have more options for various possible future corrections. Pedestrian and bicycle paths in the inner territory of the "Vilniaus Dziazo" complex, provided for in previous project proposals, will also remain. And in the warehouse itself, showcase windows projected across the entire facade will allow not only good lighting of the ground floor and attic rooms, but also improve the lighting of the basement.
"I would call the created solution not even a compromise, but a declaration and an illustration of what happens when trying to reconcile very different interests." On the other hand, the Old Town of Vilnius has been characterized by compromises and different layers over many centuries - in almost every old building or street we can find various additions or subtractions, combinations of different architectural styles and other natural diversity. Together with the developer, we found a solution that will help preserve the historical memory, improve traffic conditions, and the opening of part of the building's interior spaces will, I hope, qualitatively and conceptually perpetuate the realities of today's society," comments Andrė Baldišiūtė, architect and partner of the Do Architects studio that prepared the project.
The administrative complex itself was built between the wars as in Poland the headquarters of the board of the Vilnius branch of the universal consumer cooperative "Spolem", which is still operating. Currently, the administration building is roofless and in poor condition, but it has retained its impressive facade, authentic staircase, stove trim and other authentic details. The complex was designed in the so-called interwar retrospective style by the Vilnius engineer-architect Waclaw Syrtowt, who may have had Lithuanian roots. Among other prominent works of the architect in Vilnius, there is a cooperative house, which adopted innovative construction technologies for its time, right next to the Cathedral, on Tilto st. 7.
The entire "Vilnius jazz" complex will consist of a new apartment building with 66 apartments and 11 commercial premises in two buildings. It will be one of the few new construction objects in Lithuania with extremely high ceilings, even 4,5 m. The complex will also include a reconstructed 1200 sq. m area administrative purpose cultural heritage object and 521 sq. m former warehouse, which will also have an administrative purpose. Unique Properties received a management permit for the historic administrative building at the beginning of this year, and other construction permits are expected in the near future. The construction and reconstruction works of the entire complex are planned to start next year.
