The international competition for the architectural idea of the National Concert Hall begins. Architects from all over the world are invited to design the future of one of the most important spaces of the capital and submit their proposals to the Vilnius City Municipality.
The competition of ideas will last until June, and in 2021 the construction of the building, which will last several years, will begin. It is planned that to the first a concert Vilnius residents and guests of the city will be invited to the new hall as early as 2023, when we will celebrate the 700th birthday of Vilnius.
"National concert hall "Tautas namai" is one of the most important planned cultural objects in the capital. I invite international, world-renowned teams of architects from all over the world to Vilnius to create a modern space for symphonic music concerts, entertainment activities and leisure time. The architecture of the building should become a new sign of the city - resounding, inspiring, liberating from narrow frames of understanding and reflecting the era, says the mayor of Vilnius Remigius Šimašius.
The mayor of the capital together with the Minister of Culture Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, the Secretary General of the International Union of Architects Serban Tigan and the President of the Lithuanian Union of Architects Rūta Leitanaite signed an official appeal to the architects of the world. Professionals are invited to participate in an international architectural competition and design more than a building - it is expected that the hall named after the "Nation's Home" will host impressive, world-famous cultural events, and this space will turn into a focal point of European culture.
"This is a unique idea and an opportunity for architects from all over the world to contribute to the creation of the history of Vilnius. Organizing such international competitions is very responsible and difficult. But history shows that this is the path that leads to success. UNESCO, together with the Union of Lithuanian Architects, did everything to create the conditions for such competitions. I think today is a historic event for Vilnius, when the building begins its history. The only thing I regret about this competition is that I cannot participate in it myself," said Serban Tigan, Secretary General of the International Union of Architects.
The participants of the architectural competition will have to design the building itself, two concert halls, spaces for bars, a spacious lobby with a view of the impressive panoramas of the city and premises for various other cultural activities. The estimated budget for the design services and construction works of the concert hall amounts to 52 million. euros. This amount includes all the costs related to the design, construction and installation of the object, as well as the management of the site.
Despite the sought-after modernity and western quality, the conditions of the competition stipulate that the participating teams should also understand the significance of the location and the historical context of the building - the Trade Union Chamber currently located on Mount Tauros was once supposed to be the House of the Nation designed by J. Basanavičius.
"The submitted ideas for the architectural competition will be evaluated by an international commission: architects and other professionals from Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Lithuania. The winning idea should reflect and convey an easily transformable public space intended for education - changing exhibitions, meetings, creative workshops and other activities related to the idea of the People's House and the history of Lithuanian memory," says Rūta Leitanaitė, chairperson of the Lithuanian Architects' Union.
The architectural idea competition will continue for half a year - architects will be able to send ideas and ask questions until 2019. on June 25, the announcement of the results and the exhibition of the submitted projects to the public are expected in September. 2020-2022 construction of the building is expected, and the first concert 2023 will be played in the new space. According to the terms of the architectural idea competition prepared by the capital municipality, the new building will have a large concert hall with up to 1.700 seats and a small concert hall with 500 seats. The architectural competition is organized in cooperation with the International Union of Architects, the Lithuanian Union of Architects and Lithuania The Ministry of Culture.
