Clockwise from top left: SMAR Architecture Studio; Mark Foster Gage Architects; Alper Derinbogaz, Salon; Donghua Chen Team; Wolfgang Tschapeller ZTGmbH; Amid.cero9 / Elsewhere; UAB Architektu biuras G. Natkevicius ir partneriai; and SimpsonHaugh and Partners
© Malcolm Reading Consultants / Individual PracticesAn online gallery, showcasing the three winning and five commended designs for the Science Island International Design Contest, was launched today [December 15, 2016] by the competition organiser Malcolm Reading Consultants, in association with Kaunas City Municipality.
The design boards for the new National Science and Innovation Centre of Lithuania – known as Science Island – are now available to view on the competition’s website.
The Mayor of Kaunas, Visvaldas Matijošaitis, said:
‘Science Island will be a celebration of creativity, innovation and excellence, and these ideals clearly resonated with the international architectural community. We were delighted by the range of intelligent and compelling submissions we received from across the globe.
‘Making the very best submissions available for the public to view in an online gallery helps to fulfil Science Island’s educational mission. We would like to thank these eight teams for allowing us to present their ideas in this way.’
Malcolm Reading, Competition Director, said:
‘This anonymous design contest generated a great deal of interest, both in the international media and among global designers. The responses were of great quality, breadth and diversity, and we are delighted to be able to share some of these today.’
Announced in September 2016, the three winning teams are:
- SMAR Architecture Studio (Australia and Spain)
- SimpsonHaugh and Partners (United Kingdom)
- Donghua Chen Team (China)
In addition, the five teams who received an honourable mention are:
- Amid.cero9 / Elsewhere (Spain)
- Mark Foster Gage Architects (USA)
- Alper Derinbogaz, Salon (Turkey)
- UAB Architektų biuras G. Natkevičius ir partneriai (Lithuania)
- Wolfgang Tschapeller ZTGmbH (Austria)
The entries were judged by an eminent jury, comprising: Audrius Ambrasas, Director, Audrius Ambrasas Architects; Jonas Audėjaitis, Dean of Vilnus Academy of Arts’ Kaunas Faculty, and Member of Kaunas City Council; Paul Baker, Director, WilkinsonEyre; Sumit Paul-Choudhury, Editor-in-chief, New Scientist; Povilas Mačiulis, Vice Mayor, Kaunas City Municipality; Rainer Mahlamäki, Professor and Founder, Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects; Rolandas Maskoliūnas, Chief Press Officer, Lithuanian Academy of Sciences; and Christos Passas, Associate Director, Zaha Hadid Architects. The jury was chaired by Malcolm Reading.
The Science Island International Design Contest received 144 submissions from a total of 44 countries, making this the most popular design contest ever held in Lithuania. The three winners are currently undergoing a Negotiated Procedure without Publication of a Contract Notice with Kaunas City Municipality, who will select one architect or team to take the concept through to completion on site. Construction for the circa €25m project is scheduled to begin in 2017, with Science Island due to open to the public the following year.
Science Island’s mission is to popularise science through hands-on enquiry and exposition and celebrate recent achievements in science and global technologies. The Centre, within the celebrated university city of Kaunas, one of UNESCO’s global creative cities, will focus particularly on environmental themes and ecosystems, demonstrating sustainability and future energy technologies in the design of its own building. The circa 13,000 square metre site for the development is ideally positioned in close proximity to Kaunas’ historic Centras district, and most of Lithuania’s nearly three million residents live under an hour’s drive away.
