Residential complex in Kaunas | Gintautas Natkevičius

The plot is located in an empty corner of the Old Town streets, next to which there is a square. Over the years, in the eyes, memories, and subconscious of all town residents and lovers of the old town, the image has formed that, unlike the typical densely of houses in the Old Town, this quarter is not surrounded by a perimeter.

Designing a house on a corner plot next to a square was an interesting and challenging task - the corner house had to form a perimeter on three sides. Typically, in the Old Town houses stand along the perimeter, having both a yard and a street, this case was different. However, in this case two sides form a street corner, while the third one faces the square. There was no possibility to connect to the perimeter, as a residential building was already being constructed in the perimeter, which also had windows. Therefore, a multi-apartment residential building with a very small, enclosed inner courtyard was designed - all four sides of the building look at something, they all have windows, showcases, balconies. Having a multi-apartment residential building in the old town with windows designed on all sides is a rare phenomenon.

The design followed a rectangular shape, leaving a rectangular internal space, an inner courtyard, which also serves as the access point for staircases, corridors, and some room windows - a structure with an inner courtyard, a mini atrium.

Characteristic of Kaunas Center is the elevated corners of blocks with turrets, rotundas, or domes - all corners are marked, emphasized. This is not the case in the Old Town - usually, the residential buildings in the Old Town are equivalent, so in our case, that street corner inspired the architectural expression that it should be emphasized.

To better integrate the building into the fabric of the Old Town, sloping roofs were designed, which were inclined in one direction - with a hint of a reptile's crest with its fins raised to one side. All this was designed in the opposite way, i.e. all this was turned not to the corner where the fin of that ridge, the higher part of it should be, but vice versa - the corner is the lower part.

It's like looking at an ancient photograph when looking at the positive and negative, everything is portrayed inversely - white silhouettes against a black background. So, when designing this residential building, the height was played with - the street corner was slightly lowered, making it more integrated into the existing urban structure of the Old Town. This street corner, with its roof dynamics seemed to better embrace it.

The facade of the building is made of ceramic bricks, which with their small texture, seams and certain patterns created a facade tectonics close to the Old Town. The main accent of the building is the very large balconies welded from steel sheets. The building is covered with hypertrophied balconies, with a hint of reptilian scales. Thanks to the roof ridges and hypertrophied balconies, when the sun shines or sets, a very intense and interesting play of shadows occurs - shadows are constantly moving on the facade and the roof.

It was created an architecture that blends in, adapts and flirts with the Old Town, its old architecture, while also showing that it is contemporary architecture and a contemporary architectural and aesthetic approach to the surrounding environment.

Lead architects: D. Kalmatavičius, D. Bukauskaitė, A. Rimšelis, G. Natkevičius
Project managers: K. Česnauskas, M. Jucius, T. Jūras
Sructural engineer: R. Butkus, A. Bagdonavičius, V. Vilėniškytė, V. Petrėnaitė