Kaunas, Lithuania
2016 (Competition)

Scientific discoveries, ideas and inventions have not been mere end results of scientific research but more so beginnings to be continued and built upon. The encounter with the Kaunas Science Center should therefore express the notion of an open-ended experience, one that reflects continuous movement, a progression of events and spaces, of making and exploring, an expanded field rather than a closed object. Rather than conceiving the science center building as a ‘fixed’ container of information, our proposal envisions the project to act as a tool of measure, an infrastructural element that anchors the island to the city and enriches our experience of both the urban and nature. Shaping a new urban space our building functions as an embankment to the waterfront and as a pedestrian promenade – a new public space that meets island and city. Infrastructure, landscape and building are combined into a single structure that functions as a ‘spine’ that holds different cultural, educational and recreational activities along it. The open space of Nemunas Island becomes a sculptural garden in which artist are invited to work in dialogue with the Science Center. The entire island maintains its beautiful landscape and presence as a retreat from the city while at the same time enhanced by the activities, programs, spaces and new urban experience of the Science Center.