Kaunas Concert Hall

Client: Kaunas City Municipality
Sector: Cultural
Status: Competition entry

This competition entry was a collaboration with Aecom and Charcoal Blue on a competition entry for a new €30m concert venue in Kaunas, Lithuania.

The building comprises a cluster of orthogonal volumes linked by a glazed ‘curtain’ to the north and a ‘gantry’ to the south arranged on axes in plan. Internally, the voids between these volumes are dramatic and varied. The design allows each element to respond to both its function and context. To the west, the main hall looks out towards the city and cantilevers dramatically over the pedestrian route and a newly formed river inlet. Beyond this, the landscape is ‘untouched’ with board walks meandering towards the river bank.

The design responds to the specifics of the Kaunas climate and the concert hall functions along with minimising the embodied carbon of the construction and providing a net zero carbon project.

The design allows each element to respond to both its function and context. To the west, the main hall looks out towards the city and cantilevers dramatically over the pedestrian route and a newly formed river inlet. Beyond this, the landscape is ‘untouched’ with board walks meandering towards the river bank.

The main entrance from the road side is more formal, a route through the rising public plaza under the main hall opening into the dramatic triple height foyer space overlooking Kaunas. The bridge connection from the North provides a more romantic approach to the building past boats, sunken external performance areas and new copses.