Scenarios for the construction of a concert hall at Elizabetes Street 2 will be publicly presented at the Architecture Plein Air / Article / LSM.lv

The forum-plein air of students and professors of the Baltic schools of architecture will end on November 6 with public presentations and discussions. Its purpose – to check the spatial possibilities of the potential storage of the National Acoustic Concert Hall in the area of ​​Elizabetes Street 2, Riga, informed the Ministry of Culture.

The task of the forum participants will be to analyze the possible planning and spatial development scenarios of Elizabetes Street 2 area, developing conceptual variants, which will be used by the Ministry of Culture and SJSC Valsts Nekustamie īpašumi for joint project development, urban analysis and international design competition planned for early next year.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the forum-plein air is planned remotely and will take place in several stages. In the first and second stages, professors and students of the Baltic architecture schools will have the opportunity to get acquainted with a wide range of informative and visual material on the territory’s construction history and development preconditions (institutional regulations), previous studies in Elizabetes Street 2 The working groups of the forum will be sent the collected graphic, cartographic, textual, virtual information about the building and area of ​​Elizabetes Street 2, giving them time to research the information and implement the sketched work task. Participants will also have access to video lectures prepared by Latvian architecture, landscape and urban planning experts from Riga Technical University, RISEBA and LLU.

In the third phase, creative sessions of professor-led working groups will take place, including remote roundtable discussions.

In the fourth stage, the developed development scenarios will be presented to the general public and representatives of institutions, as well as the final discussions with the participation of independent experts.

The most important round of discussions of the forum-plein air is related to real estate at Elizabetes Street 2 and Kronvalda Boulevard 6 and the adjacent territories, evaluating the quality criteria of modern urban planning, as well as emphasizing the components of “green”, “humane”, “friendly” urban environment.

The task of the forum includes the examination of the spatial potential of the area of ​​Elizabetes Street 2 between the city canal, Kronvalda Boulevard and Elizabetes Street and the analysis of possible future development scenarios of the building of Elizabetes Street 2. Development scenarios will be analyzed, which envisage integration of the National Concert Hall, fully preserving the existing Elizabetes Street 2 building or preserving the architecturally and constructively valuable structure and elements of the building or not maintaining the existing building at Elizabetes Street 2. The building at 6 Kronvalda Boulevard is integrated into the overall structure . A functional (spatial) connection with the existing music college on Kronvalda boulevard 8 is also expected.

CONTEXT:

The government supported it on 16 June The initiative of the Ministry of Culture (MoC) to develop the construction of the Riga acoustic concert hall at 2 Elizabetes Street, Kronvalda Park.

It is projected that dismantling of the building could start in spring 2021 and that the demolition of the building and the design competition for the Riga Concert Hall will cost around 3 million euros.

Minister of Culture Nauris Puntulis (National Association) expressed hopethat the concert hall will be completed in 6-7 years.

Several architects raise alarm as the site chosen for the construction of the concert hall, stating that the building is a legacy of Soviet-era modernist architecture and should not be demolished. A group of individual architects as well appealed to the National Cultural Heritage Board, inviting to grant the status of a cultural monument to a building in Riga, Elizabetes Street 2

In turn, representatives of the music industry, including Latvian Music Council a Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, expressed support for the government ‘s decision.

Architect’s office “NRJA” offered an idea to house a museum of art, architecture and design in the building. The “MAD Architecture Space” has already been created there.

In-depth technical research civil engineers have foundthat the building on Elizabetes Street in Riga is in a satisfactory technical condition, but with a number of discrepancies.

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