KAUNAS ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL 2013
Freedom Impulses Competition
Authors: Laura Petruskeviciute, Paulina Naruseviciute
http://www.kafe2013.lt/en/freedom-impulses
Project “Laisvės impulsai” (“Freedom impulses”) is inovative/experimental event that will gather young architects to look at Kaunas main pedestrian street differently. Main goal is to create discussion between public, business, architects, government about new architecture in historical city spaces.Participants will be able to choose one of exsiting Laisves avenue buildings and create their own vision how it might look. Everyone is invited to create without limits, frames or boundaries without thinking how ideas could be implemented.
The project “Laisvės impulsai” (“Freedom impulses”), which will begin on 1 September 2013 in Laisvės avenue in Kaunas is an innovative/experimental event to generate analysis of emergence of new architecture in a historical environment, intellectual engagement, spreading of architectural ideas and critical thoughts across the town, focused on initiation of a lively and open discussions between the urban society, business people, architects, municipality and other concerned public groups on what the contemporary architecture can (or could) be in urban historical spaces – an issue, which is often accompanied by confronting and even controversial moods.
Idea
The essence of the forthcoming project “Laivės impulsai” is to offer the most capable architects of the young generation (up to 40 years old) to submit their visions concerning the most “impaired” locations of Laisvės avenue in Kaunas: its buildings and their façades, planned annexes. Laisvės avenue was chosen for this project because it is the main space of the town, and its newly constructed objects received strong opposition from the public. On the other hand, we can find many abandoned buildings and unmanaged places in this historical street, waiting for their build-up or functions to be eventually solved, therefore such responsible step needs especially serious preparation and careful weighing of all possible alternatives.
Visualisations of architectural ideas will be used to provoke public discussions between citizens and guests of the town on how the old and the new could match in the historical space of the town, which already has an established form, on the meaning of heritage, how new architectural solutions could be born, what is necessary for civic rebirth of the town, its architectural and urban face, as well as the challenge to be an intellectual concern of every resident of the town.
Since these architectural visions are not meant for implementation, no limitations will apply except for one – artistic, i. e. the requirement to offer architecture of the best possible value, encompassing within itself the best view of the contemporary modern architecture on the historical environment.
