URBAN STRUCTURE IN RIGA, Barona street 75
in cooperation with Aleksandr Zverev ENG: Our entry offers a solution to the empty city quarter in the center of Riga. It is designed to be dense and airy at the same time, giving valuable modern addition to the city centre. The further idea of this project is to create preconditions to turn Krisjana Barona iela into a pedestrian street – the artery of Riga – connecting this quarter to the Old Town. Krisjana Barona iela is the perfect modern pedestrian artery for Riga having all the conditions for developing a future livable economically active city – existing and potential businesses/activities along the street and connecting tramway that gives the opportunity for the pedestrian to approach the heart of the street. The backbone of the layout of this quarter is square – the most simple jet the most versatile figure to organize the area. The plot has been divided into squares to give similar size to new buildings and to well organize the in-between. 10 meters has been given between to building inside the quarter to create a dense enough space. Building have a simple plan and shape – important both for the planning and building phase and to the exploitation phase. It takes this so important energy and channels it into the activities rather than making and finding the activities. The base variable square of the buildings has been copied over the ground to create space. Playfulness has been given through roofs that change also the facades. But also this time it is achieved through one simple cut on each roof-square to give two slopes of different height. The architecture mimics surrounding building structure and appearance but with a modern touch. The outer perimeter of the quarter is with light colours and smaller windows. The inside of the quarter on the other hand is darker but more open. Dense landscaped space between the buildings creates a friendly but dignified sphere. Glassy fasades inside the quarter mirror opposite buildings and people and give a slight see-through touch. It gives vibrance –that attracts more and more people and activities. Different materials are used on the facedes to give variety. We have used bricks of variable hue, plaster, concrete, metal and glass. The outer tranquil look is opposed to the inner lively feeling. Large part of the plot is filled with shopping center, but at the same time the space around and over it is easily accessible public space. Outer space is varied and exciting because of the landscaping and the 3-dimensional approach to the planning gives new discoveries among different activities, businesses and functions in the quarter. The space between the buildings is container-landscaped bringing here different trees, bushes and flowers with grass and different pavings in between. Technical specifications Area of land 21755m2 Construction area 18295 m2 Area of square 1722 m2 Area of landscape 6822 m2 Total area of buildings 83665 m2 Number of Floors 7 Floors Number of parking spaces 670 Zero level 21450 m2 Construction density 52.8 m2 |
A proposal for Riga city would be to make Krisjana Barona iela an pedestrian street. The street has all potential to activate more the Riga city center, to bring more life into the city. The street would be directly connected to Riga old Town. The street would be this one seen in Red on the schema.
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