NATIONAL ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION - STRUCTUM VII. INOVATIVE CITY

It was first really challanging competition nation-wide. I gathered 6 people team from my university. 4 architects and 2 engineers. We had the task to design the teritory in Ignalina. Long forgotten tourist attraction, which can host winter sports.

When we visited the huge site in autumn we imeadeatly saw how beutiful and untouched nature is here. Without much thought we decided to go with eco-friendly adaptive design.

This lead us to put main snow arena area hidden under the slope in the north of the plot. Arena's roof became as a huge terrace-park which directly connects street with huge park complex below.

Main funcional arteries were firstly designed for people not cars. Cars cannot enter the plot. There are only two parkings: one besides the main street and another hidden underground. Everything is perfectly ecessible by foot. From parking to the lake's beach only 400 meters walk.

There was almost no destruction of a natural relief. Either we dig down, leaving everything as it is, or we build up, but buildings forms mimic relief it sits on.

The main building has huge functional ramp, which connects main street with park below. It is the main plot funcional artery.

Park below is above swamp area, in order to not fully destroy swamp's ecosystem there was a decision made to incorporate it as a funcional barrier between two different (administration and sports) functions in the large site.

Finally building has a lot green decisions: starting from green roofs, recycled contruction materials and finishing with solar panels and geoternal energy usesage.

Symbolism

Three hotels buildings with slope roofs symbolizes 3 hills which can be found in this site. It also symbolizes white bird - which comes with extremeness of this sport, white wings - with white snow.

Main plot symbol of course comes from the main building in the north. It symbolises melting iceberg. Paths below it - running water (from melted ice). People - individual water molecules. There will be always more people going to the beach rather than going to the city. This symbolizes imbalance and icebergs inability to recover after long and hot summers.

Interior of the building is intensionally made very cold and unconfortable. In order to make its visotors think about the monumentality of iceberg and how much influence humans have on these, in first glance, indestroyable structures.

Windows on the roof, on the walls, on the doors. Every window in the building's complex is "broken" - it symbolizes cracked ice. Visitors who walk on "cracked ice" should feel unsafe and unconfortable. Thats the main idea of the whole complex- not only create opportunity for people to spend they free-time, but also to make them think what they, individualy, can do to make a difference for global warming.