The New National Concert Hall “Tautos Namai” has been a long time in the making and has the potential to become a major cultural attractor and incubator for the city of Vilnius. With this goal in mind, it is critical that the House of the Nation and the two state-of-the-art Concert Halls should coexist in a way that redefines the highly symbolic site of Tauras Hill as an open, inclusive and multipurpose resource for the city. Our proposal for the National Concert Hall, a highly visible icon composed of three pure shapes, will act as a new form of social infrastructure to foster creativity, learning, and engagement with Lithuania’s strong cultural heritage.

Three Distinct Volumes

The brief calls for three main programs: the Grand Hall, the Small Hall, and the House of the Nation. Each of these programs has its own scale and specific requirements; we have chosen to express each of them as such. These three distinct, visually independent volumes carefully placed at the top of Tauras Hill allow for a clear and direct reading of the New National Concert Hall from throughout the city. The receding scale of the three buildings, from large, to medium, to small, from the more ceremonial and monumental to the more intimate and familiar, creates a dynamic yet poised addition to the Vilnius sky line. Subtle variations to the facade modulations and roof slopes of all three volumes provides them each with a unique character while allowing them to co-exist harmoniously as a whole.

1. The Grand Hall Volume

The Grand Hall is the largest of the three programs and as such, the Grand Hall Volume is the largest of the three volumes. The Hall itself is inspired by the classic European shoebox concert halls, such as the Grosser Musikvereinssaal (Vienna) and Concertgebouw (Amsterdam). The Hall interior adopts a simple and efficient shape that is dictated by the stringent acoustic requirements. The Hall itself is set back from the North, East and West facades. It is therefore expressed as a distinct volume floating within the brick facade enclosure, ensuring that it is clearly visible from the city to the North. The Grand hall foyers are shifted and stacked along the North facade, providing commanding views of Vilnius.

2. The Small Hall Volume

This mid-sized volume includes both the Small Hall and the public Entry Hall, the principal access point of the building and a performance and events space in its own right. Lifted off the ground and set back from the North and South facades, the Small Hall appears suspended above the Entry Hall, and again is clearly visible from the city to the North. Lifting the hall creates a triple-height space at the North of the Entry hall, and generous views onto the city. The Small Hall is a well-proportioned, multi-functional performance space designed for optimal acoustics and high reconfigurability. Capable of accommodating intimate piano recitals, chamber music performances, and hosting talks and gala dinners, the Small Hall is a truly flexible space.

3. The House of the Nation Volume

The smallest of the three volumes, The House of the Nation is no less powerful. The House of the Nation (HoN) itself has been conceived as a cutting-edge cultural incubator and social connector that will provide publicly accessible spaces for cultural and educational activities. Located across two levels, the HoN has deliberately been expressed independently from the two concert halls and is highly visible from the city and from the main East drop-off. The ground floor is conceived as a flexible exhibition and performance space. A double-height cutout along the North facade, with integrated bleacher seating, allows for a unique vantage point during performances and provides a visual connection to the Mediatheque and Cultural Library above. The restaurant and Library/Mediatheque programs are seen as extensions of the HoN program and as opportunities to spread awareness of Lithuanian literature, music, and cuisine. As a whole, the House of the Nation Volume will be a valuable resource that will facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas about Lithuanian history and culture.

A Place Between Grassland and Forest

Located at the top of Tauras Hill, the site lies at the intersection of two distinct landscape typologies: the mixed-forest landscape of the urban parks to the South, East and West, and the grassy slopes of Tauras hill. While these two landscapes each have their own value and iconic character, they neither form a cohesive ecological network nor welcome visitors to dwell within them.

The missing link: A Connective Central Landscape

Our site is the pinch point between these two landscapes, and the existing building on site currently acts as a barrier, disconnecting them from each other.

Through the creation of entry plaza spaces on each side of the building and a network of passageways through the site, we propose the creation of a connective landscape that reconnects the various adjacent ecosystems to the site and to one another. This not only provides pedestrian connections through the site, but also creates ecological corridors for wildlife and pollinators, as well as new hydrological opportunities for stormwater management and erosion control.

An Immersive Forest Hub

This central reconnective landscape uses planting and paving to create a gradual shift from dense forest to visually open grassland. It is a central hub of cultural activity, and a place of respite that welcomes visitors to dwell. The site is to be planted with native species of coniferous trees and fragrant ground covers that immerse visitors within a type of forest that would have once covered the majority of Lithuania, a place where one can feel both safe and in touch with the land. This planting scheme provides comfortable shelter from the noise and bustle of urban life while creating a clear and distinct landscape identity that signals one’s arrival to the concert hall.

Small Hall, during the performance of a quartet

Location:	Vilnius, Lithuania
Status:	Competition Entry
Date:	2019
With:	Studio Vaaro

Vilnius Concert Hall

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