This post was automatically translated into English
The architecture of the Pilaitė shopping center “Pupa” is a contrast to the casino.
The architecture of the Pilaitė shopping center “Pupa” is a contrast to the casino.
Construction of a new 6,300 square meter shopping center “Pupa” began in June in the Pilaitė neighborhood of the capital. The real estate development company “Eika”, which will invest LTL 30 million in the project, expects to complete the work in March 2008. According to the architects of the shopping center, the architecture of the “Pupa” store will differ from its older siblings in the abundance of natural light and the transparency of the building.
“We tried to combine the monumental architecture of the building with the surrounding residential buildings and with small architectural forms. Separate lightweight structures that do not obscure the building will be dedicated to advertising boards,” explains the project architect Arūnas Paslaitis, whose creative portfolio already includes co-authorship of the Vilnius Municipality and Grand Duke Palace buildings in the capital.
The “casino-opposite” concept was chosen for the architectural solution of the shopping center. Efforts were made to make the public spaces of the building as transparent and translucent as possible, and to use as much natural light as possible inside.
The architect explains that he believes in the educational function of aesthetics. “Although he is building a store, not a theater,” he tries to think in terms of social urbanism – as a place where people gather, meet, and communicate.
“While inside the building, people will constantly see the outside through the two-story glass facades and skylights. The only exceptions are a few places in the building. Light and transparency reduce aggression, so there are glass walls at both ends of the store’s arcade, from where natural daylight will enter the interior,” says A. Paslaitis.
Another distinctive feature of this shopping center is the harmony of architectural solutions, as the landscape, interior, and exterior are in the hands of two architects working together and who have known each other for about twenty years.
“Arūnėlis (Paslaitis) and I studied at the same school, Vilnius Secondary School No. 31, and we have been on good terms ever since. The architecture of the building is his merit, I coordinated more. I would get involved if there were any discussions,” says Vytenis Gerliakas, the second architect of the project, adding that he found the impetus for the unconventional solution for advertising the Pupa shopping center in Austria.
The building’s recognizable architectural motif is a rhombus, as this is the shape of the plot itself. The rhombus repeats itself, appearing and disappearing on the building’s facade and in the 100-square-meter recreational area of the shopping center. The two green zones should also have this shape, where, according to A. Paslaitis, several real trees and shrubs should grow on natural lawns – “we would like to do without “white gravel” and plastic plants.”
When expanding the Pilaitė microdistrict in a northerly direction, three real estate development companies should build about 2,300 apartments on a 200-hectare area. The largest number, 1,000 apartments, is being built here by the company “Eika”.
The apartment block is intended for middle-income earners, with an average family income of around LTL 4,000 per month. Once construction is complete, around 14,000 people should live in the northern part of Pilaitė.