The first half-timbered facade made of glass and wood in Lithuania

The rice mill on the territory of the Klaipėda Ship Repair Company is already wearing a new half-timbered (wooden beams dividing the facade into panels of different shapes) outfit. This is the first half-timbered building in Lithuania, the facade of which is formed of wood and glass.

 

Employees of the building’s owners, the consortium “Jūros vartai” of the companies “Eika” and “Achema”, explain that they had to design and manufacture the second facade of the house (wooden beam structures) only after the first, glass, facade was completed.

 

The work on the second facade took about four months, so only the exterior of the house from the Castle Square side was completed before the Sea Festival. It is expected that not only the installation, but also the cosmetic work – strips protecting the wooden beams from pigeons – will be completed by September. In the fall, the four-star hotel “Navalis” should open in the Ryžių mlūnas.

 

In the words of the author of the project, architect Snieguolė Stripinienė, the Rice Mill is a symbol of the city of Klaipėda, whose historical form has changed several times. For the reconstruction of the building, its 18th-century form was deliberately chosen, an era from which most photographs and authentic first-floor walls remained, from which it was possible to accurately measure the former proportions of the half-timbered house.

 

However, the restoration of the Rice Mill did not attempt to build a “photocopy” of it, but focused on its historical, half-timbered atmosphere and the purpose of the building in modern times:

 

“There will never be a rice warehouse here again, where grains are dried. We had to think about today’s people and their needs. Through the large and warm glass windows, hotel guests will have a good view of the yachts and the river, and at night those windows will be pleasantly lit for the city’s residents,” says D. Stripinienė.

 

On the other hand, the flammable and dangerous wooden floors of the house would not meet the fire safety requirements of the twenty-first century. For safety reasons, it was necessary to install fire escapes in the Rice Mill, which never existed here.

 

The eighteenth-century form, rather than the previous ones, was deliberately chosen for the restoration of the Rice Mill, as most of the historiographical material from that period had survived. Although historical drawings of the building have not been preserved, the focus is on numerous photographs and the clear volume of the building.

 

“People did not believe that the building would be rebuilt as we promised. A double glass and half-timbered facade costs two million litas more than a simple brick one. I can only be happy that a client has emerged who has chosen a solid, albeit more expensive, solution. It is already clear that the building is a success,” explains S. Stripinienė.