Participating in the Vilnius Congress Centre International Competition gave us the opportunity to engage with a brief unlike most we encounter. A landmark civic building in the capital of Lithuania, situated on a site carrying deep historical significance and shaped by a public life very different from our own.
Our proposal, The Urban Ripple, was inspired by the image of a single drop of water meeting the river surface — a small catalyst generating ripples that expand outward across the city. This idea evolved into a rhythmic façade of alternating semicircular forms derived from the flowing geometry of the Neris River, shaping a semi-amphitheatre landscape that blurs the boundary between architecture and public space.
More than the outcome itself, what we value most is the experience of engaging with an unfamiliar urban and cultural context. Designing for a place you are still learning to understand forces you to question assumptions, sharpen your thinking, and rethink how architecture can respond to civic life at a larger scale.
Competitions like this continue to push our studio beyond familiar boundaries — allowing us to explore architecture not only as buildings, but as urban infrastructure, public landscape, and cultural dialogue.
