Kaunas, Lithuania
2016

Our entry for the 13,000m² Science Island Kaunas competition negotiates between its grounding in the park and its science and innovation programming. The building’s form is as simple as its program and content are complex: its kernel is the suspended gallery space, activated by rear video projection onto glass panels, which can also be retracted to create a full free plan. To each gallery (for learning, absorbing) we attach a lab (for making, experimenting), while a rooftop planetarium invites visitors to panoramic views of the city before stepping into the immersive dome. The extensive ground-floor public space uses cut-away corners to invite visitors in seamlessly from the park outside, while the four programmed pavilions at this floor exert cones of influence into the landscape outside.