SHOWPLACE
Visitor center in Daugavas Loki

TYPE: Competition
CLIENT: Municipality of Daugavpils, Latvia
COLLABORATORS: -
SIZE: 3500 m2
LOCATION Slutiski, Daugavpils, Latvia
YEAR 2017
STATUS: Idea
PARTNERS IN CHARGE: Alisher Sadykov
PROJECT LEADER: Janis Berkis
PROJECT ARCHITECT: Eugene Simsons
TEAM: Alisher Sadykov, Sana Vong, Kristaps Eichler, Sergejs Surpickis, Krista Grinvalde, Inga Lace, Kristoffer Harning, Mia Frederiksen, Thomas Christofferson

DESCRIPTION:

The plot for the proposed visitor center is located in the suburbs of Daugavpils, Latvia.
The design consists of a bold striking structure that is as much part of the exhibit as the art it contains. The program was designed to create convenient and consistent functional spaces that would allow visitors to enjoy Daugava’s Loki showpieces. Specific features are the public sculpture tower and a terrace beneath a cantilevered roof with semi-closed gardens where design focuses on creating a link between the building and its surroundings. The choice of local natural materials, such as clay, wood, and dolomite stone allows the design to become part of the land it occupies. The landscape design includes pathways that lead to the four entrances of the museum, allowing visitors to enter it from any side of the building. Inside, dolomite flooring creates a warm atmosphere that leads visitors from space to space where large rhomboid window glazing continuously reminding visitors of the exterior surroundings, blurring the lines between inside and outside. The facade design was proposed from custom-made ceramic rhomboid panels using local production, which repeats the window glazing geometry.

The design becomes a monument of the skyline, with the 20m observation tower that rises above the tops of firs and pines where it aligns with the grid formed by the beautiful green forested landscape. The tower’s sculptural wrapping staircase is a bold statement both close up and from a distance and is a distinguishable modern monument that honors the place on which it stands.