In 1993, the SBA Group announced an open competition for the design of a residential building at 12 Taurakiemio gatvė in Kaunas. Situated near the Panemunė Forest and running parallel to the bends of the Nemunas River, the dead-end site encouraged the search for a subtle yet distinctive architectural solution. The client was well aware of the site’s environmental value and, contrary to prevailing trends, tasked the architects with creating ‘a façade of restrained form, avoiding decorative elements such as towers, pitched roofs, balconies, etc.’ The key requirements were ‘a close connection with the environment’ and ‘the image of a modest, small house.'[1]

The trio of Valdas Ozarinskas, Viktoras Kormilcevas, and Aida Čeponytė proposed a conceptual, transparent volume resembling the outline of a boat or even a submarine. This solution articulates architecturally the idea of temporariness – the house appears to be moored on the site, ready to set sail. The foundation, which Gottfried Semper defined as one of the four essential elements of architecture, is here replaced by supports. This pursuit of an ephemeral form – seemingly lifting the building away from the earth’s surface – conceptually echoes Mies van der Rohe’s approach in the Edith Farnsworth House project.

As in other works by Ozarinskas, the model represents a distinctive synthesis of industrial and organic aesthetics: a curved body clad in perforated and riveted aluminium sheets, metal mesh surfaces, and spiral-shaped internal elements combine to create the impression that the villa is nothing more than a ‘machine for living in’ that has temporarily moored itself within the shelter of nature.

[1] Competition requirements for the design of an individual residential house, 1993. From the archives of the Valdas Ozarinskas Foundation.

– Vaidas Petrulis

Authors: Aida Čeponytė, Viktoras Kormilcevas, Valdas Ozarinskas

Photographers: Valdas Ozarinskas, Gintautas Trimakas

A model has been preserved

Architecture