Architect Gintaras Balcytis and his colleagues proposed a completely new solution for a transport facility for the town of Vilkaviskis with 11,000 inhabitants near the Polish border. The new bus station looks more like a park pavilion than a utilitarian infrastructure facility. It is white in color, with "blurred" borders letting in the surroundings: glass and mesh are widely used.
The feeling of openness and free flowing space is primarily created by the roof on slender supports: it is much larger than the building itself, covering 3,300 m2 of area, and round openings were made in it for trees growing at the construction site: this is how they managed to be preserved.
The attractive modern building is suitable, in addition to its direct function and the role of a well-maintained public space, for holding concerts and tastings of farm products, setting up a summer cafe and many other uses. Such multitasking should make the bus station a center of attraction for service, retail and other businesses. This will improve the quality of life in the city and slow down the migration of residents from Vilkaviskis to the big cities of Lithuania and abroad.
The bus station was nominated for the main architectural award of the European Union - the Mies van der Rohe Prize.
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zooming 1/5 Bus station in Vilkaviskis Photo © Norbert Tukaj
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zooming 2/5 Vilkaviskis Bus Station Photo © Norbert Tukaj
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zooming 3/5 Bus station in Vilkaviskis Photo © Norbert Tukaj
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zooming 4/5 Bus station in Vilkaviskis Photo © Norbert Tukaj
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zooming 5/5 Bus station in Vilkaviskis Photo © Norbert Tukaj
