Science Island , Kaunas/ Litauen

This one-stage anonymous design contest seeks concept designs for Lithuania new National Science and Innovation Centre along with an urban integration plan for Nemunas Island.
The Island has the potential to be an exceptional area of natural beauty and is strategically positioned within Kaunas, one of UNESCO’s global creative cities.
Science Island, scheduled to open in 2018, will further develop Kaunas profile as one of the Baltics key knowledge and cultural hubs and as an increasingly popular visitor destination. A former industrial centre, Kaunas has in recent years reinvented itself as a diverse academic and business city. The city benefits from a delightful riverine topography as well as a unique legacy of pre-war and notable modernist architecture.
Consistently ranked as Lithuania’s best student city, Kaunas’s lively atmosphere derives from the thousands of young people who are seeking higher education at its eight universities. The availability of young, highly-skilled specialists along with exceptional connectivity & most of Lithuania’s nearly three million residents live less than an hour’s drive away & has encouraged many innovative companies to set up within the city.
Population within an hour’s drive
Science Island’s aim is to inspire new audiences, young and old: fostering an enduring relationship with science and innovation, communicating knowledge and expanding understanding through hands-on activities and play. The project will draw on the expertise of a supportive community of educators, entrepreneurs, students, specialist scientists, technologists, naturalists and environmentalists.
This international, anonymous contest seeks to identify outstanding designs that communicate this vision, integrate the latest environmental thinking and crystallise the emerging identity of Kaunas, creating a symbol of the city.
Lithuania, the largest of the Baltic States, has one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe and the world’s highest ratio of science graduates per head of population. It is leading in a number of technologies, including internet communications and fibre-optics.
The competition is being run to the Design Contest Procedure and welcomes entries from all qualified architects. Three finalist practices will be selected at the conclusion of the competition, each receiving an honorarium of euro 15,000. These will enter into a Negotiated Procedure without Publication of a Contract Notice with Kaunas City Municipality, and one will be chosen by the Municipality as the successful bidder & see Competition Conditions for details.
Competitors
submissions must be sent to Kaunas to arrive no later than 14.00 GMT +3 Wednesday 14 September 2016. For full details, please see the Competition Conditions.
PROJECT
The Science Island initiative is a response to the success of international exemplar science centres, notably the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, the Phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany, and the Experimentarium in Copenhagen, Denmark, all of which have popularised science through hands-on enquiry and exposition.
Science Island’s perspective on three interrelated scientific themes, the Human, the Machine and Nature/Ecology, will be framed by the future: the most likely outcomes for the world, alternative scenarios, and the extent to which each of us is part of that unfolding process. The project’s overall aim is to foster and advance the development of science and culture in Kaunas, and in Lithuania as a whole.
The project is being developed in cooperation with all Lithuanian universities and many leading experts in science, biomedical engineering, and biotechnology. It will be managed in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science, and municipal Departments of Education, the Education Development Centre, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) centres and other educational institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations.
The 33 hectare Nemunas Island in Kaunas – with its central, accessible location, river views and green, open space & was recommended as the site for the planned National Science and Innovation Centre in January 2016 by a Working Group established by the Ministry of Science and Education. The Island, which is owned by Kaunas City Municipality, is currently used as an outdoor recreational space within the city, and is also home to Žalgiris Arena, Lithuania’s largest sports and entertainment arena. It is close to a number of visitor attractions, including the historic Old Town, Laisvės Avenue & notable for its numerous cafes, restaurants and cultural institutions & and the Akropolis shopping centre. A new concert and convention centre is planned on the south-bank at Aleksotas.
A number of the project’s partners and supporters operate from institutions which are within a few minutes’ walk of Science Island, these include the principal faculties of the Vytautus Magnus University, Kaunas University of Technology and the Lithuanian University of Health Science; along with the Lithuanian Zoo, Tadas Ivanauskas Museum of Zoology, the Lithuanian Aviation Museum and the Museum of the History of Lithuanian Medicine and Pharmacy.
The architectural quality of the new Centre is a key project value, given Kaunas’ architectural heritage. As the provisional capital of a newly-independent Lithuania in the interwar period, Kaunas experienced a cultural flowering as architects and engineers who graduated from Russian and European architecture schools created a unique concentration of Modernist architecture, drawing on international style tendencies & such as Bauhaus & as well as Lithuanian national styles.
Located in the geographical heart of Lithuania, Kaunas is circa 100 kilometres from the capital Vilnius. Kaunas and Vilnius are often compared to Scotland’s Glasgow and Edinburgh & they have comparable status and similarly contrasting identities.
CONTEST
The Science Island Design Contest is a one-stage anonymous competitive process to select three finalist practices who will each be awarded an honorarium of euro 15,000.
Following the conclusion of the competition, the three winners will enter into a Negotiated Procedure without Publication of a Contract Notice with Kaunas City Municipality, who will decide on a single, preferred bidder who will be awarded the contract and take the project through the design stages.
The competition is organised by London-based competition specialists Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC). MRC’s role in the competition includes writing the brief and competition materials, consulting with stakeholders and ensuring absolute independence in the competition process.
Competitors
submissions must be sent to Kaunas to arrive no later than 14.00 GMT +3 Wednesday 14 September 2016. For full details, please see the Competition Conditions.
Project budget
The project’s total allotted building-related project cost is euro 25M, including taxes. The new Centre can be located anywhere within Nemunas Island with a total site area of up to 13,000 m2, which includes 9,000 m2 for the Science and Innovation Centre building.
Site area in m2: 13,000
The new Centre will include a mixture of permanent and temporary galleries, a virtual planetarium, an
Experimentorium & research laboratories, a cafeteria and a flexible events space. It is foreseen that circa 4,000 m2 of outdoor space around the Centre on the Island could be used as external exhibition space, creating an attractive green space in the. Visitors to Science Island are anticipated to number circa 300,000 per year.
As one of the key aims of the Centre is to promote visitors’ active engagement with renewable energy, the jury will give special attention to the functionality, innovation and energy-efficiency of the design; this should achieve the best use of natural and renewable resources.
The contest requires teams to produce concept designs in physical and digital forms as six A1 presentation boards covering:
Cityscape
Architectural Quality
Architectural Quality (internal)
Architectural Quality of the Galleries (internal)
Usability
Sustainability and Feasibility
To accompany this, teams will need to produce a 500-word project description, and supply accompanying plans, sections and elevations.
Please read the Competition Conditions for full details of the project and contest.
Key Themes and Objectives
The purpose of the design contest is to: Develop an urban integration plan that identifies a suitable area on Nemunas Island for the new National Science and Innovation Centre and establishes a compelling setting and identity for the project
Create a concept design for the new National Science and Innovation Centre
The design for the new building should: Be an exemplar of sustainability.
Sit comfortably within the Island and landscaped setting, retaining the Island’s panoramic views.
Be an original and distinctive architectural composition which could become a symbol of the Island.
Fit naturally within the urban grain of Kaunas, located in this strategic position within the city.
Enhance the image of Kaunas, becoming a part of the city’s identity.
Create harmony with the existing Arena, and develop a compositional relationship with the Naujamiestis and Aleksotas areas.
Consider routes through the Island to a potential new bridge link to the proposed concert and convention centre located on the south-bank of the Nemunas River in Aleksotas.
Timeline
27 June 2016 Competition launch
6 September Deadline for Q’As
14 September Competition deadline
November Winners announced
Q2 2017 Construction begins
Q2 2018 Opening of National Science and Innovation Centre
competitions.malcolmreading.co.uk/scienceisland/overview
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