The Science Island Kaunas is conceived as a confluence of the existing island park and the city by fusing Nature, human and Machine (Architecture). The mixture of these 3 important elements is the main theme of the proposal flows overlooking the park and elevated island above the city of Kaunas, Lithuania.
A New Public Space
Inspired by the human eye, the building is positioned in the middle of the site overlooking the entire cityscape. Due to pedestrian path nature of the site, an unbroken access path through the building is critical in ensuring connectivity of movement round the building and site. The site area is 267605.2sqm with parking along the two facing streets on the island together with an underground parking at the zaligirio arena on eastern side of the site.
Height Constraint
The height constraint for the project was given as 25m, but considering the height of surrounding buildings, we decided to lower the height at the east side to 6.3m meeting the human scale and 15.9m at the west side to meet the city scale, allowing for unobstructed view from both North and South side of the Island.
Public Space Shading
The maximum roof surface is merged with the minimum footprint to create the largest possible shading structure with the smallest possible volume.
Skylight & Shading Façade
We proposed a roof skylight which shades direct sunlight into the office together with the inclined concrete wall.
Skylight & PV
The orientation of the roof form allows for a diffusion of natural light to filter in from north-west, while the south-east facing photovoltaic cells harness solar energy to power the science center and its exhibits. Source and images, Courtesy of Amadi Izuchukwu Magnus.