Green Connect, Vilnius
Lithuania
The proposal “Green connect” with a team led by Zaha Hadid Architects with local architects CLOUD architektai, engineers Sweco Lietuva UAB and LAND won the competition for the future railway station in Vilnius, Lithuania. The station makeover becomes an opportunity for urban regeneration in Vilnius.
Client
LTG Infra and Vilnius City Municipality
Geography
Status
Year
2021-ongoing
Area Size
21 ha
Partners
Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects Local Executive Architect: CLOUD architektai Engineers: Sweco Lietuva UAB
Key project datas
1 Municipality involved, 2 clients from the railway sector, along the Baltic railway trail, Integration of 2 ha of existing park, linear rain gardens for water management, 1 main playground, 2 main public plazas
The proposal “Green connect” with a team led by Zaha Hadid Architects with local architects CLOUD architektai, engineers Sweco Lietuva UAB and LAND won the competition for the future railway station in Vilnius, Lithuania. The station makeover becomes an opportunity for urban regeneration in Vilnius.
Client
LTG Infra and Vilnius City Municipality
Geography
Status
Year
2021-ongoing
Area Size
21 ha
Partners
Architects: Zaha Hadid Architects Local Executive Architect: CLOUD architektai Engineers: Sweco Lietuva UAB
Key project datas
1 Municipality involved, 2 clients from the railway sector, along the Baltic railway trail, Integration of 2 ha of existing park, linear rain gardens for water management, 1 main playground, 2 main public plazas
Vilnius, Green Connect. Render by Negativ
Plan, ZHA
Plan, ZHA
Render by Negativ
Render by Negativ
Render by Negativ
The old Soviet station needed an overhaul with particular attention to urban connections, especially with the public spaces near the station precinct and the neighbourhoods. This was the aim of the open international competition organised by the Lithuanian Association of Architects as part of a wider 21-ha vision, dubbed Vilnius Connect, to upgrade living, work, and travel facilities across the city centre.
The winning proposal for the new infrastructure for the Vilnius Railyway Station, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, CLOUD architektai, Sweco Lietuva UAB and LAND, is grafted onto the neoclassical front of the current station and then unfolds with softer shapes and volumes that touch down in the Naujininkai neighbourhood. The project includes an underground car park to free up the square, which together with the nearby park will offer 4,000 square metres of public space and avenues with over 300 new trees.
The station, conceived ad a bridge, stretches 46 metres wide, 150 metres long, and 10 metres above the track and will become a new landmark of the city.
And the landscape design we were in charge of? Green is literally everywhere, with great attention to enhancing urban biodiversity and integrating the preexistent trees. A green strip on the bridge serves as a connecting element between the rear and the front of the station area with its public plaza and the rain garden. At the same time, shrubs and trees accompany the citizens towards the new residential quarter, in a unique mixing between public and private areas. The landscape will improve outdoor comfort and guarantee the liveability of the new urban spaces.
We propose a green connection for Vilnius, inviting people to gather, stay and enjoy the city’s new transport hub.
