In the Plein-air "Innovative Fortification - the Conversion of Kaunas Fortress buildings and territory in Aleksotas" experts in the fields of architecture, urban planning, landscape design and history & heritage collaborated with practitioners in Kaunas city to explore the potential of Kaunas Fortress located along the Lakunai st. This warehouses’ complex has lost its original military function and use, and for today it still remains abandoned. The most difficult task is to adapt these objects to modern needs while responding to societal needs and maintaining the urban greenery that emerged over the years. Thus, the main goal of this workshop is to start the interdisciplinary dialogue, which would help to evaluate the existing practice and propose sustainable and innovative solutions to regenerate the area.

After an open invitation, four teams of experts were gathered. The whole workshop lasted almost three months and consisted of a series of lectures, excursions, related skills’ workshops, consultations with heritage experts and mid-term presentations. This format gave the opportunity to get familiar with the territory and get a deeper understanding of the present challenges. It also offered enough room to digest the information and develop more elaborated ideas.

As a result, all teams presented short-term and long-term strategy solutions led by numerous ideas and actions supporting their implementation. This range of results gave a broad overview of what could be done in order to open up the space for the local community, how to connect it to the neighboring areas and the rest of the city, and how to make it accessible and self sustainable.

Kaunas Fortress Workshop and its territory is a potential bridge and facilitator creating the synergy between the past (military use) and the future (innovation), between the present community (residents) and the future community (the employees of the Aleksotas Innovation Industry Park). The architectural-urban plein-air prompted the Kaunas Fortress Park to choose the central artillery warehouse complex on the left Nemunas bank as a priority object for 2023 and to partially implement conceptual proposals in order to adapt the area of real cultural heritage with buildings for tourism, recreation and short-term coping purposes.

Interview on the National radio

2022 november 18

Time for culture. Temporary urbanism is gaining popularity around the world: abandoned areas are transformed into places of culture and community (in lt “Laikas kultūrai. Pasaulyje populiarėja laikinoji urbanistika: apleistos teritorijos virsta kultūros ir bendruomenės vieta”).

To listen click here