National Institute of Architecture to be founded
The Government has approved the founding of the National Institute of Architecture, which will be based in the former Kaunas Central Post Office building in Laisvės Alėja.
The National Institute of Architecture (NIA) will implement state policies in the field of culture and creative industries, will promote the development of architectural art in Lithuania, will present Lithuanian architectural art in Lithuania and abroad as well as the foreign architectural art development trends in Lithuania, will collect, preserve, and research museum values of Lithuanian architectural art and architectural heritage, devoting special attention to Kaunas interwar modernism, and will encourage the public’s involvement in the processes of the planning of public spaces.
“With the establishment of the National Institute of Architecture, a gap is filled that existed for many years. Finally, we will have a centre of research, initiatives, and ideas dedicated to architecture, its history, development, and future prospects, which will become a big draw both for the professionals and the public at large”, the Minister of Culture Simonas Kairys says. “It is particularly encouraging that the new institution will also turn over a new page in the history of the post office building which had emerged during the interwar. Using the EU support funds, this building will be modernised, preserving all of its valuable characteristics and also adapting it for the NIA’s needs. This location will nurture and strengthen values that correspond completely with the spirit of the New European Bauhaus: sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion”.
The NIA will help deepen the public’s understanding of the art and heritage of architecture, reveal their origins, distinctiveness, cultural value, and relationships with global cultural and arts processes, will encourage the society’s participation in the formation of high-quality environment, will nurture the identity of Lithuanian architectural art, and will also promote openness, interdisciplinarity, and innovations of architecture.
In pursuit of these goals, the NIA will plan, organise, arrange, and hold exhibitions of architectural art and architectural heritage, initiate and implement other architectural art and architectural heritage projects, and organise seminars, lecture series, conferences, creative workshops, competitions, festivals, and other events that introduce and analyse the field of architectural art, its development trends, and interaction with other fields of the public life.
The new institution will establish and organise architectural art awards, organise residencies of architectural art and residencies related to this field, will encourage exchange of architects and specialists connected to architecture, will involve the public in the city planning processes in order to build a high-quality, sustainable architectural environment that meets the interests of society.
The NIA will also implement New European Bauhaus, Davos Baukultur Alliance, and other initiatives of the European Union or third parties in the fields of architectural art or architectural heritage, will present proposals to the Ministry of Culture on the promotion of the development of architectural art or architectural heritage, and will collect relevant statistical information on architectural art and present it to the public. The institute will also conduct museum activities: it will collect, preserve, research, and introduce the museum values of Lithuanian architectural art and architectural heritage, will prepare and implement cultural education projects and practical architectural education activities, and will implement architect training programmes and projects.
The new institution will organise preventative conservation and restoration of museum values of Lithuanian architectural art, will conduct research of architectural art and architectural heritage, will publish and distribute publications of research, education, information and advertising related to the NIA’s activities. The NIA will collect architecture publications and will provide the opportunity for the public to use them, and will present Lithuanian architecture abroad, in cooperation with Lithuanian and foreign architecture centres, architectural and other museums, state archives, and other cultural, artistic, scientific, or research institutions or organisations.
It is planned that the NIA will employ up to 20 researchers, curators, museum employees and culture managers as well as architecture professionals. The institution will be developed gradually. It will start operating in full force when the Kaunas Central Post Office investment project is completed. In the immediate future, competition for the director is planned to be organised and the institution’s registration is to be completed.
Photo by Teodoras Biliūnas / BNS
Last updated: 02-02-2024