«To create places that people have not experienced before, places that remain in memory and give a dream of the future,» is how the 33 young architects who will receive Riga Technical University (RTU) diplomas for their professional Master's degrees in architecture describe their vision and sense of the world, quoting Japanese autodidact architect Tadao Ando. The graduation ceremony will take place on Friday, 8 March, at 18.00 in the Drawing Room of RTU Architecture and Design Institute (IAD), 6 Ķīpsalas iela, 4th floor, while at 19.00 the graduation project exhibition «Dream Structures» will open, and from 20.00 the beginning of the second decade of the home of the Institute of Architecture and Design will be celebrated.
The search for innovative and sustainable approaches to revitalising cultural and historical sites and urban environments, social issues relevant to society, and more active involvement of citizens in improving neighbourhoods and living spaces are topics that this year's RTU ADI graduates address in their research and diploma projects. For example, Laura Bidzāne has been looking for ways to expand the Railway Museum, making it an open social communication environment with an inclusive public outdoor space. The new museum building is a connection between historical volumes.
Danna Degle proposes various architecturally based principles for enlivening the urban environment of the Vidzeme market quarter. Anna Tihanova, on the other hand, has integrated renewable energy technologies into the development of the Berze Mill site and envisaged that in the future this cultural and historical monument will become an environmental school where everyone can learn how to reduce their ecological footprint and live more environmentally friendly.
After learning about different approaches to power plant design, Tils Zigmunds Ozoliņš created a multifunctional research centre in his diploma project that would be able to interact with a high-security, national-scale nuclear reactor.
Daniils Klekers has analysed the role of new technologies in post-disaster urban regeneration and proposes the use of modern modular houses as a possible solution for the revitalisation of the residential environment in Borodjanka, Ukraine.
All the young architects' diploma projects will be on display in the «Dream Structures» exhibition in the ADI atrium until 5 April, weekdays 9.00-20.00 and Saturdays 10.00-17.00. Entrance is free.
This graduation of young architects and the opening of the graduation exhibition marks a new decade for the building, which opened in 2013 as the first renovated building on the RTU campus in Ķīpsala and is home to the then RTU Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning and the Institute of Textile Technology and Design of the Faculty of Materials Science and Applied Chemistry (FMSAC).
For ten years, architects, designers and textile workers have been friendly neighbours, but since January 2024, when the Faculty of Architecture was merged with the Institute of Design Technologies of the FMSAC, they have become trusted allies. Māra Liepa-Zemeša, Director of IAD, is convinced that closer cooperation between architects, designers and textile workers will result in interdisciplinary projects, which will also be able to involve engineers and representatives of other disciplines. Students will have access to more opportunities for creative expression and the synergies will generate new ideas for a better and happier future.
All IAD students and staff, as well as RTU graduated architects, designers and textile artists, are invited to the 10th anniversary celebration «New Decade», which will start on 8 March at 20.00 with a levitating cube performance «Building Synergy» in the atrium of the 1st floor, continue on all floors and end with dancing and a party in the drawing room. DJ Dāvids Pikša will entertain the guests, refreshments and snacks will be provided by the drink and oyster bar «Buržujs» and chef Renārs Purmalis. Entrance is free of charge upon prior registration.
