Residential house on Braškių g. Category: private residence
Design: 2011
Construction: 2011
Address: Braškių g., Kaunas
Architects: Gintautas Natkevičius, Mantas Mickevičius

Gintautas Natkevičius (born 1958) manages a highly productive and creative architectural practice in Kaunas. The collective carries out quality projects of expressive originality, ranging from substantial complexes to private residential houses. The G. Natkevičius and Partners architectural firm has consistently explored new and unexpected solutions, with great attention to detail and a consistent contemporary aesthetic.

The main advantage of the plot in the neighbourhood of the chaotically scattered low wooden houses on Braškių g. is the view of the confluence of the two largest rivers in Lithuania. The building is configured into a U-shape to face in on itself, with its back to the drab environment, while the inner courtyard opens up to the view of the valley formed by the two rivers. Taking into account the complicated geometry of the site, the architects proposed a building that replicates its contours and occupies almost the entire plot of land. The façade, a blind wall decorated with rusted plates, merges with the visually inarticulate surroundings and fits the character of the location. According to the project’s developers, even the rust-plated façade was selected ‘to emphasise the social origin of the building’. The bright interior façades of the building surround a small courtyard and a winter garden, which unite all the building’s spaces into a coherent whole. The house on Braškių g. was recognised as the best building of 2011 in Kaunas and won an Archiforma magazine prize.

www.natkevicius.lt