Fintech company TWINO allows its staff to work from anywhere, but maintains that an office is vital for a social work culture. In response to the brief Open AD designed an activity-based workplace, which embodies the company culture and brand values. Bespoke furnishing brings the company logo to life without the need for further branding solutions. Seen from the street, a neon light feature attracts attention and announces the company name to passers-by.
Employees have access to hot desks, lockers, meeting spaces, a kitchen and lounge. The office is easily transformed to host meetups, community events and foosball tournaments. Custom-designed elements like the stylised tool rack support a culture of creativity and innovation, in which employees can comfortably ideate. It also nods to TWINO’s partner company, which works in the construction and real estate sector. The two share an office.
How to bring change while respecting 27 years of history and a loyal customer base? This was the challenge when trusted with designing the new event space Telpa at Osiris restaurant in Riga. Open AD sought to find a balance between the old and familiar, and the fresh and innovative. The design needed to be empathic towards current clientele, while also attract additional audiences.
The logo of Osiris is as legendary as the cafe itself. The Eye of Horus has been greeting customers since it opened in 1994. Open AD looked to the eye for inspiration, and it became the very foundation of our design.
Located in a grand Art Nouveau building, the apartment spans across its top two floors, including an adapted attic. Open AD was tasked with its complete transformation from floor plan to furniture and fixtures. Inspired by the location, history of the building and the client’s lifestyle, we created an apartment that combines the old and new. An apartment of playful yet elegant contrasts.
The new pharmacy on the corner of Jūrmalas gatve and Dzirciema street is not just a building, but rather a free-standing pavilion or environmental installation. Its overall image is modest and conceptually assertive, but at the same time keenly different from the surrounding urban environment and attractively expressing the contents of the building.
Riga based architecture studio GAISS have designed a private house for a young family with a roofscape that has inclinations in four directions.
The challenge of the project was to transform the peculiarity of an L-shaped plot into a spatial quality. A narrow part of the green parcel is connected to the adjoining street. To maximize land efficiency a section of the house is positioned on this stretch while forming a focus towards the garden in the wider area on the back.
London based architecture practice AI studio has received planning approval for a mixed-use tower in Latvian capital Riga, which has been designed in collaboration with local office DoStudio.
The 18,000 square metre mixed-use development will occupy a triangular site next to Skonto football stadium, just outside the Old Town of Riga (UNESCO World Heritage Site) and adjacent to historic Riga Fire Station. The design will feature class A office spaces, ground floor retail opportunities and a rooftop restaurant, in addition to creating a public area in front of the building.
Multimedia dance performance Both Sides is created as the culmination event of the Latvia’s centenary. Through the music, choreography, scenography, video and light projections, the story of the emergence of Latvia and experience of the last hundred years is told. 2000 m2 large stage is designed in the shape of Latvian flag. The flag is used not only as a symbol of the nation, but also as a space making element. It creates dance floor for large scenes of groups of dancers and smaller spaces for soloists. The polygonal surface of the scenography works also as a giant video projection screen for Latvian history photo and video interpretations.
Winning proposal for the Riga Creative Quarter “Tobacco Factory”:
The Tobacco Factory quarter is to be developed as a creative quarter, bringing together the opportunities of interdisciplinary education, creative entrepreneurship, innovations and cultural activities. The Tobacco Factory is to be adapted for the study process of the Latvian Academy of Culture and for the operation of a creative industries incubator. The territory of the Tobacco Factory will include premises of the Latvian Academy of Culture, a filming pavilion, Latvian Academy of Culture dormitories, the Riga Film Museum and the Latvian creative industries incubator.
The plan, facades and public space organisation clearly separate: (1) the FILM/PHOTOGRAPHY building, joining the Riga Museum of Film and Photography, the National Film School with the filming pavilion and the Cinema, (2) the Latvian Academy of Culture building is connected to the Library building via ground finish in the yard, (3) the Latvian creative industries incubator is connected to the Workshop block and the LAC building, (4) Latvian Academy of Culture dormitories.
Three Aspects of the Reconstruction Strategy for the Building of the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga
Considering the unique architecture of the building, its representational importance and significant contribution to the cultural heritage, the proposed extension strategy is based on:
– retention of the existing building capacity and authentic details;
– need for renewal and extension of museum functions in the clearly expressed modern volume and subtle minimal design of the additional spaces;
The façade of the residential building was inspired by the visual architecture of apartment buildings that were erected during the “golden age” in Rīga – the late 19th and early 20th century. These are particularly expressive and rich in the city’s historical centre. After investigating and analysing the surrounding area, the façade was given a new level of quality, and the reflective principle is the main finishing accent for the building. Without forgetting about environmental harmony, use was made of modern construction technologies, solutions and materials. The façade has been supplemented with modern decorative elements that fit into the cultural and historical environment.