An old Soviet apartment high-rise has long stood out from the glass skyline of Konstitucijos Avenue in Vilnius. It is now expected to undergo renovation, but residents hope to preserve its brutalist elements.
The 16-storey residential building on Konstitucijos Avenue was built in 1989 and today looks rather derelict surrounded by the modern high-rises. The building has a total of 60 apartments.
Plans to renovate this high-rise apartment block were first floated four years ago. At that time, it was proposed to cover it with solar panels, but the proposal failed to find sufficient support among the residents.
However, a consensus was found for a revised design. The new investment plan was approved by a 64-percent majority, according to Eglė Randytė, head of Atnaujinkime Miestą, the public institution that supports and promotes renovation.
“This is the final decision, and the application is now submitted to the Environmental Project Management Agency for assessment and approval. Once approved, the public support contract will be signed and the procurement for the preparation of the technical design will be initiated. This will be followed by the start of the design work. The procurement of these works is expected to take between 1–3 months,” she explained.
The project will upgrade the cold and hot water pipelines, electrical wiring, elevators, facades, windows, fire protection, heating and sewage systems, as well as the noise-proof balconies of the building. The total value of the project is 3.842 million euros.
“The state is covering the costs of the design, construction supervision, and project administration (277,000 euros). State support for energy-saving measures amounts to 1.073 million euros. The municipality’s support for glazing all windows and balconies amounts to 772,000 euros,” Randytė said.
The total amount to be paid by the residents is 1.721 million euros.
“Once the technical work project is prepared, the procurement of project works will be initiated. It is expected that the renovation-construction works will start in spring next year,” the head of Atnaujinkime Miestą noted.
The new project will also be coordinated with the chief architect of Vilnius.
Between modernism and brutalism
Real estate analyst Arnoldas Antanavičius owns an apartment in the old high-rise on Konstitucijos Avenue. He said he supported the renovation in the latest vote.
“We voted in favour because we could not find any arguments to disagree. The house needs to be renovated; it needs to be put in order. From the beginning, we wanted it to be a rational renovation and not an experimental one,” he said.
According to him, most residents of the building hope that its uniqueness will be preserved after the renovation.
“Many residents expect that the uniqueness of the building will be preserved. Of course, not in a derelict state as it is now. But that building is included in the category of Soviet-era brutalist architecture,” he noted.
“Most inhabitants started to think that the colour and texture of the concrete should be preserved. [...] Some people wanted a modern look, but we started to think that these glass buildings are interventionist, they came not so long ago and started to form a glass city centre,” Antanavičius added.
However, Veronika Lazauskytė, the auditor of the community of the building’s owners, said that the high-rise should fit in with its surroundings better after renovation.
“It won’t look like that anymore. It will be coordinated with the architects,” she said. “The balconies will be glass; the upper and lower part will also be glazed.”
This year, the Vilnius City Municipality has received 39 applications for the renovation of apartment buildings, worth a total of 57.4 million euros.
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