New Architectural Competition: Vilnius Railway Station Area

Open Call for worldwide architects: Vilnius launches an architectural competition for reconstruction of Railway Station, Central Station Square and Public transport terminal

Vilnius, preparing to radically reconstruct the station district, looks forward to hearing ideas from worldwide architects. Vilnius city municipality, together with Lithuanian Railways (LTG), announced an international architecture competition to select the best proposal. Competition of such complexity, with the largest public transport centre in Lithuania to be restructured, has been announced for the first time ever. The competition task involves designing Vilnius railway station complex, central station square and public transport terminal.

The competition was announced on 3rd of March 2021, its terms and documents were published in the the Central Public Procurement Information System (CVP IS) and the Vilnius Connect project website.

The participants of the tender will have to create an iconic and globally recognisable international railway station project, offer a public transport service infrastructure that would represent Lithuania and Vilnius in compliance with the highest quality standards, form an attractive station square, and offer an idea for a viable and connecting Station district urban centre.

“Our goal is that any person who arrives by train or bus to Vilnius immediately sees that it is a vibrant city of the future, and when they step into the station square or street, they will feel that the city is cosy, green, and inspiring. I hope that many bold ideas will be submitted, which would allow this ambition to be realised”, says Remigijus Šimašius, Mayor of Vilnius.

Mantas Bartuška, CEO of LTG, considers close cooperation with the city as the basis for the success of this future change. The head of the group implementing such projects of international importance like the construction of the Rail Baltica European track, says that partnership between the city and businesses will allow better coordination of viewpoints and turn them into the best possible result.

“Projects for the reconstruction of stations in the world’s capital cities usually take place only once in a century, so this open call is a historic opportunity for the world’s best architects to define a vision for future generations. The partnership for reconstructing the station district reflects our determination to open up previously closed industrial spaces for the city and to adapt them for the people. Here we want to create such spaces that correspond to the best examples of Western European railway stations, and the station would not only be a point of travel, but also a new attraction centre with leisure and service spaces, comfortable connections for pedestrians, cyclists, and everyone choosing comfortable and eco-friendly trips by train,” says Mr Bartuška.

Participants of the international architectural competition are asked to submit their proposals for the Vilnius railway station, station square, and public transport terminal. One of the criteria for participation in the competition is experience in designing similar projects or designing public buildings.

The participants of the tender of the architectural project of the Vilnius railway station complex, station square, and public transport terminal will be able to submit their proposals until 31 May 2021; they will be evaluated by an 11-member committee comprised of architects, urbanists, representatives of LTG, LTG Infra, LTG Link, and Vilnius City Municipality. 

The winner or group of winners will be announced in June of this year. The prize fund of the competition amounts to €120 thousand, of which: first place – €50 thousand, second place – €30 thousand, and third place – €20 thousand. The participants in the fourth and the fifth place will receive prizes amounting to €10 thousand each.

The international competition was initiated by LTG, which manages the railway network in Lithuania, LTG Infra and Vilnius City Municipality. The tender documents were prepared by the consulting company Civitta and the Architects Association of Lithuania.