Concept
Our proposal for the Riga Exhibition Center unifies a site made of disparate parts and a series of incremental additions with an armor-like canopy acting as an envelope.
strategy
The megastructure provides the required programmatic elements within its thick shell and gridded columnar forest while providing astonishing views of historic Riga over the tree-line. The proposal undermines the fragmented, existing exhibition center in favor for an iconic and singular canopy, that transforms Kips Island into a series of habitable horizontal fields. The main roof is a folded plate structure that uses a field of columns and towers to support its mass. Kips Island Auditorium re-establishes the city fabric and Latvian flora over what used to be a series of ambiguous structures. It merges the natural landscape and demand for urban program.