Science Island

Science Raising into the Sky

Text by Matthias Hollwich

Status  DESIGN

Type  CULTURAL

Location  KAUNAS, LITHUANIA

Client  KAUNAS CITY

Size  139,930 FT2

Scope  CONCEPT-SD

Team  MATTHIAS HOLLWICH, ROBERT MAY, TODD SHAPIRO, IGNAS KALINAUSKAS, ALBERTO HERZOG, GREGORY PIETRYCHA, IAN WATCHORN, NICOLAS LEE, AXELLE ZEMOULI, JOE KUHN 

As a model of Kaunas’ enduring architectural relevance and progressive attitude towards education and sustainability, the National Science and Innovation Centre inspires a daring new vision for the future of man, nature, and machine. A modular gridded volume—a nod to Kaunas’ modernist tradition—rises from the landscape, transforming to extend tree-like branches into the soil beneath.

This interplay between the rational and the expressive reveals the radical potential for discovery and inspiration at the intersection of nature and science. With an iconic form that fuses cutting-edge sustainability, modular flexibility, and playful discovery, the Centre conveys the story Kaunas seeks to tell the world.