Project architects: Aurimas Sasnauskas, Radvilė Samackaitė
Joris Šykovas, Sla Malenko
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Program: 5758 m2
Year: 2022-2023
Status: Built

EUmies Awards 2024 nominee

The building located on the main street of Vilnius, Gedimino Avenue, occupying the entire historical quarter, used to be the central post office of Vilnius. It is the extraordinary example of Lithuanian modernist architecture from the 1970s, a unique creation by the renowned architects Algimantas and Vytautas Nasvytis. This building is one of the first public architectural objects in Lithuania where the principles of functionalism are combined with 19th-century classical architecture. The authors of the project combined the old building with a modern extension using the principle of sensitive contrast.

With the advent of new communication means such as mobile phones and the internet, the demand for traditional postal services rapidly declined, and at the beginning of this century, the building lost its function, giving way to random uses. The building and its interior spaces remained neglected. Therefore, in 2020, Lithuania Post decided to sell the building. The building caught the interest of ISM University of Management and Economics.

In adapting the building for ISM University of Management and Economics, efforts were made to reveal the valuable features of the building while planning its function to be suitable and convenient for higher education institution and to accommodate the needs of disabled individuals. Additionally, the building's engineering solutions for heating, ventilation, cooling, security, lighting, and fire safety were brought in line with modern technical standards.