Kaunas has long turned its back on the Nemunas River. This proposal by Schmidt Hammer Lassen, in collaboration with local firm Kančo Studija, works to reverse that, organizing a new mixed-use neighbourhood along the waterfront through a perimeter block structure that draws on the layered character of the city itself. The textures of the Old Town, the clarity of the new town grid and the expressive forms of Kaunas’s industrial heritage inform a framework where angled rooflines, stepped terraces and oriented facades frame river views rather than ignore them. Brick, concrete and stone podiums anchor the buildings at grade, while cross-laminated timber and prefabricated components lighten the upper floors, establishing a material hierarchy designed for long-term adaptability as much as immediate use.


