The winners of the Latvian Architecture Award of the Year 2024 were announced on 18 October 2024. In order to highlight and celebrate the use of wood in construction in Latvia, as well as the use of sustainable building solutions in construction projects, AS “Latvijas Finieris” also assessed the competition finalists and presented the company's special award. The “Latvijas Finieris” commendation at the Architecture Award of the Year went to the school project in Sillamäe, Estonia, by the Latvian architectural practice “Lauder Architects”.
An international panel set up by “Latvijas Finieris” assessed the projects against three criteria: the building and its surroundings — highlighting projects that tidy, improve, enhance and/or develop previously derelict or neglected areas, taking into account the socio-economic benefit of the project to its location; choice of materials — assessing the use of wood in the project; sustainability — assessing the use of innovative solutions in the approach to sustainability, the use of materials, energy efficiency, environmental quality and the like.
The school in Sillamäe is designed in simple forms, using natural materials — wood, concrete and glass. The building is made up of three connected, offset two-storey volumes that fit well into the local pattern of development, providing generously lit spaces and dividing the school into logically comprehensible functional zones.
The chair of the panel, Māris Būmanis, emphasises:
“Over the past decade, the use of wood in construction has been growing in Europe and in Latvia too — particularly in the individual housing segment, less so in industrial building — and this positive trend was also apparent in the projects shortlisted for the final of the Latvian Architecture Award of the Year. We are currently seeing a return to wood as a building material that is both ecological and equally attractive aesthetically. An undeniably significant factor in this “revival” is the context of climate change and the Green Deal, which demands sustainable (enduring) solutions in the construction sector as well.
The “Latvijas Finieris” panel recognised the achievement of the Latvian architects in offering bold and appealing solutions in an educational institution of all places, where it is important not only to demonstrate the use of wood, but also, out of concern for the well-being and health of the building's users, to use materials that are as natural as possible.
“Latvijas Finieris” began using timber structures in construction as early as 2007, in the building of the “VEREMS” factory in Rēzekne municipality. By now, across eight buildings, mainly industrial ones, we are demonstrating in practice the unique qualities of wood and its possibilities in construction. Particularly worth highlighting is the complex of wooden buildings at our “Zābaki” holding, where the so-called “seedling cold store” is taking shape.”
You can read more about the school project here: