Branch of Vilnius Bank in Mazeikiai

About object:

The building of Vilnius Bank (presently – SEB) in Mazeikiai was designed and built at the dawn of Independence of Lithuania. A closed competition held in 1990 was won by Vilnius architects D. and Vl. Lucinskai.

In the urban context, the place of the building is important – the bank’s branch is located in the central part of the city, in the depth of a square situated at the corner of Laisves Street and Burbos Street abut against it perpendicularly. The architects decorated the square by a sculpted shape building creating clearly articulated composition of volumes enriched with contrast of colours and materials.

Dark tinted glass walls form the largest of the three volumes structuring the building. This central part overlooking like a rock at the crossroads is framed from two sides by also two-storey volumes, which are just white and monolithic – the “screens”. Their strict forms contrast with dynamic reflections in the glasses. The composition is crowned by a roof floating in the air, hanging on columns.

When designing the interior, the authors of the project aptly used an opposition of open and close: the vitreous part of the building is intended to the customer service, and the blind walls cover secretive bank’s business processes.

A. Štelbienė