The completion of Bokšto Skveras this year has transformed a disused 15th/16th Century UNESCO world heritage site into a bold and thriving mixed-use quarter of Vilnius. By adopting a creative approach to the restoration of this important piece of the city, the project repairs and celebrates the deep history of the buildings and public realm, whilst inserting fresh and contemporary architectural ideas.

Bokšto Skveras is the culmination of nearly fifteen years of design and development. The site, Bokśto 6, was a dilapidated walled city block with significant historic interest. It is comprised of six historic buildings that enclose a series of irregular-shaped courtyards. These include the former Savičius Hospital, which was in operation until 1999, and St Elizabeth Chapel, an historic church of old Vilnius, which had been lost to the detritus of later development. The largest building, originally the baroque palace of the Bishop of Smolensk, rests on a series of Gothic and Renaissance cellars which date back to the 15th Century. The historical and artistic development of the site is rich and well-documented, and the entire block has been designated as a protected heritage asset by UNESCO.

After seven years of thorough archaeological investigations, followed by detailed research and concept development, building permission was granted in 2014. A primary challenge of this project has been to ascertain which elements of the original Baroque architecture should be retained and restored, and which later additions were to be stripped away, and this has been achieved through systematic and technical research, followed by a complicated period of detailed design, planning consultation, restoration, and construction. The result is a small piece of the city brought together again by a strong design ethos.

This a mixed-use scheme in the truest since, with a rich variation of programmatic functions employed across the site, including new workplaces, apartments, a spa, and a restaurant. The old church of St Elizabeth has been revealed, restored, and transformed into a multifunctional space that is adjustable for conferences, concerts, or personal events. The resultant collection of urban artefacts has formed a wonderful base to add a minimal series of contemporary additions, that provide further layers of serviceability, programme and delight to the heritage spaces and structures. For instance, a new essential fire escape, something pragmatic, has been given a mirrored façade creating a striking sculptural and reflective object between the historic building and landscaped gardens. Similarly, a new sunken restaurant that extends from the gothic cellars, Gastronomika, led by the respected Lithuanian chef Liutauras Čeprackas, has a polished steel roof. These new build insertions are connectors that respect the historic context by reflecting it, poetically disappearing into the collective urbanism in the process.

One of the more radical architectural interventions across the site has been the complete re-invention of the roofs. This has not only been a technical design challenge but has also required some deep and meaningful discussions with local planners. The expectation was to replace the existing non-original tin roofs with traditional clay tiles, but with a series of rooflight windows to bring light into the useable roof space. The architectural team argued that this was in fact a distraction from the restoration principles of the project and used UNESCO charters to gain support for an alternative approach. The resulting roof design is an innovative construction of vertical steel slats that conceal areas of glazing beneath. The darkened glass of the windows is barely noticeable from the street, as it is recessed behind the patterned steel, designed to resemble the ripples of clay tiles. It is an effective and contemporary solution that offers the potential for light-filled roof accommodation, while maintaining the aesthetic solidity of the original roof form.

There has been considerable effort to apply passive solutions to improving the environmental performance of the buildings, while still adopting a non-interventionist approach to the historic fabric – a major challenge. The selection and layering of building materials that improve thermal insulation has been a delicate process. This combined with improved airtightness, solar control glass in double-glazed windows, and the reduction of water and energy consumption throughout, has successfully adapted the buildings to meet rigourous local and national targets for environmental sustainability.

The functional approach to the addition of new electrical services and plumbing touches the original fabric very lightly through the utilisation of a “box-in-a-box” approach. Rather than concealing service conduits in the existing walls, these have been inserted into an architectural feature constructed along the perimeter of the untouched original Baroque vaults. The cellars accommodate a range of functions that require significant servicing, including a new health club and spa with a 25-metre swimming pool, and the restaurant.

To summarise, Bokšto Skveras is a project that has been approached with vision and passion. It is an ambitious project that is the result of a development idea nearly twenty years ago that has been crafted with skill and contextual understanding – a real labour of love. The design inspiration has come from sources as diverse as the reflecting pools at the Alhambra in Grenada, the Moorish walled castle of buildings and courtyards, to David Chipperfield’s reinvention of the Neus Museum in Berlin, and the contemporary renovation of Venice’s Fondaco dei Tedeschi by OMA. It is, perhaps, another benchmark in a cultured response to heritage buildings and space – to create environments that are truly both of their time, and that of the past.