The expanded and reconstructed Shopping Center Origo and Business Center Origo One are located in the liveliest part of Riga. Origo means a starting point in Latin, and although this place is not considered to be the city's historic place of origin, it does meet all the country's main roads and railways. The Riga Central Railway Station is right next door, while the main post office was once instead of the new building. Historically, the post office has been the starting point of Riga, from which the distance to any other populated place is measured. The ambitious plan to redefine this central location for the developer came after the post office moved its infrastructure to the Riga agglomeration near the airport.
The project includes the reconstruction of the existing trade center building built in 2006 and the construction of a new 35 700 m2 building. The shopping and business center is connected to the central railway station, which is becoming a modern multimodal mobility center within the framework of the international project “Rail Baltica”. There are large parking lots on the underground floor of the building, the first three floors are occupied by a commercial function, but the upper two floors have Class A office space. To improve the natural lighting of the premises and the well-being of the employees, five green courtyards have been created on the office floors and are available to the tenants of the building.The roof garden, which is open to the public, is also set up in a plot of land bordering the railway platform. This is a great contribution to the improvement and humanization of the public space for the city.
The “Origo'' shopping center has obtained the world’s leading building sustainability assessment method’s BREEAM certification with the highest final rating among all shopping centers in the Baltic States. The “Origo” project emphasizes high standards of energy efficiency, water use and solutions to ensure accessibility for all segments of the society, as well as other sustainability standards.
The expanded and reconstructed shopping center Origo and the business center Origo One was awarded the “Annual Award in Riga Architecture 2021”, organized by the Riga City Architect’s Office, and earned special recognition for the organic, harmonious, and multi-functional addition to the urban environment in the center of Riga, as well as for respecting the requirements of universal design and environmental accessibility.
The shopping center and the surrounding infrastructure are designed to be equally convenient for access by car and bicycle, by public transport, by pedestrians and visitors with prams and people with reduced mobility. Several free charging stations for electric cars are available in the underground car park, as well as specially marked places for cars arriving with 2 or more people. Sustainable construction materials were used in the construction of the new “Origo” building and special attention was paid to ensuring energy efficiency, responsible use of water resources and reduction of light pollution.
It allows all visitors to follow the same path and meets all accessibility requirements. This path is equally convenient for all users.