Pharmacy on Dzirciema Street

The plot on which the new pharmacy is located is visually and functionally perceived as small city square. The idea was to develop public outdoor installation. Openwork sixteenth-corner metal construction basket, two-storey high, was designed to be filled with the required function of pharmacy. In order to ensure the function of the newly created facility, the installation was designed with reference to pharmacy which is easily recognisable by the potential customers-purchasers of medicines and other medical supplies. The installation frame of building's facade uses the traditional pharmacy symbol – a cross – as a module either left open or filled with perforated aluminium panels depending on the needs of the inner plans of the building.

The idea of environmental installation was inspired not only by the existing green square, but emerged also in the course of communicating with local building authorities which considered that, from the urban planning viewpoint, traditional lowrise building is not suitable for the corner of a block with fivestorey buildings. In their view, the more different visually the new volume is from traditional buildings, the better it will fit into its surroundings. The installation is not only a design element of the parametric architecture, but also a signboard of pharmacy. During the periods when there is no intense sunlight on the facade, individual crosses are illuminated with builtin LED lighting in bright green colour.

The building's bearing construction is based on four columns of reinforced concrete. There are columns in the middle of the building to make the perimeter of the building fully subordinated to the parametric pattern of the facade installation. In contrast to the visually saturated metal frame, the facade of the building is made as simple as possible - with structural glazing and composite panels. Finally, the facade installation also significantly improves the energy performance of the new building and, despite the wide glazed openings in the base facade of the building, it is energy-efficient building, according to the actual energy efficiency calculation.