The winning ideas of the Great Kemeri Bog Visitor Center competition

Architects across the globe sent their most creative ideas for a new visitor center in western Latvia's Kemeri National Park. Following the Kemeri Park Observation Tower competition, entrants in this competition were tasked with designing a Great Kemeri Bog Visitor Center, whose program had to include an info center with a cafe and ticket window, a camping site with access to bathroom facilities, a children's playground, and parking for 100 vehicles. 

The competition concluded with three prize winners, a Student Award, Green Award, and six honorable mentions. Since there's a possibility that the visitor center will be built, submissions were judged for their integration within the park, sensitivity to the environment, the use of sustainable materials, and constructability.

Have a look at the prize-winning proposals below. 

1st place: Jan Tomas Ciesla, Iva Potůčková, Miroslav Krátký | Czech Republic

Jury commentary: “This project is perhaps the most effective at establishing a gateway to the Great Kemeri Bog. The rectangular-bar form set perpendicular to the entry drive firmly separates the vehicular entry from the camping grounds and pedestrian network of pathways, and filters visitors through a single access point that also becomes the starting point for the bog’s network of wooden boardwalks. The sectional drawing expresses the project’s constructability, and the interior images reflect its simple use of natural materials. The varied layout of its vertical facade module gives the otherwise harsh block form a more natural aesthetic that is clearly related to the trees of the surrounding forest.”

2nd place: A Forest Pond by Rodrigo Zagarzazú, Lucia Rehermann, Renzo Bonina, Christian Flores | Uruguay

Jury commentary: “The project stood out to the jury for its simple, strong form. The circular visitor center’s repetitive and visually permeable facade of timber posts both connects to the surrounding site and encloses a space which monumentalises the relationship of the site with water. The central exterior space offers a quiet meditative area that focuses on the pond and the sky, yet it also has the potential to be used for group events. The walkable roof offers special views of the park. The drawings and images are extremely effective at describing the circular form’s minimal disruption to the site. While the building’s central location on the site clearly sets it apart from the parking and within a natural ‘reservation area’, the jury would recommend the designer to further consider the building’s access from the car park and drive, as well as its connection to the bog boardwalk.”

3rd place: Scape Architecture by Sauvineau Florent | France

Jury commentary: “The design is commended for its use of a repeatable and constructable module that manages to create an organic, landscape-like form. The project proposes a burned-wood cladding that fortifies it against Latvia’s variable weather, and interiors of natural wood that connect it well with its forest surroundings. The section drawings and details are especially well-considered for modularity and construction using sustainable materials. The building’s plan form strongly establishes a central gathering space, however the jury questions the vertical pitches and dips and wonders if the geometry might rather relate more strongly to its internal program. The project certainly has the potential to become a park landmark.”

Green Award winner: Dalya Ortak, Jinsoo Kim | Germany

Student Award winner: Aleksandra Kubiak, Marta Buchner - Warsaw University of Technology | Poland

Check out full details of the prize-winning entries and the honorable mentions here.