Pašilaičiai

In the 1980s, the architect Sigitas Kuncevičius, constructor Sergejus Mikhailovas, and chief engineer Algimantas Blažys of The Design Institute of Town Construction designed a typical 1,284-pupil school with 33 classrooms. It differed from the previous ones with its enclosed courtyard, recreational spaces on the ground and first floors, a two-level library, a large canteen, two autonomous sports halls, and a spacious assembly hall. The building is rationally zoned and decorated with post-modern interior details. The school opened in 1989 and was the first of its kind in Lithuania – a prototype for the schools of the future. It is no coincidence that an article about the future school building in the ‘Architecture and Construction’ magazine was entitled ‘Tomorrow’s School Today’. Later on, other schools were built to the same plans but with minor adjustments in other residential areas of Vilnius (Fabijoniškės, Pilaitė) and in other cities (Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys, and Alytus).

To commemorate the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and other high-ranking Polish officials, in the spring of 2010, the Unity of Nations Park was planted in one of the highest places in Pašilaičiai (188 m above sea level), on a hill next to the Pushkin Gymnasium, with 96 oaks and a pink granite monument to the victims of the airplane crash. Orchards have been preserved on the entire 3 hectares of the former village of Pašilaičiai. There is a sports ground next to the park, and children love to frolic around on the hill during snowy winters.

Pašilaičiai was the first neighbourhood to construct staggered blocks of flats built to the 120V series of design (from 1979 such blocks of the same design were also built in Šeškinė and Justiniškės). The distinctive stepped silhouette of the blocks, the tectonics of the façade, and the moulded finish of the balconies make them particularly attractive for the play of light and shadow. This is best seen from the various elevations, which are not lacking in the hilly district, with altitudes ranging from 168 to 193 metres above sea level. The three blocks of terraced houses are surrounded by circular streets. In the middle of each is a pedestrian-only area and two kindergartens or primary schools. The project envisaged that only special-purpose vehicles would be able to access the blocks, and that residents would park their cars on the ring streets, but this was not the case when the district was built. Each neighbourhood is surrounded not only by a circular pedestrian walkway but also by an asphalted bicycle path. These cycle paths were the first in the whole of Vilnius, dating back to the 1980s.

Almost every courtyard in all three block districts of Pašilaičiai has artificial hills, which are designed to provide both protection from street noise and a pleasant aesthetic view; moreover, children love to play on them. Many of the courtyards of the blocks of flats in Pašilaičiai are U-shaped (the outermost courtyards are L-shaped), and surrounded on three sides by blocks of flats, with the fourth side enclosed by artificially formed hills. As a result, the courtyards are quiet and cosy. The exit roads curve downwards and the streets slope down to a lower level to reduce noise. When walking along Medeinos g., pay attention to the arches between the houses, which are unique to Pašilaičiai, and to the decoration of the roofs, staircases, and balconies.
In the song ‘Kiemas’ (The Yard), Egidijus Dragūnas, the frontman of SEL, rhymes, “Kiemas, čia yra mano kiemas…” This song, like most of SEL’s early creations, was inspired by his life hanging around the yards of Pašilaičiai and Justiniškės in the 1990s.

In the centre of Pašilaičiai, there are two old poplar avenues that mark the path of the former village of Pašilaičiai. The most impressive avenue is between Žemynos g. and the Pašilaičiai Shopping Centre. It is slowly disappearing, with individual trees being cut down every now and then. Next to the alley there is a sports area with basketball courts and a skateboard park. The court was made famous by the group SEL, who filmed fragments of one of the first music videos in Lithuania – for the legendary song ‘Kiemas’. A quarter of a century later, fragments of the video clip for the song ‘Milijonai’ by Vaidas Baumila and Justė Starinskaitė were also filmed on the same basketball court.

Designed by architect Stasys Garuckas, the shopping centre ‘Pašilaičiai’ opened its doors in 1986. It consisted of a department store, some greengrocers, and a fish market selling live produce and located in the centre of Pašilaičiai, between all four residential districts. In the early 21st century, it was renovated several times and the covered galleries were removed. In fact, a much larger public shopping centre had been envisaged, but this was not realised. The one hectare open space is Ugnija Square – a recreational space behind the Pašilaičiai shopping centre with children’s playgrounds, gymnastic equipment, fitness equipment, benches, and a chess board. It is the venue for district events, the most notable of which is the annual Užgavėnės (Mardi Gras) celebration in Pašilaičiai. A community Christmas tree and ornamental trees have been planted in Ugnija Square.

Walking from Ugnija Square to the courtyards of monolithic blocks, you will imagine why this district (designed by architects D. Ruseckas and A. Lėckienė) was awarded a prize during the Soviet Union’s 1988 survey of the best architectural works of 1988. Each apartment in the three-storey blocks has a separate entrance: the ground floor apartments are accessed directly from the courtyard, while the second floor apartments are accessed through galleries. The courtyards of the monolithic development are enclosed on three or even four sides, creating a sense of cosiness. In the centre of the courtyards is a plaza-like space, accessed through arches or entrances between artificial mounds. On the other side of the blocks, there are small private gardens in front of the ground-floor apartments. If you walk around the side of these buildings and take a good look, you will see another trick of the designers – the houses look like three storeys, but they are actually slightly higher. The roof of the nine-storey Pašilaičiai monolithic houses is heated – there is a technical floor. In other residential areas of Vilnius, building materials were economised on and were not used in such abundance. Twenty of such houses were built in a chess-board pattern – in five groups of four. In total, there are 480 flats, each of 120 m², 240 of which have 0.6-are yards.

A recreational space was planned in each of the Pašilaičiai micro-districts – for Žemynos g., a fountain was envisaged and created (a wooden event platform replaced the fountain that was demolished in 2018). The 10 m high sculpture ‘Legenda’ by Eimontas Stankevičius-Bronzinis, made of bronze sheets and created in 1990, was also supposed to have been erected in Žemynos Square, but there were not enough funds to transport and install it. The square in front of the district municipality is the venue for local celebrations and the site of the earliest community Christmas tree decorated in Vilnius. The centre of the square is surrounded on four sides by artificial mounds.

Monolithic 16-storey blocks of flats (architect R. Beinortas and designer J. Sidaravičius) were designed especially for Pašilaičiai, but only two were ever built – in Žemynos and Medeinos streets. Such towers, which mark the gateway to Pašilaičiai from the main streets (Justiniškės g. and Laisvės pr.) and as a beacon on Gabijos g. for those arriving from Riga, were conceived as the architectural accents of the whole district, to be erected in each block area.

Since 1989, Vilnius has been twinned with Salzburg, Austria’s fourth largest city. To mark the partnership between the two cities, one of the avenues in Pašilaičiai is named after the city. The 300-metre-long avenue is lined with benches and outdoor fitness equipment. On one side of the street are five-storey block houses constructed to the 120V design, while on the other side is an area of apartment buildings with gable roofs built in 1997-2002 in what local residents call an ‘American’ style (architects: G. Blažiūnas and L. Blažiūnienė).

At the end of the avenue, behind the residential houses, is the Vilnius City District Court building. In the 1990s, the building was supposed to be used for a different purpose, but the plans fell through and the ruins of the unfinished building remained standing for a long time. Part of the music video for Andrius Mamontovas’ popular 1999 song ‘Mono arba Stereo’ was filmed there.

It was built in 1992-1993, and at that time, it had a large paved area, convenient for access and parking. This was particularly important as the number of cars in the city started to increase very rapidly after the restoration of independence. In 1996, following an amendment to Vilnius general city plan, the area was developed as one of the local centres of Vilnius. The blocks were not built on a free-standing basis, as in the Pašilaičiai section built between 1986 and 1990, but instead on a perimeter basis – close to the streets, as in the city centre, with commercial premises on the ground floors.

The city’s first so-called ‘western’ residential buildings were built next to commercial buildings. An alley with commercial premises on the ground floors was created, linking Laisvės pr., the shopping arcade ‘Pas Juozapą’ and the two-storey shopping centre ‘Maxima’ on Ukmergės g. In this district one can see the residential architecture of the last decade of the 20th century: a 5-10 storey apartment block with commercial premises built in 1995-1997 (architects – V. Drėma, R. Dūdėnas), a 4-5 storey residential building with a closed inner courtyard and an underground parking lot designed by R. Beinortas, a 4-5 storey building with a closed inner courtyard and an underground car park designed by R. Beinortas, and administrative buildings designed by D. Linartas, G. Blaziūnas and V. Drėma in 1998-1999.

Due to the high concentration of buildings erected between 1993 and 2002, this place is a kind of architectural preserve of that period, illustrating the tendencies of Lithuanian architecture and urban planning at that time.

Built in several stages between 1994-1998, the ensemble was a true symbol of the westernisation of Lithuania. The project was designed by the architects J. Jurgelionis and A. Šarkauskas. This was the first such shopping centre in Lithuania, which opened its automatic doors in 1994, to meet the standards of the Western world. In 1994-1998, newspapers, magazines and television reports were written about the ‘Pas Juozapą’ shopping centre founded by the businessman Juozapas Budrikis. The shopping centre became a symbol of post-Soviet Vilnius turning to the West and modernising. Daily newspaper advertisements constantly lured in customers: “Lithuania’s first real shopping centre is waiting for you!” A few years later, the arcade – the first covered shopping street in Vilnius – housed the city’s most luxurious clothing, shoe, and other salons, as well as the city’s first 24-hour supermarket.

In the shopping centre ‘Pas Juozapą’, fashion models and famous actresses worked as sales assistants, and Lithuanian celebrities frequented the restaurant and bar in the basement. The opening of the Chrysler showroom was even attended by the then President of the Republic of Lithuania, A. Brazauskas. The entrance to the arcade is marked by sculptures by Šarūnas Šimulynas, while the staircase of the administrative building, under the neon sign ‘Pas Juozapą’ and the restaurant, contains stained-glass windows by Edita Radvilavičiūtė-Utarienė from the late 20th century.