Wood in Lithuanian and Finnish architecture: the legacy of architectural tradition and possibilities for its contemporary use

ABSTRACT

Lithuania has a long tradition of using wooden architecture. Wooden structures have, however, started to decline in number, not only because of new materials and technologies, but also due to Soviet legacies. Bearing in mind the current importance of sustainability and resilience, the authors discuss why contemporary wooden architecture thrives in some countries of the Baltic/Nordic region, especially in Finland, while it continues to be marginalized in Lithuania. The authors suggest that this is due to the lack of an integral understanding of wooden architecture in Lithuania’s society and state institutions. Advances in architectural phenomenology as well as the demands of sustainability might change the status quo in Lithuania.

KEYWORDS:

• Architecture
• wooden architecture
• glued wood
• residential buildings: Lithuania
• Finland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Arnoldas Gabrėnas

Arnoldas Gabrėnas is an architect. He earned his PhD in architectural history and theory from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania, where he serves as an associate professor in the Department of Architecture. He is the author of a number of implemented architectural projects, as well as works in the field of landscape design. He contributed to the edited book Site, Symbol and Cultural Landscape (2021), and he is the author of a dozen research articles published both in Lithuania and abroad.

Almantas Samalavičius

Almantas Samalavičius earned his PhD in architectural history and theory and is a professor in the Department of Architectural Fundamentals, Theory, and Art at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. He is the author of 12 scholarly books, including Ideas and Structures: Essays in Architectural History (2011) and Lithuanian Architecture and Urbanism: Essays in History and Aesthetics (2019), and the editor of numerous collections of academic essays, including Rethinking Modernism and the Built Environment (2017) and Site, Symbol and Cultural Landscape (2021).