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DOCTORS' HOUSE IN MEŽAPARKS

The family of doctors Mauriņš purchased a plot of land on E. Dārziņa Street in Mežaparks in 2017. The scenic location combines the edge of a hilly pine forest with the former floodplain meadow area on the shore of Lake Ķīšezers. The existing functionalist-style house of the doctors Lūkin family, built in 1939 according to the design of architect V. Paegle, did not seem suitable for living to the new owners. By approaching architects for cooperation and conducting a joint property survey, the house was preserved and rebuilt. The ground of the residential building is located in the white functionalist building zone of Mežaparks. At the time of purchasing the building, the plan of the house was an incomprehensible labyrinth, in which it was difficult to see the original clear three-part structure of the building. During the post-war denationalization reconstruction, the building was divided into three apartments with new partition walls. For 80 years since its construction, the family of doctors Lūkin had lived in the house for three generations. It is noteworthy that the new owners – the Mauriņi family – are also doctors who have tried to breathe new life into the house, preserving the principles of its origins – creativity and striving for light. This is what Haralds Lūkins had written in the house capsule message he found in the building’s foundations. The goal of the reconstruction project was to preserve the historical image of the 1930s functionalist house in Mežaparks, to return the house to its original layout and original details, as well as to transform the house for the doctor’s family with new functional tasks and needs, which arise from a different lifestyle 80 years after the house was built. The main idea of the project was to place the historical volume of the house on a terrace platform, because for 80 years the building has been locked in its shell like a fortress. The approximately meter-high masonry plinth separated it from the ground and the surrounding landscape. Taking into account the modern lifestyle and the desire to be in nature as much as possible, the entire living space of the house was placed on the terrace slab at the floor level of the first floor. The terrace slab provides a direct connection with the surrounding natural landscape, forest and garden. The red brick deck, which is a reference to the red brick plinth and entrance rotunda of the old house, surrounds the house volume from all sides, and the house volume can be freely walked around on the terrace. To fulfill the task of Dr. Lukin – to climb towards the light – the young architect V. Paegle designed the main staircase facing the large apse window two floors high on the northern facade. The staircase led from the dim entrance lobby to a bright hall on the second floor of the house, where Dr. Harald Lukin received patients. The reconstruction project returned the central hall with a staircase to the house and developed the building into three levels, adding a full basement floor with a garage on the northern side of the house under the terrace. The higher you go from the underground floor to the first and second floors, the more light there is! Deep in the depths of the ground in a corner of the forest, a country bathhouse was built in the 1970s. As part of the reconstruction project, the house was restored to its original shape and size, assembled from reused logs. A new glass veranda was built in front of it, which contrasts with the romantic image of the log house. The implementation of the house project is documented in the book “Doctor's House in Mežaparks” published by “Zaiga Gailes Biroj” in 2022.

Object address: Emīla Dārziņa Street 11, Riga
Architects: SIA "Zaigas Gailes birojs", Zaiga Gaile, Hilda Gedzuna, Sabīne Artamonova
Client: Uldis Mauriņš
Builder: SIA "Arenso", Matīss Apsītis
Project duration: 2017 - 2022

Total area of objects:
Residential building - 825 m²
Total area of the bathhouse building - 81.1 m²
Total area of the land plot - 3649 m²

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