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KIPSALA GYPSUM FACTORY. PHASE I

The German entrepreneur Bēma's plaster factory is a model of late 19th-century Riga brick architecture with magnificent masonry details and textures, interesting wooden structures, and a characteristic window rhythm and division. The factory's location on the very bank of the river can be explained by the convenient transport of raw materials and products by barges along the river at that time. In the center of the courtyard, the place of the plaster washing pit has been preserved, which we mark with a cast-iron water pump. The factory operated until the Second World War. During the years of Soviet rule, an army laundry was established here. As a result of the reconstruction, the factory was rebuilt into a modern residential building ensemble - the first loft in Latvia. 34 apartments, a restaurant, a sauna, and underground parking lots were built in the plaster factory. The factory ensemble includes 5 buildings, located around a courtyard with a large chimney. The factory offers various types of residential units, starting from small studio-type 60m2 apartments with one bedroom and ending with separate houses on three and four levels with an area of up to 200m2. Most apartments are supplemented with outdoor spaces - French-type balconies, roof terraces, verandas, outdoor wooden decks. Apartments are equipped with kitchens and bathrooms, built-in wardrobes and dressing rooms, lighting. The interior design of the apartments preserves the rough texture and patina of the original masonry, metal and wooden structures. All apartments are dominated by natural materials - old pine plank floors, colorful hexagonal cement tiles specially made for the factory in the hallway, kitchen, terrace, staircase areas, wooden windows, window sills and doors, metal stairs and railings. The ensemble is supplemented with a boat dock and a sailing equipment store, and a wooden restaurant platform on the water.

Industrial ensemble reconstruction project for a 34-apartment complex with a restaurant and a marina
Riga, Kipsala, Balasta dambis 70

Architects: Zaiga Gaile, Liene Griezite, Iveta Cibule, Girts Kalinkevičs, Ingmars Atavs, Andra Šmite
Participated in: Gints Lūsis-Grīnbergs, GintsVaivars
Restorer: Maris Līdaka
Water pump: sculptor Gļebs Panteļejevs

Client: “Māris Gailis and colleagues”

General construction contractor: “Re-Re”

Construction area 2957m2

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