Karosta [KUBE] winning proposal. Collaboration between Gilles Retsin & Eragatory






Karosta is defined by discrete urban objects or artefacts, like the church, the manège, the water tower and the soviet era blocks - this proposal adds a new object with radical social agency to the town. The proposal deliberately maintains the existing garages and storage spaces located on the site. A new volume is inserted, reinforcing the social structure of the garages. The volume contains a kantine which compensates the lack of a café or gathering space in the town. The main volume also contains a youth centre / day care which is specifically focused on the many young families which are attracted by the low rent in Karosta. On the ground floor, some garages are turned into a “make space” which offers tools, machines, storage and education to the locals. Locals can rent equipment or use more expensive and specialised tools in the workshop itself. The existing garages around the new volume can develop over time on private initiative into shops, cafés and market spaces.

The proposal suggest that more high-profile functions as a museum or conference centre are better situated in some of the abandoned tsar-era buildings which are found practically everywhere in Karosta. This would help to protect the historic fabric and is more budget-friendly.


The formal language of the volume enters a dialogue with the old bunkers at the coast in Karosta . The use of concrete and gold refers respectively to the materiality of the soviet blocks and the church. 


This project is a collaboration between Gilles Retsin & Eragatory


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