Design. Engineer. Construct! Lithuania (DEC LT)

The task is the renovation of the Kaunas train station

Place – Kaunas train station

Participates:

KTU Lyceum of Engineering
Vilnius Žemyna Gymnasium
Panevėžys J. Balčikonis Gymnasium
Kaunas Saulės Gymnasium
Klaipėda Ažuolyna High School
Alytus Putinai Gymnasium

September 28 KTU Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture project “Design. Engineer. Construct! Lithuania” season 5. More than 130 participants from KTU Engineering Lyceum, Kaunas Saulė, Vilnius Žemyna, Panevėžys J. Balčikonis, Klaipėda Ąžuolynas, Alytus Putinai gymnasiums came to the opening held at the KTU Library.

This time, the students will design a new railway station in Kaunas, adapted also for the passengers of the Rail Baltica project. Lithuanian Railways representative Vytautas Tilinskas told us about it. We also heard an interesting story about the essence of the stations from David Robertson, a fan of the project and representative of Bentley systems. KTU FCEA lecturer Ingrida Povilaitienė told about the history of railways and stations. Good luck to all participants and we look forward to your ideas!

Task – SOS town

Location – Abandoned missile base near Karmėlava airport

Participants:

KTU Lyceum of Engineering
Vilnius Žemyna Gymnasium
Panevėžys J. Balčikonis Gymnasium
Kaunas Saulės Gymnasium
Klaipėda Ažuolyna High School
Alytus Putinai Gymnasium

September 29 KTU Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture project “Design. Engineer. Construct! Lithuania” season 4 started. More than 115 participants from KTU Engineering Lyceum, Kaunas Saulė, Vilnius Žemyna, Panevėžys J. Balčikonis, Klaipėda Ąžuolynas, Alytus Putinai gymnasiums came to the opening held at the KTU Library.

They will be designing S.O.S town throughout the year in the abandoned area of the missile base located behind the Kaunas airport. After listening to the songs of the vocalist of the group Jauti, the dean of the Faculty Andrias Jurelionis, the representative of the Red Cross Mantas Kazlauskas, the engineer of the company Staticus Martynas Pabrėza, the KTU lecturer Jurga Vitkuvienė and others, they are ready to surprise everyone with their created projects.

May 25 the final event of the project took place! 15 teams submitted their works for evaluation.

Experts evaluated the works of the teams and selected the best performers in 7 nominations:

for the Best Idea: Kaunas KTU Engineering Lyceum team “Vėsa”
for the Best 3D drawing: Kaunas KTU Engineering Lyceum team “Karmėlava SOS town”
for the Best layout: Kaunas KTU Engineering Lyceum team “Vėsa”
for the Best structural/engineering solutions: Kaunas KTU Engineering Lyceum team “Opsfera”
for the Best presentation: “Lily village” team of Klaipėda “Ąžuolyno” gymnasium
for the Best sustainable solutions: Vilnius Žemyna Gymnasium team “Corys”
for the Best social solutions: Klaipėda “Ąžuolyno” high school team “TAU”
After the project fair, after counting the votes of all the participants of the event, they received the most votes and the “Voice of the Nation” nomination went to the Kaunas KTU Engineering Lyceum team “Karmėlava SOS town”

2021-2022:

Task – Educational centre in Kaunas on climate change and ecology

Location – in the centre of Kaunas, on the other side of the Neris River from Kaunas Castle

Participants:

KTU Engineering Lyceum
Vilnius Žemynos Gymnasium
Panevėžys J. Balčikonis Gymnasium
Kaunas Saulės Gymnasium
Klaipėda Ąžuolyno Gymnasium
Šiauliai J. Janonis Gymnasium

This year the participants will analyse the most important environmental problems in the world and in Lithuania. After evaluating this information, the teams will have to choose their own area of focus for the project. They will then have to define their vision, come up with a name and logo. In the next phase, participants will develop an architectural concept for the building, draw plans for the building and the site. Finally, participants will have to prepare a 3D model of the building and describe how they will address the various engineering issues, from the building structure, the choice of materials and the heating and ventilation technology. Experts and students from different fields will help participants find answers to these and other questions,” she said.

Žaneta Stasiškienė, Director of the KTU Institute of Environmental Engineering, told the participants about the world problems and how they relate to cities. According to the scientist, it is very important that cities and all projects are developed in a harmonious way and in a way that is in harmony with different groups and their different needs, and the centre itself should be an example of how environmentally friendly buildings should work.

Audronė Telešienė, professor and sociologist at KTU, talked about people’s attitudes towards climate change, different groups and what information they should be given.

According to her, about 20% of Lithuanians are not concerned about climate change problems. Of those who are concerned, a minority associate the effects of climate change with their immediate environment. According to the researcher, this is natural, as this topic is usually presented with news from all over the world, but rarely linked to Lithuanian issues. She invited the participants to make sure that the centre they are creating thinks about how to present the possible effects of climate change in a way that is relevant to everyone.

Architect Gintautas Natkevičius, who is currently working on the Science Island Centre in Kaunas, shared his experience and advice with the participants. He invited the participants to imagine from the very beginning how they would behave if they entered such a building, what kind of premises they would need and what they would expect to find.

In addition to presentations by invited guests, the opening event gave participants the opportunity to see the presentation of the team that completed last year’s Music House assignment and received the highest marks in the different areas, as well as to analyse all the teams’ solutions.

2020-2021:

Task – Music House in Kaunas (Concert Hall and Recording Studio)

Location – in the center of Kaunas, K. Mindaugo ave.

Participating:

KTU Engineering Lyceum
Vilnius Žemynos Gymnasium
Panevėžys J. Balčikonis Gymnasium
Kaunas Saulės Gymnasium

Participants were able to gain knowledge and inspiration already during the opening, although due to the prevention of Covid-19, the participants could not gather live for the opening, they met a number of well-known experts remotely.

In a pre-recorded report on the presentation of the task, Freaks on Floor vocalist Justinas Jarutis and drummer Rokas Beliukevičius, Biplan vocalist Maksas Melmanas and comedian Mantas Bartuševičius told about what they expect from concert halls and recording studios.

All performers unanimously paid a lot of attention to the acoustics of the concert halls, closeness to the audience and coziness. They also pointed out that a rest room and a place where they can calmly wait for their performance is especially important for performers, both before concerts and when making recordings.

After the performers, Alison Watson, the initiator of the project from Great Britain, greeted the participants. The founder of Class of Your Own will run an identical project with British students and the team.

Giedrius Masalskis, the Head of the LRT Radio Department, briefly introduced the participants to the nuances of recording studies. The project participants are waiting for more meetings and acquaintances with the LRT OPUS sound recording studio and the experts working here. This radio station is also becoming a project partner this year.

Gintaras Balčytis, a well-known architect who was also recognized as an artist of the year and a lecturer of the KTU architecture study program, advised on architectural ideas and how to come up with his own project. He was followed by Ben Burgess, a British acoustics engineer, about the importance of acoustics and his experience in designing the BBC Maida Vale Center.

Students will create their dream Music House in teams by May.

Participants projects

2019-2020:

Task – James Bond Hotel

Location – London Old Street Station ring

Participating:

KTU Engineering Lyceum
Vilnius Žemynos Gymnasium
Panevėžys J. Balčikonis Gymnasium

Started 13 teams, 70 students.

The full-year work of the teams was evaluated in mid-June by a panel of experts who selected the 5 best teams in different fields.

KTU Engineering Lyceum teams have won several nominations: James Bond, The Hotel team has been awarded for the best construction and engineering solutions, and the Underground Secret team has been awarded for the best layout and best presentation record. The nomination for the best idea went into the hands of the team of Vilnius Žemynos Gymnasium “Black Secret”. And the prize for the best 3D drawing, and the Voice of the Nation, i.e. The team of Enlace Secretum of Panevėžys J. Balčikonis Gymnasium received the nomination of all participants who participated in the final presentation.

Audrius Leonavičius, Head of BIM at YIT Lietuva, Darius Rimašauskas, Representative of Bentley Systems, Jurga Vitkuvienė and Laura Jankauskaitė-Jurevičienė, Lecturers at KTU FCEA, and Ignacio Villalon Fornes, Head of KTU Creative and Ieva Rozodėna, Head of KTU Paulina Kuzmickaitė.

Daniel McDonagh, a teacher of Class of your own in Great Britain, who visited the interim presentation in February and listened to the presentations, got acquainted with the students’ works.

Various experts willingly helped both teachers and students to self-evaluate and implement their invented hotel plans.

During the opening event,  Master’s student and designer Airimas Rocius told about his experience in civil engineering and the opportunities that open up here. Architect and lecturer Gintaras Prikockis shared his insights about architecture, sources of inspiration and what is most important when building buildings. Jūratė Rudienė, the director of Kaunas Park Inn by Radisson Blu, told about how the hotels work, what premises she needs and what is most important to keep in mind when designing them.

During the assignments, students and teachers were able to consult with experts from KTU Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture. The students also visited the architects’ offices “Nebrau”, “Mmap”, “Panprojektas”.

Students and teachers of KTU Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture were trained to work with the Bentley Systems computer program. Representatives of Inhus, Staticus, YIT Lietuva, and Kauno tiltai presented the works to the mosques about their works and applied engineering solutions.

Six KTU students from different fields answered and consulted the students’ questions: Audrius Akelaitis, Jokūbas Bobrevičius, Raimonda Česnauskytė, Austėja Dapkutė, Vaiva Balvočienė, Kazimieras Daunoras.

Participants projects