Most Rigans do not support the decision to demolish the former Latvian Communist Party Central Committee building on Elizabetes Street in order to build an acoustic concert hall in its place. This can be seen in a sociological survey commissioned by the Latvian Television News Service and the public media portal LSM.lv.
The decision to demolish the former Central Committee building and build a concert hall in its place was made extremely quickly. The Minister of Culture Nauris Puntulis (National Union) came up with the idea on June 15, and the next day the government accepted the idea. The discussions started only after that, and they were organized by the architecture industry itself and also by the media, addressing professionals from various related fields.
The SKDS survey was conducted from 2 to 6 July. 810 respondents took part in it – adult Latvian citizens living in Riga.
The sample of respondents reflects the demographic characteristics of the population of Riga by gender, age and language in the family.
Statistical error within +/- 2 percentage points.
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Now, in the sociological survey commissioned by the Latvian Television News Service and the public media portal LSM.lv, the opinion of Rigans has also been clarified. “It is an absolute minority, an absolute minority of Rigans who support such a decision,” reveals the head of the research center “SKDS”, sociologist Arnis Kaktins.
Only 18% of the surveyed Rigans have expressed support or partial support for the construction of a concert hall on the site of the Central Committee building.
Almost half of the respondents indicated that they do not fully support this idea, and another 15% are rather against.
The largest share of negative moods is observed among those residents of Riga who plan to vote for the Latvian Russian Union and “Saskaņu” in the upcoming Riga City Council elections. But the least dissatisfied with the construction of the concert hall on Elizabetes Street can be found in the ranks of supporters of “Vienotības”, where the number of “for” and “against” votes is similarly distributed. It is interesting that the majority of the supporters of the joint list of the National Union represented by the Minister of Culture Nauris Puntuulis and the Association of Latvian Regions are also against the construction of a concert hall on the site of the Central Committee building.
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“We see that there is really no support in this audience in broad lines. Yes, there is a percentage that supports, but one that does not support, which categorically opposes, which considers such a decision to be bad and wrong – there are many more, ”says Kaktins.
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Meanwhile, there is an idea among architects that instead of a concert hall on Elizabetes Street 2, a house could finally be found in a museum of contemporary art, architecture and design.
“It would be a great way to shoot at least five bunnies at a time. This building, both constructively and ideologically, perfectly meets the needs of the cultural center of the Center for Contemporary Art, Architecture and Design, and ideologically that it is a monument of modernism. It is a grid of columns, a free layout, where we can throw all the small cabinets out, they are not load-bearing, it corresponds to the construction of the gallery, ”says Uldis Lukševics, the head of the architectural office“ NRJA ”.
The request of 20 architects submitted to the National Cultural Heritage Board at the beginning of July to include the building at 2 Elizabetes Street in the list of cultural monuments is still relevant. The Board promises to review the application within four months.
CONTEXT:
The government backed it on 16 June The initiative of the Ministry of Culture (MoC) to develop the construction of the Riga acoustic concert hall at Elizabetes Street 2, Kronvalda Park It is projected that dismantling of the building could start in spring 2021, and that the demolition of the building and the design competition of the Riga Concert Hall will cost around 3 million euros. Minister of Culture Nauris Puntulis (National Association) expressed hopethat the concert hall will be completed in 6-7 years.
Several architects raise alarm as the site chosen for the construction of the concert hall, stating that the building is a legacy of Soviet-era modernist architecture and should not be demolished. A group of individual architects as well applied to the National Cultural Heritage Board, inviting to grant the status of a cultural monument to the building in Riga, Elizabetes Street 2.
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