Dome Next Door
Riga Old Town, Latvia
urban art installation - completed, 2024
on view: August–October 2024; July–November 2025
open competition: 1st prize, 2024
client: Riga City Council
lead architect: Toms Kampars
design team: Antonella Amesberger / Hori-Zonte / Jurgis Gečys / Toms Kampars
construction manager: Artis Neilands
glued-laminated timber: Easywood
cross-laminated timber: Nordic CLT
steel: Mad Metal Art & Decor Riga
electricity, lighting: Those Guys Lighting
structural engineering: Ainārs Brižs (SIA Commodo)
photos: Ana Barros / Justīne Janaite / Anna Matule / Riga City Council / Drone Day
project website: https://domenextdoor.eu/about/
Dome Next Door, first installed in 2024 and reassembled in 2025, is a 115 m² modular urban installation created for Dome Square, at the heart of Riga’s UNESCO-listed historic centre. Much of the square’s present openness is the result of buildings demolished in the 1930s. Today, the space often functions primarily as a point of passage. Dome Next Door responded by temporarily transforming the Old Town’s largest square into a place to pause, meet and spend time.
Four colourful steel modules were inserted into the timber framework, creating distinct ways of occupying the space. Hammocks offered places to rest, a picnic setting encouraged people to gather, a sheltered cabin module with two facing benches created an intimate setting for couples, families and groups of friends, while mirrors altered perceptions of the installation and its historic surroundings. Integrated custom lighting extended the use of the pavilion into the evening.
The installation took the form of a 10.7 × 10.7-metre modular grid constructed from locally sourced spruce glulam. Rising five metres above the square, the open framework referenced the proportions and recurring geometries of its surroundings: medieval vaults, the Riga Cathedral cloister, arched windows and the historic façades defining the square. A central courtyard recalled the spatial organisation of the cloister while maintaining openness, permeability and views towards the cathedral and surrounding city.
