Minties Gymnasium

Designed by the young architect Česlovas Mazūras in 1974, the unconventional 40th Lazdynai Secondary School (now Vilnius Minties Gymnasium) represents the idea of filling a structure with volumes in Lithuanian architecture.

The building is original both in its spatial and functional-planning solutions, and in its red brick and gray plaster facade, which makes it even more distinctive. Adapted to the steep terrain, the school consists of separate blocks arranged in terraces.

The two-story teaching blocks connected by a three-story block of common areas were designed with separate recreational courtyards. Organically integrated into the environment, the free-plan object differed significantly at that time from the previously common multi-story schools with a corridor system.

Such an object, born during a time of typical architecture and mass construction, did not go unnoticed – the author was awarded a Central Committee prize, and another such school was built in the Lazdynai residential district in 1982.

“The floor of the sports hall was initially painted yellow, green, and red. After the construction commission visited the school, the floor was repainted overnight”, architect Č. Mazūras recalls.

The unconventional project school still demonstrates architectural professionalism and shows the desire of architects of that time to create high-quality, distinctive architecture.