6. Business centre "Baltas lašas" / Formerly bank “Snoras”

About

Next to the central city square, in its southern corner, a massive building was erected in 1970 – the Šiauliai City Planning Institute, designed by architects Aleksandras Aronas and Arūnas Eduardas Paslaitis. A few decades later, during the reconstruction of part of the building, an elaborately shaped extension was built next to the long wall of the building to accommodate the bank “Snoras”. The extension was developed at a time when ideas of postmodernism were spreading rapidly in the Lithuanian architectural field, and the duo of architect Remigijus Jurėla and designer Regina Asevičiūtė interpreted these ideas in a very creative and professional manner.

The new extension seems to provoke the functionalist former planning institute with its playful and plastic forms, beckoning one to stop and take a closer look at the building from different vantage points. Such an eye-catching architectural solution of the building betrays the architect’s inclination toward fine arts and his close relationship with postmodernism. It is also intriguing to reflect on the bank as a distinctive element of the city and to reveal its attributes ensuring security and privacy, which are still concealed in the basement of the building.

The former bank is now home to the Šiauliai Municipality Social Services Department, while a new business centre is being developed on the remaining floors.