7. “Šiaulių” bank / Formerly “Aiva” shopping centre

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Walking along Vilniaus Street, also known as the boulevard among the inhabitants of Šiauliai, one can discover multiple periods of history – the inter-war period, the Soviet era and independent Lithuania. The eye is drawn to a white building with red accents, topped as if with a cherry, by a round tower. The post-modern façade is complemented by vertical pediments, giving the building a playful rather than serious appearance.

The playfulness of the forms of the façade reveals one of the building’s secrets – the bank was not the building’s initial function; it is the former “Aiva” department store, which was completed in 1995 according to a design by the architect Vytautas Marinckus and the interior designer Valentinas Mazūronis. In 1999, the building became the headquarters of “Šiaulių” bank.

Once inside, the red and white palette is complemented by a game of chess – black and white tiles. The interior gives the impression that the four-storey building is significantly taller. The second feature of the building is the half-storeys, which reinforce the prominence of the main spaces. The ground floor houses the Customer Service Department, which has been in operation since the bank’s inception, while the other floors are home to the offices of the bank’s staff and managers.

The diversity and uniqueness of the building’s forms seem to encourage taking a closer look at one of Šiauliai’s pearls of postmodernism, representing 1990 restored Lithuanian architecture.