PALYS` CITY: 7 IDENTITY DIMENSIONS

What is a city?..
Jurgis Rimvydas Palys: “The city is a concentration of civilization: it`s thick here, there`s a lot here, it`s diverse here. Social circulation is the most active in the city: it is felt, it is heard, it provides opportunities. Pleasure and pride too.”

Architect, Professor Jurgis Rimvydas Palys has persistently studied the eternal theme of the City for more than 50 years, offering his insights, his ideas, his solutions.

For him, the city is a civil arrangement realized in material, practice and culture.
For him, the city is an urban diary that reflects the lifestyle and activities of society.
For him, the city is a collective expression in its topography – creativity and pragmatism in one.
For him, the city is a phenomenon of the materialization of collective intelligence, a child of civilization.
For him, the city is a dream and an eternal aspiration to create a utopian model of a better life on Earth.

The purpose of the exhibition “Palys` city: 7 dimensions of identity” is to comprehensively present J.R. Palys` works and futuristic visions in the field of architecture and draw attention to his holistic perception of the city, his idealistic creative method and wide field of vision. J.R. Palys is a personality whose role as a consistent, social and tireless architect in shaping the modern city is drawn as an example. A city that often perceives development only through the liquidity of real estate, unfortunately…

What is Kaunas?..
Jurgis Rimvydas Palys: “Kaunas to me is like water lily flower between two rivers, spread out harmoniously and beautifully, where the petals thicken from the edges to the middle, and in the very center is the richest color and a core full of love, which no elf can resist. There are no dead petals, empty spaces, or worm-eaten spots. Let`s try to dream together…”

The energetic, active and creative architect participated in the creation of almost every corner of Kaunas over several decades. He gave creative gifts to his hometown not only by completing formal orders, but also by preparing public sketches.

J.R. Palys passion for actively discussing the city and participating in its creation, in order to achieve the best result, is a great source of inspiration for other architects, and especially for the young generation. J.R. Palys reads better than anyone else the urban metatexts of Smetonian Kaunas, translates them into the language of modern man and tries to bring back their context, their essence, their luxury to today`s circulation because he understands and highly values the 1920–1940s` Kaunas architectural language and gene, architectural culture, wisdom and craftsmanship.

J.R. Palys consistently adheres to these architectural ideologies throughout his life – both during the Soviet era, during the turbulent times of transformation, and during the period of pragmatic recovery. Even today, J.R. Palys patiently strengthens the urban body of Kaunas with his futuristic proposals and projects with the most genetically valuable blood group of interwar architecture.

No wonder that the provisions of J.R. Palys` were also supported by UNESCO, which is determined to include the 1920–1940 “Architecture of Optimism” of Kaunas to the Golden World Heritage List.

What is the city of Palys?
The city of Palys is visible, audible and constantly operating.
The city of Palys is smart, logical, respectful, but not dry.
The city of Palys is loved, layered, designed and full of art.
The city of Palys is respectful of history, present and culture.
The city of Palys is flexible and has reciprocal connection with rivers and nature.
The city of Palys is solidary, communal and intelligent.
The city of Palys welcomes people of all ages and walks of life.
The city of Palys attracts, makes nostalgic and awaits your return.
The city of Palys slowly grows, strengthens its identity and finally… becomes a legend.

For a long time a conventional three-dimensional system is not enough for J.R. Palys. Therefore, constructing his futuristic visions of the city, his urban utopias, he uses 7 his own dimensions as tools: 1_ Area code and respect for location. 2_ Urban fabric and diversity. 3_ Contextuality, coherence and listening. 4_ Functions, processes and harmony. 5_ Zoning, density and pauses. 6_ Scale, proportion and rhythm. 7_ Visuality, panorama and landmarks.

There are close to 100 architectural sketches, futuristic proposals for Kaunas and Kėdainiai, Klaipėda and Kintai, as well as working architectural drawings in the personal exhibition of Jurgis Rimvydas Palys “City of Palys: 7 dimensions of identity” in the Kaunas Picture Gallery of the National Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis Museum. You can also familiarize yourself with 42 machinas (Latin machine), from the unique author`s collection of Architect J.R. Palys. Because the city and its architecture – is like a cup filled by people and machinas...

Jurgis Rimvydas Palys is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding architects of the Kaunas heritage field of our time. His projects entered the Olympus of contemporary architecture in Kaunas and Lithuania.

The architect have designed the reconstruction of Vilnius Pedestrian Street and street design elements in Kaunas (with architect R. Gudienė, 1986), “Stumbras” company production warehouses (1992), the M.K. Čiurlionis Bridge over the River Nemunas and its bridgeheads (1990–2007), reconstruction and design elements of the Vytautas Didysis (Aleksotas) Bridge (2006), reconstruction and wings of “Europa” hotel (with architects I. Veilandienė, G. Kezys, 2000–2007), the Helicopter Base of Darius and Girėnas Airport (with architect I. Veilandienė, 2012), Kėdainiai old town Pedestrian Bridge (with architect I. Veilandienė, 2013) and other significant architectural objects and a set of conceptual proposals for the city of Kaunas. J.R. Palys is a long-time Lecturer and Professor at the Kaunas Faculty of the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

Jurgis Rimvydas Palys awards for his services to architecture:
1988 – Prize and medal of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for Vilnius street reconstruction in Kaunas.
2005 – Kaunas municipality award for the architectural solutions of the M.K. Čiurlionis Bridge, bridgeheads and accesses to the Nemunas.
2006 – Kaunas municipality award for the reconstruction project of Vytautas Didysis Bridge.
2012 – Order of Knight of Architecture, Union of Architects.
2016 – Kaunas “Architect of the Year” diploma, architectural e-magazine Pilotas.LT; Architectural Award of the Ministry of Environment for the Helicopter base in Kaunas.
2022 – Candidate for the “Ring of Architects”, the most important award of the Lithuanian Chamber of Architects.

The exhibition “Palys` City: 7 Dimensions of Identity” is a part of the “Palys` Year: 7 Dimensions of the City” project. Developer of the project – the editorial office of the architectural e-magazine Pilotas.LT.
Project Curator: Audrys Karalius.
Project Manager: Almantas Bružas (Photo of J.R. Palys – A. Bružas).
The project is partially supported and financed by the Lithuanian Culture Council.
The project is also supported by architectural offices DO ARCHITECTS, KANČO STUDIJA, ARCHISPEKTRAS, UNITECTUS, firms ADMA and BULTHAUPT and architectural magazine PILOTAS.LT.