The project sees converting the existing Rīga Congress House into a concert hall.
"The Riga Philharmonic is an ambitious project for the development of the industry and the city, where all parties involved are working together to move forward within the set timeframe. The government's decision in late October to allocate the funds is an important step to actually start the design work. It is expected that the design work could take about two years," said Agnese Lāce (Progressives), Minister of Culture.
"The Riga Concert Hall has been a long-awaited project, even since the late 1980s, so it is very satisfying that we have reached the design stage after overcoming various difficulties and changes over the years. I hope that it will go smoothly and within the planned deadlines, so that in a few years we can start the construction of the concert hall. This will be a cultural building of national significance for Rīga, not only in terms of the image of the city but also in economic terms - buildings like this are tourist magnets all over the world, as the experience of European capitals such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo and others shows.
"The Riga City Council believes that the reconstruction of the Congress House should also take the opportunity to build a shelter in accordance with the requirements of the time - we will discuss this with the designers as an additional work in the design process," said Rīga Mayor Vilnis Ķirsis (New Unity).
The head of Mailītis arhitekti, architect Austris Mailītis, said: "We have chosen an excellent location for the Riga Philharmonic - in a beautiful, publicly accessible location in the center of Riga. It will be an open space; the Riga Philharmonic will use an existing building, the Riga Congress House, to become a bright home for Latvian musicians."
Jānis Sauka, founder and partner of Mark arhitekti, also said: "We are delighted to have been entrusted with the opportunity to design the Riga Philharmonic over the next 2 years. We have attracted an international team of 15 professionals from different disciplines, about 100 people in total, and today we can say that we are starting the design work!"
The amount of funding needed for the construction of the Riga Philharmonic will be known as soon as the design work is completed - at the end of 2026. The Government will have to decide on the financing needed for the construction of the Riga Philharmonic.
