circular line

Set within the rewetted landscape of Cenas Tirelis near Riga, the project envisions a floating centre for regenerative architecture that moves and works in rhythm with its environment. It responds to the damaged ecology of the Cena Moorland, a vast peat extraction site that is still active today, with a regenerative cycle connecting nature, architecture, and technology.

Each spring, floating platforms drift across the moor to harvest reed, a fast-growing plant that filters water, binds carbon, and carries a long tradition of Northern building craft. In summer, the same platforms power a biochar system whose heat and smoke are redirected through the main building to dry and preserve the reed. The resulting biochar returns to the bog, enriching the soil and storing carbon underground.

The processed reed forms modular roof structures for a café, laboratory, event hall, and temporary researcher housing, a flexible, reversible system that adapts over time without disturbing the fragile ecosystem. Rather than concealing its mechanisms, the centre celebrates them: smoke, movement, and transformation become part of the architecture itself.