The emerging architect and artist Pauls Rietums’ professional interests include the strategies of public space and the role of culture in them, as well as graphic and object design. His graduation thesis at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, speculative solutions for unused spaces in Riga, has just been longlisted for the National Design Award of Latvia 2025. In the Nice Touch sections, Pauls talks about a public space that is accessible to everyone and opens up new perspectives.
«One of the things that interests me in design is the accessibility and role of public space in everyday life. So I want to recommend the small and forgotten branches of libraries as a fantastic place to work and as a nice place to experience a variety of everyday experiences in the city.
My favourite branch at the moment is the one in the former Rīgas Modes building on Brīvības street. It is warm and quiet. It may lack the fancy interior of Riga’s cafés, but instead it offers a fantastic view from the seventh floor. I go there with my computer to clear my head and change my working environment, as well as to chat with the librarians and ask for some books. It is also where I have learnt that even the range offered by a small library can provide unexpected insights during project research, as there are topics that Google cannot cover adequately.
In my opinion, the library as a public space triumphs over the fancy coffee shops, without the equally fancy coffees and pastries you have to keep buying every hour to justify your right to be there.»
Pauls Rietums studied architecture at the Glasgow Academy of Fine Arts and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. As a designer, he explores interdisciplinary approaches to working with space, performance, and image. Paul’s thesis for his master’s degree in architecture at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne explored Riga’s vacant spaces, seeking to answer the question of how we can revitalise the neglected places of a shrinking city. The practical part of the thesis, three speculative solutions for the use of vacant spaces, has just been nominated for the National Design Award of Latvia 2025, and we wrote more about the book that was developed as part of this thesis earlier.
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