TALLINN SADAMA MASTERPLAN

Location: Tallinn, Estonia

Client: Port of Tallinn

Date:  2017 Competition

Area: 54ha

AZPML

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Maider Llaguno-Munitxa, Ivaylo Nachev, Amaya Luzarraga, Paolo Toldo, Fanny Ciufo, Alaitz Arsuaga, Daniel Dent, Sohum Bagaria, Chiara Sanguin, Chiara Tomei, Howe Chan

Our proposal for the Tallinn waterfront is aimed at the re-establishment of the relationship between Tallinn and its Port zone. Tallin’s Port is not only the major landowner in this operation, but also one of the most important economic engines of the city. As an emerging Northern European city, but also as one of the main Baltic ports, the reconnection between the Port and the City is crucial for Tallinn’s future. Our main target has been to ensure that the passenger traffic can co-exist seamlessly with the urban functions of the future urban fabric which will develop in the former Port.

We have tried to avoid the erasure of Tallin’s identity as a port city, while using the Port development as a tool for social cohesion and integration of cultural activities and public spaces. Tallinn’s identity is inextricably linked to the harbor, and this is a trait that we would very much like to preserve as a key quality of the future city growth: not only the shipping industry contributes substantially to the economy of Tallinn, but we believe that the presence of the harbor, however noisy and sometimes mildly obnoxious, is an integral part of Tallinn’s identity. Our central ambition is to make the Port activities compatible with the new urban functions to be located in the area.

The purpose of our masterplan is to channel the private initiative to generate a sophisticated and accessible public space system for the future of Tallinn. Our masterplan proposal aims to do this while preserving the specific identity of Tallinn as a unique port city, maintaining the harbor as an important source of revenue for the local economy.