Area surrounding the Admiralty Basin

2015 / Competition entry

Authors: Gert Guriev, Markus Kaasik, Riin Kersalu, Kerstin Kivila, Taavi Lõoke, Mihkel Meriste, Hanna-Liisa Mõtus, Andres Ojari, Ilmar Valdur

Tallinn is a historic maritime city, but today the public space of the city centre is largely cut off from the sea. The Admiralty Basin is one of the few places where the city truly reaches the water – the water functions like a special paving of an urban square, creating a unique atmosphere and play of reflections. The new development sits on a key movement axis between the port and the Old Town, becoming one of the first urban spaces encountered by visitors arriving by ship – the city’s new calling card.

The space between the buildings and the water is designed as a stepped public landscape, where a broad stair gently connects street level with the waterfront. Here the promenade, the centre’s visitors and café terraces come together in direct contact with the water. Around the Admiralty Basin a multi-layered urban space emerges: an active street level and bridges on the first and second floors, office galleries above with views towards the Old Town and the basin, all framed and completed by the water surface itself. These layers are tied together into a coherent whole by stairs, platforms and galleries, connecting the basin, its perimeter, the surrounding city space and the semi-public interior gallery of the centre.

Architecturally, the complex is conceived as a contemporary “market hall”, its landscape formed by a monumental colonnade and a light roof structure growing out of it. The columns frame different parts of the building, create diverse in-between urban spaces, and mark key points – the façade along the Admiralty Basin, the main entrance and primary pedestrian routes. Glass façades, shading fins and varied colours distinguishing the office volumes give the building a changing appearance that works both in daylight and in the city lights at night. In this way, a public space is created that weaves together Tallinn’s maritime identity, a contemporary city centre and a human-scaled everyday environment.