[architecture]
contemporary landscape Kosmos AB Work AIA Complex Function Mixed housing retail complex Date 2003-2009 Location Tallinn, Estonia Masterplan Ott Kadarik, Villem Tomiste, Mihkel Tüür Site area 2918 m² Project area 4577,3 m² Image credits Courtesy of Ott Kadarik and Paco Ulman
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Tallinn is the beautiful medieval, capital city of Estonia, one of the smallest countries, population wise, in European Union. Since 1991, after 50 years of soviet occupation, Estonia has registered a rapid economic acceleration which has dramatically redesigned the skyline of Tallinn. A new modern city made of ambitious skyscrapers is today rivaling side-by-side with the hanseatic towers around Tompea Hill – the latter a UNESCO site since 1997. There is no doubt, when it comes to build Estonians are not shy at all. On the contrary of neighboring Scandinavian countries, Estonian architects have been educated with up-to-date learning curriculums and have enjoyed useful cultural exchanges under the new political and cultural agenda in Europe after the cold war. It is not a surprise, therefore, to find in Tallinn new futuristic architectures right next to fine hanseatic buildings. AIA, the very new (2009) mixed housing-retail complex designed by the successful Estonian architecture firm Kosmos, is perhaps, the best example of this modus operandi. Located in the very city core, just a few steps far from the Viru Tower landmark, AIA lies in a site which was formerly occupied by the majestic city walls of Tallinn (still visible around Tompea Hill). In the 19th century extensive parts of the old fortifications were tiered down to let space for urban development. After years of bad maintenance, in 2003 a proposal drafted by Kosmos,
an emerging Estonian architecture firm with a workforce aged less than 30, was chosen among three other competitors to redevelop the area. The building is astonishing for the ones coming into Tallinn to admire its medieval architecture: lines, facades, floors, and windows define a dynamic and plastic architecture which apparently has nothing to do with its urban surroundings. If necessary, its black color makes more visible the linguistic fracture between the old and the new. The man of the street who reads glossy architectural magazines in trendy coffee shops wouldn’t have any doubts to identify Zaha Hadid’s production in Germany and Belgium and some other recent Dutch projects as sources of inspiration for AIA. However, AIA seems consistently different from the above mentioned references. The building it’s packed in small plot of land, enjoying only one free orientation (the south one) while the other three are closed by existing buildings and historical facades kept in place. It is here, in this free side, that all the creative efforts are channeled to create a dynamic flow of floors, facades, and sharp lines and a complex system of terraces and courts. The ground floor of the building serves as retail space for shops (still to come) while in the upper elevations are luxury apartments for whom can afford to live in a stylish big apartment in the very centre of a charmy European city. Efforts have been paid in interconnecting the
old façade as well as the roof, in the west front, with the new sharp-terraces. Although the angles of this building might appear too problematic in terms of indoor space the overall outcome is quite appealing and successful; it provides a new and original approach to urban redevelopment in historic areas. The construction of the building is a combination of reinforced concrete and steel frames. The non-supporting walls are finished with natural stone tiles while the timber-clad terraces and the horizontal surfaces of the overhangs link the apartment block to the neighboring wooden house. Pyramidal skylights illuminate the underground floor while consistently contributing to define what Ott Kadarik, Villem Tomiste, and Mihkel Tüür - the three architects behind Kosmos - call a “new contemporary landscape” into the historical urban tissue of old Tallinn. Agatino Rizzo
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