winning design in the 2009 international competition, a cooperation between bjarke ingels group (http://big.dk/), adams kara taylor (http://www.akt-uk.com/) and allianss arhitektid (http://www.allianss.eu/).

project leaders: bjarke ingels & jakob lange.

more information + design concepts can be seen here (http://big.dk/projects/tat/).

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/big-tallinn-town-hall-2.jpg

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/big-tallinn-town-hall-7.jpg

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/big-tallinn-town-hall-3.jpg

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/big-tallinn-town-hall-4.jpg

i will edit the first post as we get more information. as of now the city is quite optimistic - all the preliminary bureaucratic paperwork should be done during 2010 and hopes are up for the construction to start soon after.

Well,even at fastest pace it would still take atleast 3 years before we see any construction. ;)

Well,even at fastest pace it would still take atleast 3 years before we see any construction. ;)

dont be so pessimistic!
Ill give it 1 year til construction documents

:lol: I was thinking of actual construction work not documents!

my hope is that the digging will start before next elections, just in case :D
i recall someone mentioning the year 2014 as the completion date... i might have dreamt it.

Time always suck when you have to wait!

This one looks really really nice!

And there are a lot of ugly modern city halls around the world, but this is not one of those ones!

That one is really nice. It's also famous project, it was featured on international architecture sites

Yep, this is certainly the best project in Tallinn atm! :cheers:

Quality!!!

Never mind how good the building actually looks, seems like it would be a great public space for Tallinners and visitors alike. Great project :cheers:!

here are full overviews of a couple of competition entries:

3rd prize, by 3+1 architects (estonian)
http://katkestuste-linn.blogspot.com/2009/07/066-raekoja-konkursitoo-31.html

chosen among 9 finalists, by salto architects (estonian)
http://katkestuste-linn.blogspot.com/2009/06/061-tallinna-uue-raekoja-konkursitoo.html

not awarded, by zinterl architekten (austrian / portuguese)
http://katkestuste-linn.blogspot.com/2009/10/081-tallinna-uue-raekoja-konkursitoo.html

not awarded, by sea and effekt (danish - they're also the authors of the new building of the academy of arts)
http://katkestuste-linn.blogspot.com/2009/10/082-eka-uue-maja-autorid-raekoja-kallal.html


---


much-much more will follow.

3+1 work was very fascinating, although why have they gone green? not sure green would have worked. the design is so cool...a big X!

I did not like the salto architects proposal...

On the other hand zinterl proposal looks decent, although it reminded of an airports terminal buidling, but still it has nice features. Not sure it would fit in with surroundings.

Sea and effekt proposal is curiosuly arousin!

S.T.A.S.
+1

Well the best one was chosen IMO, but I also like the proposal of sea and effekt.

A beautiful building! Congratulations!

my inside information says things are moving faster than we could have imagined.

bjarke ingels: "in terms of architecture, political stability is always good."

Architecturally this is absolutely amazing, BUT...
I can't see this as a City Hall of Tallinn. Forgive me, but I think City Hall should be something you can't mix up with some shopping centre... And if you would be realistic then people who don't know that this is the city hall, they probably would guess that "oh, it's another shopping centre". Considering this we could just make Viru Centre or Solaris to our City Hall. They both have much better location anyway. Having said all this... This is architecturally absoutely amazing and definitely the best project in Tallinn.

Architecturally this is absolutely amazing, BUT...
I can't see this as a City Hall of Tallinn. Forgive me, but I think City Hall should be something you can't mix up with some shopping centre... And if you would be realistic then people who don't know that this is the city hall, they probably would guess that "oh, it's another shopping centre". Considering this we could just make Viru Centre or Solaris to our City Hall. They both have much better location anyway. Having said all this... This is architecturally absoutely amazing and definitely the best project in Tallinn.

with all due respect, wtf?

Wtf? Duck?
eh. no.
what?

How does this look like a shopping center? wtf?

I wish there were more shopping malls that look like that in Estonia.

Its by far the best looking shopping center i've ever seen, oh gosh, i've never seen anything like it!

I demand a shoping centre like this in Stockholm too! ;)

uffffff, I love it!!!!!!
but, Will it ruin the fairie tale looking of Tallinn?

hugs from Chile.

uffffff, I love it!!!!!!
but, Will it ruin the fairie tale looking of Tallinn?

hugs from Chile.

The old town will remain a fairy tale.

The rest of town, It can go to hell!

The rest of town, It can go to hell!

I really hope it was a sarcasm :D

so, tallinn now owns the statoil plot. in return, statoil got a plot in lasnamäe :D

Architecturally this is absolutely amazing, BUT...
I can't see this as a City Hall of Tallinn. Forgive me, but I think City Hall should be something you can't mix up with some shopping centre... And if you would be realistic then people who don't know that this is the city hall, they probably would guess that "oh, it's another shopping centre". Considering this we could just make Viru Centre or Solaris to our City Hall. They both have much better location anyway. Having said all this... This is architecturally absoutely amazing and definitely the best project in Tallinn.

Haha...this reminds me of the fuss back in the 40s when Arne Jacobsen won the competition to design Århus City Hall and was ultimately told to add a tower and some marble cladding or to fuck home to Copenhagen - because it was deemed too anti-monumental. Some things just never change.:)

one of my favorite projects in the competition, done by paik arhitektid: http://katkestuste-linn.blogspot.com/2010/02/091-paik-arhitektid-raekoja-konkursi.html

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BFXwZoCVGbQ/S3SCUJUADAI/AAAAAAAAJKQ/PsjcB4JBFJo/s1600/r3.jpg

one of my favorite projects in the competition, done by paik arhitektid: http://katkestuste-linn.blogspot.com/2010/02/091-paik-arhitektid-raekoja-konkursi.html

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BFXwZoCVGbQ/S3SCUJUADAI/AAAAAAAAJKQ/PsjcB4JBFJo/s1600/r3.jpg

I dont know, not a big fan myself. the heating/cooling is a bitch. The same reason why radiators are flat and not cubes.

^ mhmh.

"Hoone vertikaalse kontoriploki üliekspansiivse lahendusega kaasneks üldise energiasäästu taustal ka liigsuur energiakulu hoone kütmisel ja jahutamisel, mida küll osaliselt kompenseeriks läänefassaadile kavandatud huvitavaid arhitektuurseid võimalusi pakkuv vertikaalhaljastussüsteem."

Not exactly a big news,but city officials approved detail planning of new Statoil gas station on Sadama street. Building it allows to demolish current Statoil near Linnahall,clearing site for new city hall (whenever that gets built....)

Source: http://www.ehitusinfo.ee/index.php?aid=9539

fun fact: the station about to get demolished on the plot of the future town hall is the oldest statoil gas station in tallinn, dating back to 1993.

a crazy competition entry: http://katkestuste-linn.blogspot.com/2010/06/103-kosmoselaevalik-raekoda-kosmosest.html

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BFXwZoCVGbQ/TBZLWWYYwJI/AAAAAAAAJqg/mQY112-emzY/s1600/r1.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BFXwZoCVGbQ/TBZONCwcBHI/AAAAAAAAJro/pOh97xdgarU/s1600/r10.jpg

Looks like they were inspired by Beijing's Olympic stadium.

Great news,everyone! Second,Lasnamäe Statoil planning (on Narva Highway 129A) was approved yesterday and according to city officials they have managed to reach agreement over construction of first new Statoil in Sadama street (Port Of Tallinn wasn't very happy about it before)

This means that probably in next year old Statoil next to Linnahall will be demolished (it's bit too wild dream to hope that they will demolish it in this year :D) and we might actually see some site preparation works getting done! :banana:


P.S. - RIP,passenger harbour Statoil! :) It was a good place to buy some snacks before heading to a Helsinki ship.

^^ As far as I know, it was also one of the oldest Statoils in Tallinn.

^^ As far as I know, it was also one of the oldest Statoils in Tallinn.

it's in fact the oldest - it was built in 1993. after that came the one at ülemiste.

i would love to hear some official news about the new city hall... a few weeks ago 2 guys from bjarke ingels group (jakob lange and some dude unknown to me) were in tallinn gathering information on the area's developments, including the cultural cauldron and museum of contemporary art. i wonder how far they are with the city hall project.

i would love to hear some official news about the new city hall... a few weeks ago 2 guys from bjarke ingels group (jakob lange and some dude unknown to me) were in tallinn gathering information on the area's developments, including the cultural cauldron and museum of contemporary art. i wonder how far they are with the city hall project.

maybe you should have asked them? :L

oh yea... never crossed my mind :D

Price tag of New City Hall: 110,5 million € +KM.

City plans to confirm calculated price tag of city hall - it's maximum construction cost will be 110,5 million € + KM. City takes the price into consideration,but start of construction depends on their financial resources (construction starts in some time between next century and never :lol:)

Source: http://www.tallinnapostimees.ee/754178/tallinna-uue-raehoone-maksumuse-ulempiir-on-110-5-miljonit-eurot/

P.S. - RIP,passenger harbour Statoil! :) It was a good place to buy some snacks before heading to a Helsinki ship.
1 year onward and it's still alive :sleepy: Atleast there's a place in the harbour where you can buy snacks.

niiet, ei tule maja.

vinge Eesti. Jube lahe koht.
peaasi, et maanteid ehitame.

jätku tasuta ühistranspordi küsitlus ära, oleks ligi pool raha olemas :P

Muidugi 100mio eurot on ikka väga kallis ka.

peab ikka idioot olema ka et suurejoonelise rahvusvahelise konkursiga odavat projekti loota. eriti nüüd -> erm, eka, err, raekoda.

peab ikka idioot olema ka et suurejoonelise rahvusvahelise konkursiga odavat projekti loota. eriti nüüd -> erm, eka, err, raekoda.

Mitu ruutmeetrit raekoja projekt oli? 30 000? 3700eurot ruutmeetri kohta päris soolane ju?

aga võib öelda, et päris masendav seis meil suurejooneliste projektidega..

Oleks vist aeg aru saada, et me oleme vaene väike riik, ning teha valik, kas me hakkame arhitektuurikonkurssidel tõsisemalt arvesse võtma projektide eeldatavat maksumust või lükkame taoliste pompoossete projektide ehitamise kaugemasse tulevikku, mil Eesti võib-olla jõukam on. Ärge saage minust valesti aru, ma näeks väga hea meelega uut EKA hoonet selle algsel kujul, uut Tallinna linnavalitsuse hoonet antud konkursi võidutöö järgi, uut ooperimaja näiteks Admiraliteedi basseini ääres, uut ERR'i hoonet (kuigi mite selle planeeritavas asukohas) jne, kuid kui me ei suuda leida raha ehitamiseks ning tõenäoliselt tulevikus ka hoonete ülalpidamiseks, siis pole midagi teha, sitt lugu.

^^
Meiesugune vaene riik suutis Kumu valmis ehitada ja selle pärast veel takkajärgi kinni ka maksta kogu ulatuses ;) Muuseas Kumul on siiani au olla kõige kalleim avaliku hoone projekt Eestis,mis eales plaanitud või valmis ehitatud. Ma rõhutan veel kord - ka plaanitud projektidest kallim. ERM ja uus ooperimaja oleks vast enam-vähem samas hinnaklassis,aga kõik muu on odavam.

Praegu on lihtsalt kahetsusväärsel viisil terve hulk kalleid ja mahukaid projekte sattunud ühele ajahetkele (sitt planeerimine,eriti ERM'i puhul ,mis oleks pidanud juba ammu valmis olema)
Imho,suuremate projektide jaoks tuleks luua mingi katuseorganisatsioon,mis tegeleks puhtalt ainult ehituse rahastamisega ja vajalike vahendite leidmisega. Suht absurdne on,et loodetakse mingi 100 miljoni eurone projekt koheselt kinni maksta või oodatakse Euroopa Liidu "hädaabi",samas kui oleks võimalik riigi tasandil soodsalt laenu võtta. Ma pooldan muide asjadele Kreeka stiilis lähenemist. :lol:

^^ Eks ma seda rohkem silmas pidasingi, et kõike pole võimalik korraga valmis ehitada(mida me kahjuks viimasel ajal üritanud oleme). Sama moodi, nagu pole võimalik ehitada kõiki vajalikke maanteid ja ristmikke 10 aastaga või renoveerida kõiki koole 5 aastaga.

Looks great!

http://i.imgur.com/YoU4v.jpg

UNESCO is considering the new city hall project's suitability next to the old town

Because Tallinn's old town is listed among UNESCO's world heritage sites, all projects near it are reviewed by UNESCO to make sure they don't overshadow the cultural heritage. A warning example has been set by the city of Dresden, which in 2009 was taken off the list because a bridge built over the river Elbe obstructed views to the historical old town. The committee has also intervened in Tallinn before, in 2006 they recommended not building the "Viru Poeg" project.

Now the world heritage committee is considering the city hall proposal. A report about the effects was sent to UNESCO in September last year, it might come under discussion in the committee's meeting in St Petersburg in July. Although UNESCO's opinion is of great importance, they cannot directly ban any construction. The decision making and responsibilities are still up to the state.

Source (in Estonian): epl.ee (http://www.epl.ee/news/tallinn/unesco-vaeb-superkalli-raehoone-sobivust-vanalinna-kulje-alla.d?id=64013649)

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Personally I like the idea behind the city hall. And the shape looks good. But why is it white? White is horrible.

ERM - white. EKA - white. Viru Centre is white and it only took a winter for it to look absolutely disgusting. Not that a good clean up would really help though. White isn't Tallinn's colour.

http://i.imgur.com/YoU4v.jpg
Personally I like the idea behind the city hall. And the shape looks good. But why is it white? White is horrible.

ERM - white. EKA - white. Viru Centre is white and it only took a winter for it to look absolutely disgusting. Not that a good clean up would really help though. White isn't Tallinn's colour.
I, on the other hand, like that it's white, in my mind this color suits the design. It's important to keep in mind that Viru Centre has a facade made of what looks like plastic blocks and they have large gaps between them, which make the building even worse. Viru C is also located on the corner of Narva maantee and Laikmaa street, thus surrounded by a plethora of cars. City hall on the other hand has mainly large glass surfaces facing Põhja puiestee and windows need cleaning anyways; and the material used for the large white side is probably easily cleanable when necessary. I don't see any other colors that wouldn't get dirty besides brown and if they make it brown, I'll move somewhere else :D.

Brown can be extremely tasteful if it means bricks or a nice, rusty look. White reminds me of mosques or Mediterranean housing, it's just not something suitable for a North European city.

This is also the reason why I kinda don't like the Oslo opera house or why I think Uspenski cathedral looks cooler than Helsinki cathedral. Such a large white canvas just alien at best, uncompleted at the worst.

Huh? Why isn't white suited for a North European city? We have plenty of white buildings up here (both old and new) and we have no problem with them what so ever as far as I'm aware. :?

Most of them aren't huge slabs as clean as the driven snow, especially the older styles that have facade details, roofs (which usually aren't white) etc. Oslo courthouse also springs to mind as a decent example of white done reasonably.

Currently the city hall is a cross away from being a fancy 21-st century church. Something akin to this, only a few kilometres away:
http://www.civen.ee/web/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/KN24AUG09W11.jpg

Sure, I might have a commoners taste. But it seems there's some kind of a flowchart for designing projects like this. Every big international tender seems to result in an overly expensive all white project with an avant garde reinvention of public space and a roof you can walk on.

I guess I'm a little more traditionalist than your average Estonian forumer, but the coastline should really be a city space with blocks, streets and houses, not a permanent architectural expo of the bravest ideas from late 00's scattered between empty plots, massive arterial roads and parking spaces. It's as if the ground is now lava that nobody can touch, a square is a bourgeois concept that desperately needs revamping - stuck either under or on top of a building. Planning dense city blocks near the sea with ample walkways and a maybe a row of trees is atrocious.

Nordic cities have solid inner foundations and not much room to build in them, but Tallinn is half-empty. There's plenty of room to build a great modern infrastructure from the get-go, but poor management, corruption and weird city planning paradigms just shit on it.
"Can't build anything near the Admiralty Pool, it'll block view from terminals A and D."
"Can't build the city hall, it'll block cruise ship views."
"Let's keep Linnahall, it's a sterling example of concrete turds in the 80's."
"The city has a traffic problem, let's solve it by laying down an arterial road cutting every organic being away from the sea."
"So what if anyone arriving from sea is treated to a dissolving mound of concrete, an empty field where the mob could be hiding bodies, a hobo camp and a kilometre of asphalt separating them from the city of Tallinn. They need to see what's expecting them once the bus has picked them off from the lowly pier."

Rant over.

Looks great!!!

I guess I'm a little more traditionalist than your average Estonian forumer, but the coastline should really be a city space with blocks, streets and houses, not a permanent architectural expo of the bravest ideas from late 00's scattered between empty plots, massive arterial roads and parking spaces. It's as if the ground is now lava that nobody can touch, a square is a bourgeois concept that desperately needs revamping - stuck either under or on top of a building.

I can agree with that. The last I heard about the area was that Sweco was doing a masterplan for the land owned by the port, but I can't find additional info on the web...

Any updates?

BIG demands more money for construction project,city stays reluctant.

Bjarke Ingels Group is demanding additional 1 million € for new city hall construction project,as works were more expensive than originally planned. Extra expenses came,as city hall was designed to have more m² within the current building volume. Contract between city & Danish architects allowed certain points to be interpreted in a way that in case of additional planning works architects have right to ask more money. City however insists that architects should have consulted with them first before designing bigger project and demands them to hand over finished design project.

By now city has paid 1,3 million € (of total price 2,8 million €) for city hall design and next payments are dependant on BIG's delivery of finished designs,which is stalled thanks to current problems.

Source: http://www.tallinnapostimees.ee/1032992/linna-maja-arhitektidega-jatkuvad-rahavaidlused

^^ So that's another couple of million euros for a project that will never be built?

^^
What do you expect? :| I bet it all goes down the typical Estonian scenario - project is delayed because of poorly written contract and when things finally get sorted out,public opinions deem the project useless/too expensive/whatever else. Project gets canned and we will end up with some shitty budget options.


If only public institutions (both the city & government have loads of disastrous examples) would learn from those expensive lessons how to compile decent contracts,which wouldn't leave any open interpretations for different sides...

Seriously,how hard it is to hire lawyers or consultancy company to overlook the contracts?

EKA vol 2.
You'll see.